My Stroke 4 – The aftermath

It is 6 months, to the day (13 June 2018) since my stroke.

There are a couple of niggling outcomes from my stroke, like not being able to drink a cup of coffee without there being a small drip down the side of the cup.  (My mouth does not form a complete seal).  On the other hand the day after my stroke I could not even swallow coffee without choking, so it is all relative.  Of more concern are my eyesight and the feeling in my right leg and foot. 

If you want you can read the full story starting here.

My Eye Sight.

My stroke left me with double vision.  As everything else improved after my stroke I hoped that my eyesight would as well.  There has been some improvement but I still have double vision that is corrected by a special, temporary, prism that is added to one of the lenses in my glasses.  For day to day life this is fine but whenever I take my glasses off the double vision returns.  Swimming on holiday was difficult, so is getting out of bed in the morning before I find my glasses!

There may a resolution to the double vision problem.  I am due to see the consultant on 14th December.  I hope that he will agree that an operation is possible.  The operation involves tightening muscles at the back of my left eye to correct the vision.  I talked to a doctor about it a couple of months ago.  He said that the good thing was that they can ask you if the vision is fixed and if not tighten or loosen the muscle as required. 

When I asked what he meant he said, ”well, obviously, you will be awake while they do the operation”.  WHAT!?  As if having a stroke was not bad enough, they are going to be fiddling with my eye, with scalpels and things, while I watch?  Bloody Hell!

My Right Foot and Leg

A couple of days after my stroke the doctor took me to a wash basin and put my left hand under the running cold tap. 

“What does that feel like?” 

“Cold.”

Then my right hand under the same cold water.

“What does that feel like?”

“Hot!!”

Very odd.

That was not all, while I could feel pressure in the whole of my right side from the neck down I could not feel pain.  I could stick a pin in my shoulder or pinch myself, and all I could feel was a vague feeling.  I would know that something was pushing against my skin but that is all.  Over the next few weeks the numbness retreated until it was only my right leg and foot that was numb although the difference in heat perception remained.  Imagine being under a shower and half of you feeling scolding hot and half of you icy.  It does make showering interesting, especially if you test the temperature of the shower with the wrong hand, the cold hand.  You step into a shower that is hot enough to take your skin off!

THis effect is typical of a lateral medullary stroke.  It seemed to please the doctors no end as they kept bringing their friends to stick pins in me and put my hand into cold water.  Apparently this type of stroke is quite rare and they all wanted a go at pin sticking!

Numb but still painful!

The numbness has gone but it has been replaced by overactive nerve endings in my foot and ankle.  This means that whenever I put socks on or shoes all the nerve endings in my foot all start shouting at the same time. Not exactly painful but nearly. Stepping on uneven ground in thin soled shoes is like some form of non marking torture!

As for going on to the sea on holiday!  I went on holiday a month or so after my stroke.  Going into the water was very difficult.  The hot sand was refreshingly cool (if I hopped on my right foot).    The water was nicely warm, for one leg.  Then all the nerve ends in my right foot and leg decided to announce that they were surrounded in water, all at the same time and continuously.  The first time it happened I fell over!

I have no idea what the other people on the beach thought.  I was wearing an eye patch and falling over in the water while trying to hop on the sand.  No wonder I was given some odd looks!

The future

I am pleased with how things have gone after my stroke,  It could have been so much worse, and is for most people who have a stroke.  I am not belittling the issues and problems that some people experience after a stroke.  They can be life affecting and limiting. 

I realise just how lucky I have been.  I am only marginally incompasitated and still feel that glad to be alive feeling every morning.  

How to cope with a loved one who has has a stroke.

 

Tags: glad to be alive, nhs, stroke