My stroke story
Hi my name is Frank. I live in Mobile, AL in a travel trailer. My wife and I live on my disability check. Before I had a stroke, I boiled peanuts and sold them. We were struggling before I had a stroke. On January 11, I was asleep on the couch. I woke up to use the bathroom. I could not sit up. I asked my wife for help to sit up. She realized I was having a stroke. I did not want to go to the hospital but my wife who is smarter than me, called 911. I was lucky because the ambulance took me to a stroke center. They were able to do a procedure to break up the clot. I felt the pieces of the clot hitting my brain, making a sound like pop, pop,pop. But I survived. I could talk but my left arm and left leg was weak. I had lost control of my left arm and hand. Within a week, I could walk with assistance but still had no control of left arm and hand. I was transferred to a rehab hospital, after three weeks, I had improved and could go home. Then the nightmare began. Everything was a struggle, could not drive and I messed up everything I tried to do. Then i realized that I could not do what I used to do for day to day living such as change out propane tanks on the trailer. This is necessary for us to have hot water and cooking purposes. I started having panic attacks and did not understand that at first. We tried antidepressant meds but it only made it worse. Now I realize that it's panic attacks and sometimes I am able to let them go. I am not complaining just wanted to share my story. Between stroke and COVID 19, it seems impossible to keep continue living a normal lifestyle. I am also a cancer survivor, I have had cancer twice now. I've also survived life changing events in my life but one thing I can tell you, our bodies and minds will heal if we let them. Eat well and get exercise, Please I don't want a lot of advice, I'm getting plenty of that now. Thank you to whomever is running this support group and again I don't need any advice but thank you for listening.
