I had an interesting weekend

[Bob78164]

It appears that 31 years as a lawyer has been enough to kill a tiny little bit of my brain. The good news is that it also appears that I'm not going to miss the part that's gone AWOL.

I was at the office Friday afternoon preparing to start a reply brief. One of the early steps in my process is writing an outline by hand. I noticed that the pen felt a little clumsy in my hand and my handwriting, while still legible (as legible as it ever is, anyway), was perceptibly altered. And when responding to e-mails, my left thumb (I'm left-handed) was clumsy -- I had to go back more than usual for missed keys and missed spaces.

So I called my doctor and ended up speaking to his triage nurse. The nurse told me to go to the Emergency Room. I went, still thinking that I was just checking a box and this would turn out to be nothing. It turns out, though, that I've had a stroke.

As these things go, I got about as lucky as it's possible to get. Although the stroke was very tiny, if it had occurred in a different area of my brain, I could have faced severe deficits. Instead, I had a slightly clumsy thumb. Even that has now resolved -- the next day my handwriting was as good (or bad) as ever. No other physical impact and no apparent impact on my cognition.

The hospital admitted me to run tests so they could be sure the stroke was due to my blood chemistry (cholesterol and high blood sugar) and hypertension, rather than a more acute problem such as my heart throwing off blood clots. Everything they saw confirmed their initial diagnosis. They discharged me almost exactly 24 hours after I first set foot in the ER.

I'm on a prescription blood thinner for the next 3 months and I'll be taking baby aspirin for the foreseeable future. Obviously I'm going to have to make some changes to my diet, and I'll probably also need to find ways to work some more exercise into my lifestyle.

But all in all, I feel fine. If I hadn't just been to the hospital and had doctors tell me I had a stroke, I wouldn't know anything at all was wrong. I'm cleared to resume normal activities, though I'll take it a little easy at the office for the next couple of days. --Bob

[Beebs52]

Geez Bob. So sorry you're going through this. Follow orders and take it easy. And, prayers for ya.

[Bob78164]

Geez Bob. So sorry you're going through this. Follow orders and take it easy. And, prayers for ya.

Thanks, Beebs. No orders to follow, other than take my meds. --Bob

[silverscreenselect]

Bob:

Glad to hear you got through it relatively okay. I know that can be a scary experience, since it happened to me while I was still working. It messed my vision up for a few days because one eye was stuck staring at a weird angle, but it resolved itself in time. The good news is that if you take care of yourself, there's an excellent chance it won't lead to anything more serious. It's scarier than it really is.

Take care of yourself and good luck.

[BackInTex]

Glad to hear all is OK. That’s scary. My sister-in-law who turned 60 this year, and is a physician, had a much more serious stroke earlier this year. She has almost fully recovered, she’s driving again, but she says she still feels some weakness on one side. She was not overweight, much, but had a poor diet and no exercise.

Expect some serious review and encouragement or reprimands on your log postings for the foreseeable future.

[Ritterskoop]

I like having uninteresting weekends, if that's the option ...

Glad it wasn't too serious. Hope no video games suffer by your thumb being a little out of practice.

[Bob78164]

Glad to hear all is OK. That’s scary. My sister-in-law who turned 60 this year, and is a physician, had a much more serious stroke earlier this year. She has almost fully recovered, she’s driving again, but she says she still feels some weakness on one side. She was not overweight, much, but had a poor diet and no exercise.

Expect some serious review and encouragement or reprimands on your log postings for the foreseeable future.

I have a girlfriend who will be all over the encouragement and reprimand side of things. I’m less worried about gross weight than I am about A1c and cholesterol. I’m hoping relatively minor changes in diet can handle both, with weight loss as a possible side effect. —Bob

[mellytu74]

Take your meds.

Go through recipes for some nice healthy dishes. It's been a fun process for us.

[thguy65]

Bob:
Glad to know you just had the "warning shot across the bow" and the deficits cleared.
Hope the meds and some new lifestyle measures keep you healthy!

- Tim H.

[a1mamacat]

Haven’t had the small stroke bit, but diagnosed with pre-diabetes, and am taking a statin for cholesterol. Also managed to acquire hyperthyroidism. Weight loss has helped a lot, cholesterol down from 6.9 to 3.4.

Keep on the meds and get that exercise regime going. It really helps.

[kroxquo]

Best wishes headed your way.

[BackInTex]

Haven’t had the small stroke bit, but diagnosed with pre-diabetes, and am taking a statin for cholesterol. Also managed to acquire hyperthyroidism. Weight loss has helped a lot, cholesterol down from 6.9 to 3.4.

Keep on the meds and get that exercise regime going. It really helps.

That's a huge decrease. Congrats!

I wonder how those measeres are measured (some sort of metric vs. our "imperial"). Seems medical standards would be the same in our countries. In the US our cholesterol is measure such that 200 is the line between good and not good, with those having over 300 at risk.

[a1mamacat]

Haven’t had the small stroke bit, but diagnosed with pre-diabetes, and am taking a statin for cholesterol. Also managed to acquire hyperthyroidism. Weight loss has helped a lot, cholesterol down from 6.9 to 3.4.

Keep on the meds and get that exercise regime going. It really helps.

That's a huge decrease. Congrats!

I wonder how those measeres are measured (some sort of metric vs. our "imperial"). Seems medical standards would be the same in our countries. In the US our cholesterol is measure such that 200 is the line between good and not good, with those having over 300 at risk.

Here the danger zone is marked at 7, the optimal at 3, so it is probably the same general spread across the board.

[tlynn78]

Yikes - that's scary! Glad you got the mostly best-case-scenario

[Vandal]

Wishing you all the best. Let the healing begin.

[Weyoun]

Always scary. Glad it was limited in extent and that there is a plan in place now