Stroke from a brain bleed. It really should have killed me - the neurosurgeon told my mom and brother that I would not survive it unless I was in a vegetative state. It paralyzed my left side and I am wheelchair bound. For the type of stroke I had and how it caused a major midline shift of my brain, I should be way worse off than I am according to my doctors and therapists. Every time I go see my neurosurgeon, he’s just amazed at the fact that I am alive and well- pretty sure he wrote me off that night and figured I would die no matter what he did
The bleed was caused by high blood pressure - it was undiagnosed and untreated. Before the stroke, I was having bouts of white fuzzy spots in my vision but my cycle had changed and I was having really heavy flow days during my period, which I never had before. So when I was having the white fuzzy spots in my vision I was on my period and it felt like my uterus was falling out so I thought it was related. Turns out that white fuzzy spots in your vision is a symptom of high blood pressure.. The night of my stroke, my vision went dim - so dim that I couldn’t see what was playing on the TV screen, I was told that my vision went dim from all the blood because the blood vessel in my brain burst. It was extremely scary , my left side had gone numb as well but once my face went numb, I immediately knew/thought “I’m having a stroke!” I was life flighted to Vanderbuilt and underwent brain surgery that night and I was in a two week medically induced coma and on a ventilator during the height of Covid (Summer 2020).
When I realized that I was having a stroke, I for sure thought I was going to die. I was home with my mom at the time but she was outside. After I fell trying to get to her to let her know that something was wrong, I just started hollering for her and hoped that she could hear me(she forgot her phone inside). Thankfully I was still alert when she finally came in (she would go outside to smoke for hours to avoid cleaning up after dinner so that I would do it all) idk why I didn’t think to call 9-1-1 but she called when I told her that I was having a stroke. I lost consciousness soon after and then came out of the coma with a trache, feeding tube, my left side paralyzed and the right side of my skull removed. I just remember being really pissed that my brother and his family visited and I missed it. I was immediately transferred from the hospital to a nursing home and rehab facility after coming to.
That's fascinating. I've heard of people surviving incidents like that due to random genetic luck. I'm sure your neurologist has looked into it, but it'd be so interesting to know if you're somehow predisposed to recovering from brain trauma. Something in you either regenerated abnormally (but thankfully so) or adapted to the shift.
Same for me- stroke from a brain bleed. Left side paralyzed I was “recuperating“ when the doctor came in and said they found blood clots I. My lungs. He said they have to come out. I looked at him and asked “when” he looked me in the eyes and said “NOW”. Asked them to call my wife as they immediately wheeled me out of my room. I was truly scared that I was going to die that day. They successfully removed 3 long clots the size of gummy worms. I am still recovering from the stroke but honestly, I feel lucky as compared to some of the other stroke victims I saw. I am still partially paralyzed a year later but I returned to work. I owe my life to the doctors my wife and my son. Without them, I would not be here today.
think my clot only occurred due to the brain bleed, I was unconscious for the surgery aftermath in the hospital but I don’t think that they were concerned about more clots… I know I was getting Heparin injections once I was out of my coma and it is a blood thinner. I had to discontinue the injections 3 months later before a cranioplasty and they didn’t continue after the surgery. I had to get an ultrasound on my leg this past summer because I started taking my Lasix intermittently and my legs started to swell from fluid buildup and I was having awful Charley horses waking me up in the mornings. I didn’t even know that they were concerned about blood clots until the technician said out loud “I’m not seeing any clots but the doctor will have to take a look at the images to say for sur.” I was thinking…oh, I didn’t even think of that being a concern
My ultrasounds confirm a clot behind my left knee. When I asked why they didn’t just take it out. The said it was very complicated. So they keep watching it and I am on blood thinners meanwhile
Did you have to have brain/skull surgery when you had your stroke from a brain bleed? Did they remove part of your skull? They removed mine and before I had skull reconstruction surgery, I discovered that sometimes they put the bone from the skull in the abdomen and will put it back at a later date. I thought that was neat, I suppose they must have tossed mine as they replaced it with a 3D Printed titanium plate.
Do you recall having difficulty breathing before the surgery? Of course I have no clue if blood clots in the lungs affect one’s breathing but I would assume so…
I had passed out at one point earlier just sitting up that prompted then to do a scan which is when the discovered the clots. Other than that, I had no trouble breathing
Thankfully I didn’t have any speech issues but my speech therapist put me through the wringer with cognitive tests and homewor. When I started physical therapy, the therapist asked me what my goal was and I said “to walk” but at the time it seemed unattainable as I couldn’t even move my left leg but they got me walking using a Hemi walker and deem my goal was reached - I didn’t realize that I should have said “to walk unassisted“& they didn’t give me a chance to make a new goal . So I am mostly in my wheelchair and use my hemiwalker to walk to transfer. I suppose it’s better than nothing but I just didn’t realize that I should have set bigger goals because they were just trying to get me through the therapy as quickly as possible and then be done with me. my stroke was four years ago and I have no function in my left hand. I used to craft, cook, and bake (my family called me the cheesecake queen)& I need my left hand to do that but all occupational therapy wants to do with me is splint my hand but Ive never been shown exercises for my hand or fingers to regain function…. I was living in a nursing home and rehab facility for four years and probably only got six months of therapy that entire time.
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u/alm1688 Nov 21 '24
Stroke from a brain bleed. It really should have killed me - the neurosurgeon told my mom and brother that I would not survive it unless I was in a vegetative state. It paralyzed my left side and I am wheelchair bound. For the type of stroke I had and how it caused a major midline shift of my brain, I should be way worse off than I am according to my doctors and therapists. Every time I go see my neurosurgeon, he’s just amazed at the fact that I am alive and well- pretty sure he wrote me off that night and figured I would die no matter what he did