Mark Gourlay
Like Flying on Concorde
Hi, I am Mark Gourlay. I live in Aberdeen and am 43. This is my experience of a stroke and how I am progressing. It was just a few weeks before my 43rd birthday that my life changed.
Not that I have flown on Concorde, but all the initial happenings and experiences of what I went through with my stroke went that fast that I could have been flying on Concorde.
All my life I have wondered what flying on Concorde would be like. Flying at Mach 2.2, twice the speed of sound, miles high above the earth. The experience would be quite exhilarating and also I would think quite scary, just as I was on my very first flight over 20 years previously in a 747-400 Jumbo Jet. Well, I didn’t know I was in for a short “supersonic” journey in my life.
9th December 2008 I went to work as usual in Aberdeen. No mishaps, nothing out of the ordinary. I wasn’t feeling unwell. Strange I thought, Alfie my cat stayed closely by my side all night. Stuck by me in the morning when I was getting my breakfast. I sat down to have my breakfast and Alfie jumped up on my lap. He hadn’t done this at breakfast time before and he hasn’t done it since. I thought nothing more.
I left for work as normal and the morning went well. I stepped out the front door of the building at work heading for lunch. Crossing the road, I stopped briefly, I felt the wind cold on my face but only on my left side. I stepped up the kerb and tumbled over. I felt myself step forward, but looking down my leg was just hanging below me. I stretched out my hand to break my fall and nothing happened. Although in my mind I stretched out my hand and stopped myself. I was in a dizzy haze and everything around me was moving very very fast. A guy came over and offered help that I said I didn’t need. I clearly DID need help. Someone I think realised what was going on and called for a first aid person. Then I was aware of someone lying in front of me keeping me talking and my answers were garbled and I couldn’t understand what I was trying to say. Someone else was talking on the phone asking for an ambulance.
I saw the paramedics arriving and they examined me and got me onto a chair. Then it was just fast and noisy with sirens while they got me to hospital. In the ambulance all I remember was the paramedic holding me steady and that I couldn’t feel his hand touching my arm.
In hospital a doctor examined me and said he needed a second doctor to see me. Next I knew there was a team of doctors in Casualty checking me over. I went for a CT and it was confirmed that I had a stroke. The doctor then explained this high risk treatment I could have because they had got to me very quickly. I was thrombolised and that’s what’s made my recovery, so far, a lot quicker. Everything since I had arrived in hospital was at supersonic speed (like flying on Concorde!). I was feeling so drained, dazed and confused and all I remember now was doctors and nurses clearing corridors and lifts as they took me to the Stroke Unit.
The doctors and nurses continued to poke and prod me. I was never left alone. I had a bit of a chance to take things in now and was aware of what had happened. Then the tingling and I started to feel my arm again. Then the second incident and I was terrified! I felt like I was sitting on the edge of a cliff trying to stop myself from falling off. It was like someone had cut my body in half. The right side of my body was dead.
I was confined to bed for rest for a few days. Gradually the feeling came back to my right side, the movement and the return of strength took a lot longer. I worked hard with the Physiotherapist (Physio-terrorist …You’ll understand why we call them by this name if you have dealt with them after a serious illness!) and the Occupational Therapist and again gradually I started to regain some movement and was able to sit. The doctors said I would be getting transferred to the intensive rehab unit at Woodend. I was determined to get home and get back to normal. But the intended transfer to Woodend was a bit disheartening. The transfer never happened and I got home just before Christmas. It was by no means an easy homecoming.
Life has been full of ups and downs and hard work to get my mobility back since I got home. I do the stairs everyday as exercise. Now I am not using a stick very much at all. I am getting faster on my feet and am able to drive again, so I am getting out and about. I’m starting back at work on a rehab programme and will be building back up to full time over the next months. So, my recovery is going well. I am not the same person I was before my stroke. I have to learn to do things differently now, but that’s life. You get on with it and you adapt to your limitations and your circumstances. I am just thankful that I have made such a good recovery so far and thankful that I found Different Strokes. And I am recovering well ‘cos I have been encouraged by reading other peoples stories here.
Thank You Everyone.
At the moment I am getting ready to get back to work on a gradual rehab programme. I am in 2 x ½ a day the first week and will take it from there.
As someone on Different Strokes said, this is me going on with my life long recovery. I move on in my life, much the same, but with a new determination to succeed in what I do daily.
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