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Stroke sucks, you're not too young!

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4K views 66 replies 51 participants last post by  Jim Speaker 
#1 ·
Well, here's my admission, I'm a pretty young guy only 43 years old.

Yesterday just after 7:20 pm I had a stroke.

I am reasonably fit, 5'10" 175 lbs. My cholesterol is normal, in the 90s. I have healthy BP and pulse, no sign of arrhythmia.

Weird right? Yes. I have no notable med history til now...now I can say, "no, just a stroke!" when asked that.

It's hard to type, especially on my iPhone (which I could barely call my GF and 911 on yesterday). I have a bit of trouble talking unless I talk slow and deliberate. The stroke got my motor functions on right side. Yesterday I was hardly intelligible and my right hand was not capable of signing my name nearly close to right.

I am blessed that my thinking is still 100%. Thank God I'm ok.

My motor stuff will come back with practice. I will tie more married wing Parmachene Belle and watch trout munch on them!

Typing is hard, I'm making too many mistakes.

Last words: call 911 FAST!!! Don't screw around. Don't wait. Time is brain - and it's way too easy to take its simplest functions for granted.
 
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#28 ·
Thanks everyone, very much. Thank you for the prayers and for the thoughts. There are never too many prayers.

I'm going to be ok. I'm typing almost as well now, but maybe slower. My speech has been better without so much need to think about it.

I'll be fine. GF even being supportive of me going after Pinks in my boat this weekend. Is she kidding? I think she's serious.

People be warned to get help FAST - don't hesitate to call 911.

Again, thank you so much.
 
#36 ·
Jim
Very sorry this happened to you but also very relieved that you were able to call 911 as soon as you did. Best fishes for a full recovery day by day. Keep the attitude up and the patience intact.

TC
 
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#37 ·
Jim-

If you are typing as well as you are now the in the early days after your stroke you will likely continue to get much, much better. This is good and hang in there buddy. Maybe lay off the pinks this weekend, but plan on more fishing this summer!

911 is an important call- Neurologists can give clot busting drugs with better outcomes within 3 hours, by 5 hours the outcomes are worse but it still remains important to show fast to the ER. Interventional Neuroradiologists can sometimes insert catheters into the arteries in question and retrieve or bust up the clot if clot busting drugs by vein are unsuccessful. Perhaps what is more important is that the Ambulance bring you to a stroke center, the more isolated you are, the less likely they have a well-oiled machine in the ER along with neurologists and neuroradiologists to get you triaged and treated quickly. That's part of the reason programs like Swedish are busting their asses to get telemedicine stations in outlying WA state hospitals to let centrally located Docs triage clot busting decisions and hospital transfer decisions based on a facilitated exam..

Important risks for stroke include high blood pressure, high blood sugars, high cholesterol, high homocysteine, heart valve irregularities, heart rhythm issues, untreated sleep apnea, tight carotid or vertebral arteries, migraine hx particularly in women over the age of forty on estrogen containing hormone replacements, and smoking histories.

For ischemic stroke below the age of 50 there are a bunch of blood-and other- tests that need to be done to see if there are inherited or present risks of easy clotting that necessitate something other than aspirin therapies.

Stroke ought to scare the hell out of everyone. Just like understanding the meaning of sudden onset chest pain, getting familiar with strokes and how they present is important. It's a little like witnessing a drowning, the things that show are absent skills. Watching stroke develop is not particularly dramatic like convulsive seizure
 
#38 ·
I had an ischemic stroke. I have a smoking history, but not lately.

I have a condition in my heart around 8% have, a valve that doesn't close 100%. That can cause clots. There are medicines to manage that.

I'm still waiting for the neurologist to examine my heart and legs scans.

I think I'll need to practice everything including fine motions to tie flies. My typing is getting good so watch out OMJ for my post count!!! ;)
 
#40 ·
I had an ischemic stroke. I have a smoking history, but not lately.

I have a condition in my heart around 8% have, a valve that doesn't close 100%. That can cause clots. There are medicines to manage that.

I'm still waiting for the neurologist to examine my heart and legs scans.

I think I'll need to practice everything including fine motions to tie flies. My typing is getting good so watch out OMJ for my post count!!! ;)
Like I should worry.:p:p
 
#43 ·
That is terrifying, I'm just glad you were able to make that call and get the treatment you needed to save your life and bodily function. It seems like you are doing fairly well and I wish you a complete and speedy recovery. Stay strong mentally and I know you'll make it back better than ever.

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G
 
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#44 ·
Thanks, Gary. I'm planning to go after Pinks this weekend. I understand its best to "get right back on it." Better not to wait - relearn fine motor skills quickly.

Don't worry I drive the boat left handed! :D

Hope you're still in!
 
#46 ·
No Jim, you're never too young...! I had mine at 45... That said, it's not the end of the world... At 40 something, the body still has a lot of vim and vitality... Stay positive, follow the PTherapy program, and just refuse to "accept" anything less than full recovery...you will be amazed at how resillient the human body and brain can be.

Good luck!!

Pm to follow.

Dave
 
#48 ·
I'm finally going home! Well to my GF house for now. Waiting for her to pick me up. Then we get my heart monitor and go stop at my house then home to her house.

Whether I fish in my 12-footer on Saturday will depend on if they act like big babies re my monitor - I mean, if they want to see my heart in action it should include having many pinks on the end of my line, right!?!?
 
#50 ·
"Time is Brain" - truer words never spoken.

Remember FAST.

F = face - ask the person to smile. Is it even, or does one side droop? Ask them to stick their tongue out. Does it point to one side?
A = arms - ask the person to hold their arms out. Does one side sag or drift downward?
S = speech - ask the person to say a simple sentence. Is their speech slurred or strange?
T = time - if the person has any one of these symptoms, call 911 immediately.

I hope you have a full and swift recovery, Jim.
 
#51 ·
I'm no cardiologist but hope that your age and specs will get you back on the river a lot quicker than a lot of us (age, overweight, etc)on this site.
 
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#52 ·
Back home for a bit then back to my GF house.

Here's my first couple post stroke flies. Fortunately pinks aren't too discriminating - but, having the thread and scissors back in hand told me: I'm gonna be alright!

Artificial fly Bait Fishing bait Fishing lure Plant


Plant Feather Magenta Tints and shades Flowering plant
 
#63 ·
Back home for a bit then back to my GF house.

Here's my first couple post stroke flies. Fortunately pinks aren't too discriminating - but, having the thread and scissors back in hand told me: I'm gonna be alright!

View attachment 30985

View attachment 30986
Jim,
Great looking flies!

I am sorry to learn you are going through this. The Stroke and now the recovery. Good thing you are tough, mentally tough.

I am 42 and had a stroke on Thanksgiving, that I didn't recognize as a medical emergency, and then another in January of this year. I was fortunate that my strokes either affected 2 small brain areas, or hit a part of my brain that had fewer pronounced symptoms. I had numbness in half my face/mouth and down my right arm. I have also had some serious vertigo spells. I don't know exactly why and neither does my neurologist. This month, August, I am beginning to feel as close to 100% as I have since last fall. I may have said that same thing back in May, but now I see that I was not quite there yet.

Like you, I had no traditional stroke risks - I'm healthy.

I understand having a stroke at this age is very uncommon, so you, Eric Wedge (45) and I are the select few! Maybe our support group will meet in the M's luxury suite, first game of each month :)

Continue to get well and hope to meet you on the water one day Jim.

Jeff
 
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