I had a very sobering experience today.
Briefly, I went to have lunch in The Geo, my favourite bar, with a friend of mine, Andrea. When I got there she seemed a little "off". I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but 'off'.
I asked if she was hungover, or even stoned, she denied both and said she felt fine. Over the next 15 minutes or so the conversation seemed ok but occasionally went a bit wonky.
She kept insisting she was fine, but every now and again she stopped making sense. In the end I rang a friend of hers who lived a bit up the road and asked her to come down because I needed a second opinion.
Anna arrived and after speaking with Andrea for a while asked me if it was a wind up, because Andrea seemed fine. At that moment Andrea suddenly started talking about cat baskets and making no sense.
So we decided that Andrea should go back to Anna's apartment, I would go and get my car, and then we'd decide what to do. On the way back to Anna's apartment Andrea started getting dizzy and lost the use of her arm so they changed direction and went straight to the A&E and I caught up with them there.
Within 5 minutes of arriving Andrea had had a scan, declared to be having a stroke, and whisked off to surgery and is now in intensive care.
Anna and I didn't do bad, but honestly we could have probably got Andrea to the hospital 45 minutes quicker if we'd realised she was having a stroke. Who knew the symptoms could come and go? I didn't.
So watch the advert below, and remember especially the bit that says....
"even if you're not sure, call 999 anyway (or 911, or 111 or whatever), the faster you act, the more of a person we save!"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUabCOhn79w
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Mark, I sincerely hope your friend makes a full recovery.
If it's of any comfort, our retired neighbour who had a stroke and had to wait several hours for an ambulance earlier this year is now much, much better.
Personality and wit remain intact.
He has lost some movement of his left arm but is working it by sweeping the autumn leaves.
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Thanks Zippy, it's all a bit shocking actually. I hope she does well, she's only about 40.
Apparently it was caused by a blood clot from a heart operation about 5 months ago floating up to her brain and causing a blockage. They got it out, apparently, and "irrigated her brain", whatever that actually entails. Now it's wait and see.
Heart op AND a stroke. It never rains.....
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My partner's husband is an "IR" consultant.
Interventional Radiologists are the guys who fish clots out of arteries in peoples brains and do amazing things with "bits of wire" and imaging machines - guys you’d rather not be seeing, because if you are, you’re likely having the worst day of your life.
However, if you are in need of them, there are no better hands to be in.
Good luck to your friend.
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>>Interventional Radiologists
I guess that's what she had. They went in through the inner thigh all the way up to the brain.
A quite stunning skill level.
He looked about 16 to me, but I guess he was a little older.
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>> Apparently it was caused by a blood clot from a heart operation about 5 months
>> ago floating up to her brain and causing a blockage.
They send you home with a shed load of single shot heparin injections (an anti coagulant) after surgery, and you have to inject yourself once a day. Some people cant do it. I wonder if she didnt?
Like you I know the signs of stroke, didnt know they came and went tho.
Mind you, going out for a drink with you is enough to send anyone gaga.
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>>Mind you, going out for a drink with you is enough to send anyone gaga.
Well, obviously. That's what made it so difficult to work out. Had I been with you, I probably would have noticed nothing unusual and you'd still be sitting there now.
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>> >>Mind you, going out for a drink with you is enough to send anyone gaga.
>>
>> Well, obviously. That's what made it so difficult to work out. Had I been with
>> you, I probably would have noticed nothing unusual and you'd still be sitting there now.
Grateful you had left tho.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 30 Nov 21 at 11:35
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>>He has lost some movement of his left arm but is working it by sweeping the autumn leaves.
Send him down here - I've got more leaves than y'all could shake a rake at!
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Don't rebuke yourself for what you perceive as a delay, if she makes a good recovery it will be largely down to your presence and intervention. She was very lucky you were there.
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Thank you for the words but I do.
I noticed something a bit off around 13:15, I was misled by the coming and going of symptoms. She got bad around 14:00 and actually got to the hospital around 14:30.
I should have taken her immediately and she'd have been there by 13:45. In truth, that is the impact of no national health system and the worry of incurring significant cost. Clinica Santa Maria, the closest, has no public ambulance service and an unnecessary trip and then assessment could have cost her a fortune and I didn't know her insurance position. Typically insurance here only allows you to use certain services and certain hospitals.
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Morning Mark,
After your second para I said Stroke..After the third I guaranteed it.
Hope she does Ok and well done to you.
Best............Martin.
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Good job you are in England. The fishing out of blood clots has been universal over England for years.
The NHS in Scotland has 2 pilots and "hopes to roll it out nationwide" in a few years.
I cannot fathom why they have messed about for years - I know it will cost megabucks to staff & train teams to cover 24x7.
BUT better that than have people "badly damaged" by a stroke "needing care" sometimes 24x7 and others who's lives (& family) have been shattered with life changing handicaps - walking, looking after themselves, speech loss, loss of job / income, socially side lined etc etc
Hope your friend gets back to being 100% ASAP.
My neighbour with the blackout 2 weeks ago and "thought it might be a Stroke" is back home, feels OK after a few days and lots of tests which showed nothing. He had a leak on the brain 15 years ago which was glued. As I said before banned from driving 12 months and he is not happy with that part of his outcome.
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>>After your second para I said Stroke..After the third I guaranteed it.
Dang, I was thinking brain tumour initially as they can present with sudden variable signs!
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I had a Transient ischaemic attack (TIA) around eight years ago (hence the Gold Blend de-caff) in the dark hours of the morning. I woke up with a splitting headache and sweating like a pig. I tried to get out of bed to cool off, but I felt like a string puppet with someone else pulling the strings. I suspected straight away 'stroke' and woke up SWMBO with an elbow to her ribs. She had the sense to do F.A.S.T and dialled triple nine. Paramedics were here within minutes, to confirm. Ambulance on blues & twos to hospital twenty-odd miles away (there's one within a couple of miles with an A & E).
I was fortunate that it seems to have been over immediately it started. My most worrying moment was when someone in A & E asked me to sign a consent form and I replied after "that's not my signature".
Told not to drive for six weeks and had numerous tests that confirmed no long term effects. I noticed a small lack in response times and gave up motor sport. I also rattle with all the tablets I take!
Mark. Don't feel guilty.
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>> >>After your second para I said Stroke..After the third I guaranteed it.
>>
>> Dang, I was thinking brain tumour initially as they can present with sudden variable signs!
And there was me thinking she had gone into some kind of daydream about a tall handsome good looking fella with hair, trying to block out the real vision of horror before her.
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Rather a bad afternoon..... - zippy
