Karl Chandler

What happened to me…

After 2 weeks of headaches (and migraine symptoms) & one morning of difficulty speaking, I decided to visit the Doctor, he was concerned so he sent me to Hospital; after 4 hours of testing they thought that I was having “a-typical migraines” & sent me home.

1 week later, I still had a headache, so, I decided to drown it with beer, vodka & mojitos. I think it worked. I couldn’t feel the headache – as the next morning, it was paled into the insignificance by a well-deserved hangover.

Later that day, still with hangover, drove 130 miles. At one point my vision was affected causing me to take a break.

I got home, went to bed (hangover in tow), and slept soundly. The next morning, I couldn’t speak! I wasn’t able to make my mouth work properly – I’m used to talking but I couldn’t find the words or say them if I could. That was 21/02/11.

A 30 second ride in ambulance & I was in hospital.

I was checked over & I realised that I couldn’t feel my right side… I hadn’t noticed.

Off to the Stroke ward.

There, I met several people (none less than 60 years old), all had had strokes. In the 16 days I was in the ward, in the bay I was in with 6 beds, 3 people died.

So, it was a really scary time, not being able to communicate, the people around me dying.

I’ve never really appreciated Facebook until that day, my wife put a message out encouraging friends to send me a message, I couldn’t reply to anyone, but the well wishes kept me going.

It turned out that I had suffered a “dissection of the carotid artery”. The artery wall split, allowing blood to push a piece of the artery wall into the blood stream. This got stuck (in my skull) and stopped the blood getting to a part of my brain. Because the brain was starved of oxygenated blood, that portion of my brain died.

This could have been caused by turning my head sharply, one example could be looking over my shoulder while driving. Good thing is, it’s not very common really.

23/06/11

Last week I got the “all clear” to say that the blockage was gone.

I’m having 1 session a week with a NHS speech therapist & 3 sessions a week with a private speech therapist.

I will soon be having physiotherapy to strengthen the muscles affected by the stroke.

I still have no feelings on my right side, I don’t know if I’m putting my hand into cold or hot water & I’m always getting myself cut as I don’t notice if I’m scratching myself along sharp objects.

My stamina is terrible; when I have speech therapy I’m tired at the end of the session.

I’m on 6 medications a day, including warfarin – and the 6 medication don’t include painkillers, on a bad day I can have 12 painkillers too.

What's happening now...

I'm back at work, on reduced hours, I need more sleep than I'm getting - however much I get. I sleep at least 8 hours a night, sometimes over 10 hours. Occasionally I have 2-3 hours nap in the afternoon.

I’m not taking painkillers anymore. Still aching, but it’s manageable by rest.

My weight has increased, partly by not having the energy to exercise, partly by the feeling of being hungry – I don’t get the feeling of being full of food nowadays.

My speech is improving every week, it still takes more effort than before and my words get messed up if I’m tired or stressed.

I’ll never be the same person – more aware of the fragility of life – less able to come out with quick, funny or sarcastic comments.

At least I stopped smoking. Something I had been struggling to do for years – just don’t feel the need for it anymore.

I have been quite lucky really, they said it was a major Stroke, but I’m not suffering from it. People can’t tell that I had a stroke, they think I have a speech problem.

5 Months ago, I sent a message to a friend using predictive text saying:
Speech brain, stroke ;-(
That took almost an hour to text.

Now, the world is mine again…

Thanks to Karl 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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