Here's My Story.........

   Monday I went to mom's. I got there about noon. We were sitting at the table and she asked me to balance her check book. She had only written two checks last month, so that would be simple, right?
Nope, I sat there for 20-30 minutes, still working on it. I subtracted the two checks, but then kept adding and subtracting other numbers. I had math problems all over the page. She took her checkbook, and within 2 minutes had completed the task. She looked at me and told me that my brain sure didn't work. We just sat around talking the rest of the day.
  Tuesday morning I got up and carried dad to the doctor, came back visited with mom for awhile, then headed home. On the way home I went through Greenville on Highway 13, then just looked around and realized I was lost. I didn't recognize anything. I pulled into a driveway, sat awhile, looked around, trying to get my bearings straight. I backed tracked until I got to a crossroad with a little store and a 2 story house across the street. I knew where I was, and headed on home. No more problems.
  Tuesday night Sherrill and I were watching tv, and I got a phone call from a church member about genealogy stuff, so he went on to bed, and I got on the computer to do some research and send her some emails. In bed by 11:30, still no problems.
 Wednesday morning I woke up abut 6:30 felt something was a little off. When I got out of bed, I felt a little "off balance". I went ahead took my shower and decided to call the Dr to see if I could come in. Receptionist said the first thing available was Monday. I told her I wanted to go that day. She asked why and I told her my brain wasn't right. She told me to go to the hospital and I told her NO. Within 5 minutes the nurse called and told me to get to the hospital "Right Now".
  So, I drove on there, damp hair and all. They did every test imaginable. Lab work, EKG, Xray, Ultra- sound, EchoCardiogram, CAT scan. The results....Acute Lacunar Infarct. I had a "Big" stroke as the Dr said. She told me first I had a stroke, I just smiled and told her OK. Then she said, "You don't understand, you had a "Big" stroke, not a mini stroke. I just smiled and told her, "Oh well, if the stroke don't kill me, the cancer probably will, so my choice I had rather go out with a stroke. She told me that she didn't think "this" stroke was going to kill me, they just needed to make sure I didn't have another one.
  She went on to tell me that the "acute" meant recent. "Lacunar" was the type of stroke, one of the rarest. Out of 100,000 strokes, only 15 or so are Lacunar. About the only time they are diagnosed is during autopsy, AFTer the person is dead. It's called the "silent" stroke because the is usually no symptoms. And "Infarct" just means stroke.
  The reason my case was so good was the location of the stroke. It occurred deep in my brain on the right side, near the brain stem. This is why it didn't affect my speech, motor control, etc. It affected mostly my cognitive skills, vision, and balance. I still feel a little "in the fog". I'm hoping that will subside.
  They never could determine the "reason" for the stroke. Cholesterol was great, carotid arteries were clear, nothing different with my heart other than what we already knew. I did a lot of research and came up with nocturnal high blood pressure. My blood pressure the night before all this happened was 118/73. The blood pressure at the hospital was 188/98. My blood pressure goes up at night for unknown reasons. The Dr agreed with my diagnosis, after charting my blood pressure during the time I was there.  He said it was the highest at 4:00 AM.
 I got up this morning, went to the drug store, did laundry, but for the most part I'm taking it easy. I'm checking the pressure every couple of hours. He told me to especially check it during the night.
I know this is WAY too much info, but if I forget what has happened, I can always come back here and read it to remind me. I told him of two other similar "episodes" and he said they to were probably the same type of stroke. And, by the way, he said If I have brothers or sisters, they are likely to experience the same thing. So be careful Sis. Don't want anything to happen to you!
  So, I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I'm alive, thus giving me the chance to totally piss someone else off!
Life is Grand!