John Culley

July 17th 2002 is a date that will stay with me for the rest of my life .I was 55 years of age and was a self employed plumber/CORGI gas engineer and was replacing a gas valve on a boiler when it became difficult to work, and in particular I found that I could not position a screwdriver onto a screw and could not tighten some bolts that should have been easy. With great difficulty I completed the job and drove my van the short distance to my home feeling very strange and not really in control of the vehicle. Arriving on my drive I parked too close to my garage and tried to reverse the van,, but each time I thought I had selected reverse I had in fact put it into 1st gear and eventually drove the van into the garage wall. I was by this time aware that something was quite seriously wrong.

I managed to get into the house and sat down. My wife who is a staff nurse at our local hospital was asleep as she had just finished some rather hectic night duties and I was reluctant to waken her as she was due to work again that night.

I decided to test my dexterity ,by playing my recently acquired keyboard which I had been playing at breakfast time that morning. I found that I could not play any of the chords that I had already mastered. I was by now fairly sure that I had suffered a stroke although I thought it was a mini stroke or TIA ,similar to ones suffered by my mother who had in fact died exactly a year ago that day. I decided off my own back to take an aspirin thinking it would help and then telephoned my doctor who said he would like me to see him straight away .I awoke my wife and explained what had happened and she drove me to the doctor's surgery. I was sent straight on to Southmead Hospital,Bristol.Where I was able to walk into the hospital and was immediately admitted and found myself in their reception ward where my mother had been admitted exactly a year previously .A scan confirmed the stroke caused by a clot in the artery leading to the brain And luckily for me as I had taken aspirin it was a clot and not a bleed which I believe could have been made worse by doing so.

I was transferred to another ward .where despite further scans and treatment the stroke extended,and by the next morning I had lost the use of my left side.

A week later following a visit from my consultant I was transferred to a more special stroke ward which I found quite frankly very frightening as it seemed full of quite elderly men who seemed to me to be in a cabbage like state, and it made me think I was going to be the same.The standard of nursing care on this ward particularly from the trained staff was not what it should have been possibly due to their being continually short staffed. Although I personally was not mistreated I did see some instances of lack of care and lack of understanding toward some older confused patients which disgusted me and I know that my wife who is a staff nurse was far from impressed by what she saw when visiting. I spent three weeks in the hospital and did receive some very good help and encouragement from the physio and occupational therapists who were located adjacent to the ward (This has now become a dedicated stroke unit)and hopefully will now deliver some good care.

I was given a home evaluation and was allowed home where my physiotherapy was to continue at our local cottage hospital. However it was generally only for about 45mins per week and initially due to staff holiday commitments was sometimes only 45mins per fortnight. I was very disappointed by this, but was very aware that the lady physio was doing her best for me and we did eventually manage two sessions per week.I was also carrying out daily exercises at home that the Southmead physios had devised and drawn up for me.My wife was very helpful in ensuring I did these daily exercises,and they certainly helped.We spent weeks gradually developing my ability to touch my thumb to individual fingers,and to grasping and raising a tumbler,as well as letting go of it which was harder still.My doctor was very quick to recognise that in the fairly early stages following my return home I was becoming rather depressed and she prescribed Prozac to help me through this stage.

I received a home visit from a Stroke Association family liasion nurse who I found very helpful and who was able to help us with claiming the correct benefits and was able to obtain a blue badge from our local authority on my behalf after they refused my application on the grounds that Stroke is not a permanent disability. This initial refusal I found very upsetting as it felt that I was being kicked when I was down, and as others have experienced I was very emotional and it did not take much to make me upset.

I heard about a "Different Strokes" group who met at a gymnasium in Bristol and we made contact with them .and arranged to go to their group the next Saturday morning. I was rather apprehensive as I had not really seen the inside of a gymnasium for about thirty years, as was readily obvious from my 21 stone bulk plus the fact that right up to the day of my stroke I had been a heavy pipe smoker. Going along to that Different Strokes group was probably the most positive thing I had ever done. The Bristol exercise group are very fortunate in having the use of a private well equipped gymnasium kindly provided by the Clifton Chiropractic Clinic and also a well qualified enthusiastic instructor .The group took me under their wing and made me feel very welcome. They have a good mix of men and women of all ages who are all enthusiastic and who also socialize together. The group have been so successful that in order to get everyone in they meet at the gymnasium on both Wednesday and Saturday mornings. The group also benefit from a visiting specialist hand and foot therapist who has extensive experience in physical rehabilitation of brain injured adults those members that partake of his help undoubtedly make progress in their recovery.

There is no doubt in my mind that attending this group has helped me enormously and I have recently completed a sponsored slim and raised over £300 for group funds and obtained them valuable publicity in the local press. I cannot speak highly enough of the physical and psychological benefits I have received from being a member of this different strokes peer group. Eleven months after my stroke I am probably fitter than I have been for many years,I have just managed to return to my sport of Sailing, I weigh 3 stones less that when I had my stroke, and I no longer smoke. I anticipate a return to work in the not too distant future.It is a sad postscript that the future of the Bristol group is possibly in jeopardy as the Chiropractor who kindly allows the use of his premises has been offended by another survivors story published in this forum which although very sad does give a one sided view of an unfortunate situation concerning another Bristol Chiropractic where I understand the chiropractor was found to have acted correctly.

Thanks to John for sending in his profile. Anyone else who would like to share their story can send it along with a photograph (if you're not shy!)

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