Steve Bunn

Hi.

My name is Steve and I was 44 when I had my stroke. It happened on 12th July 2008. I was at a friends wedding when it happened. I had been there since about 1 o’clock. In the evening at about 10 o’clock I was sat outside with a friend of mine because he wanted to smoke and also because it was cooler outside. After he had finished his cigarette and gone back inside I sat by myself for a while.

All of a sudden I got the worst headache I have ever had. I was sick and somehow managed to get to the men’s toilet. It was when I looked in the mirror that I realised that I had double vision. It is easy to say it now but I knew then that something was wrong. I managed to walk outside again where I sat down and was sick a second time. My shirt was soaked with sweat within minutes. I am not sure how long I sat there but I think it was around midnight when a friend found me. Because I could hardly walk or speak they all thought I was drunk. As Terry was the only one who knew where I lived he came with me and one of our friend’s girlfriend’s who was driving took me home. I suppose if it had happened at work they would probably have realised straight away that something was wrong.

Once home that night I tried to pretend that I would be ok in the morning. Obviously I was not. I phoned my Mum at about 9 o’clock in the morning and somehow managed to tell her that I thought I had had a stroke. My Mum and Dad came over and phoned for the ambulance. The girls in the ambulance were not sure if I had had a stroke or not but once I had been taken to hospital it only took the doctor who examined me five minutes to say that he thought I had had a stroke.

I was admitted to a neuro ward and spent a total of four weeks in hospital. There were about 40 beds all together and every one had someone in it. I couldn’t believe how often someone came in with a brain injury! There were even a couple of men flown over from the Channel Islands! I am told that Southampton has probably the best unit in the country for brain injuries so I suppose I am lucky in that way that I live here. The care was excellent while I was in hospital. The nurses were really friendly and helpful. I was told that because I did not come in until the next day that I had to wait ten days before they could operate. They said that if I had come in straight away they might have been able to operate sooner.

My vision was bad. I could not read a book or a newspaper and could not watch TV. My headache got worse and worse and by the last two or three days before the operation it had become unbearable. I had a CAT scan, an angiogram and an MRI scan all before my operation. I had another CAT scan after the operation. I stupidly thought that once I had had the operation everything would go back to normal. My vision was back to normal almost straight away and my headache was gone but I found it very hard to control my right arm and leg. My speech was slurred as well. People say they can understand most of what I say if I speak slower than I used to. I was moved to a re-hab centre called Victoria House for two weeks before being sent home. It is a small unit with only 8 people there. I remember feeling a bit of a fraud being there as I was the only person not in a wheelchair! It was while I was there that the doctor first told me that I had had two operations together. The first one was to take out the blood that had dried and the second one was to mend the damaged blood vessel. I remember wondering why it took so long. I was taken down at 10:30 am and did not wake up until 4:45 pm.

Once at home I still found it hard to walk and had to use a walking stick. I could not use my right hand very well and if I had to sign anything it had to be with my left hand which made it virtually illegible. Cooking was virtually impossible at first. Most of the time I had something out of the freezer and put it in the microwave to heat up because it was easier. I went out for walks to get some exercise as I was not allowed to drive but I had to take a stick with me.

In October I started at a Work Re-hab Centre and go for two half-days a week. I also went to the Royal South Hants hospital once a week for an hour for some physio. I have done two classes, one for the upper limb and one for the lower limb.

After sending three letters to the DVLA and then seeing my own GP I was finally told that I should wait six months before driving again so I had to wait until 12th January 2009.

I had another angiogram in January and the doctor said that everything seems to be ok. I have now got high blood pressure since the stroke as well.

I saw the company doctor and went back to work on 3rd Feb. 2009. Only half days to start with and in the office for the time being. Hopefully I will eventually be able to go down into the workshop and do what I was doing before. It is quite interesting in the office as I am quite interested in computers but it is still new to me. I have to see the doctor again in a few weeks to see what she thinks.

I am a qualified cricket umpire and during the summer I umpire cricket matches. It is a good standard of cricket and I hope I will be able to do that again but I won’t know for sure until I try it. I had to miss the second half of the 2008 season because of my stroke.

I started full days on 14th

That’s it so far. I hope you found my story interesting.

Steve Bunn
7th March 2009

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