Stroke of Bad Luck: My Experience from Suffering a Stroke

A little over a year ago, in March 2006, I had a stroke at age 53. It was immediately a life changing experience, and I still don't know what's around the next corner.

My wife and I were getting ready for work, when she said I began mumbling,"I can't get my thoughts together". It was as though someone was pouring a bucket of sand in my brain, and each grain was a piece of information. I didn't know where to put it, and it was piling up. When I stood up, I began to cry...sob.

My wife took me to her office where she worked as a nurse, and my blood pressure was out the roof. We went to my physician and she sent us for a CAT scan. I was told a stroke wouldn't show up immediately on a CAT scan, but insurance and medicare required this study before an MRI.

After the CAT scan, I went back to my physician's office where she treated my hypertension while we awaited the CAT scan results. After about an hour, the results were negative, so we returned to the hospital for an MRI. In the interim, I had called my boss and told her what had happened. She said my voice was very slurred, and not to worry about work.

Back at my physician's office, she came in the room with the MRI results. "This wasn't quite what I was expecting".

"What do you mean", was clearly spoken through my eyes as I had trouble speaking. I could feel tears course down my face. I had absolutely no control over this.

"It appears you have had a stroke in the pons area of your brain, but something else is going on, too. I'm sending you to a Neurologist"

The kind lady at the front desk secured an appointment with a Neurologist I had seen 30 years ago for migraines.

The neuro work-up was some physical dexterity along with a great deal of mental trials and tribulations. I only had some limited damage to my right leg and foot, but thinking and speaking were my main problems. My wife told the neurologist, "This is not my husband. He is quite a bit more mentally capable than what you see now". This seemed to help in his assessment as he quizzed her extensively about certain things that I could not answer. He repeated the MRI in Huntsville, Al., the town where his office was located.

After a few days of watching uncomplicated T.V. shows, I got a call from the neurologist's office."Mr. Poe, you have had a stroke".

"What's the prognosis," I stumbled through the words.

"It' doesn't say. 'It' only says you have had a stroke". Hang up. "Great revelations," I thought. " We finally know what we are dealing with here!"

My next family physician appointment was soon, and she gladly explained the report she had recieved from the neurologist. "There is still something going on that is questionable. You have some myelin degenerating from nerve cells in your pons where the stroke occurred. The report recommends a follow-up MRI in about two-three months to see if the myelin degeneration has progressed."

I am a nurse, so I can explain some of this. The pons is an area of the brain that connects one area with another. Imagine 20,000.000 telephone wires with the same color insulation, twisted and just there, connecting one area with another both ways. That is the pons.

Myelin is akin to insulation. If you have 5 electric wires with insulation, twisted together; they can effectively carry different signals without interfereing with one another. Take away that insulation, or myelin. It's pretty simple; you are going to wind up with a short circuit. Do you see where there is cause for concern?

I had planned to have another MRI in a couple of months, until I got a letter from my employer about mid-April, informing me that I was fired. This was after I told them I couldn't go back to work for 9 months to up to a lifetime. So...no insurance; no MRI.

I did get complete disability from my work and now I am fighting with the government over disability. I have a list of health problems 6 inches long, single spaced, which probably led to the stroke in the first place.

Now, I get angry and agitated easily. I'm on meds for that. I take about eight blood pressure pills a day. Somedays are better than others, but I know in my heart of hearts, it could have been much worse. I thank God for his leniency.