May is Stroke Awareness Month.
Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United
States. According to the American
Heart Association, on average, someone dies of a stroke every 3.70 minutes.
That’s over 389 deaths from stroke each day, based on 2016 data.
It is so
important to know the and symptoms of a stroke and to act FAST (Face drooping,
Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, Time to call 9–1–1) if someone is having a
stroke. [Source: Center
for Disease Control and Prevention]
In honor
of this year’s Stroke Awareness Month
coming to an end, I wanted to share my personal story.
After giving
birth to our son in February 2017, I was discharged after a ten-day long
hospital stay. I had been diagnosed with a severe and sudden onset of preeclampsia
and once the baby was delivered via emergency c-section, I had been kept for an
additional week for treatment and monitoring. Two days later, I developed a
terrible, incessant headache under my right eye. It was like a stabbing pain
behind my eyeball. I chalked it up to exhaustion – I had a baby in the NICU
after all - took some medication, and tried to carry on with my day. I got a
ride to the hospital in the afternoon to visit my son and that’s when, in
retrospect, I should have known that it was more than being tired.
That day was
supposed to be our hospital tour. We had scheduled to visit the same day as
another one of our very good friends who was due around the same time as I was,
so her and her husband were there that day. We shared pleasantries in the lobby
upon seeing each other and they gave their congratulations on the birth of our
baby, but the problem was that I didn’t know who they were. They walked away
and I said to myself, “Who was that?”
Proud of
myself for faking it through a conversation with a “stranger,” I continued to
the NICU. The nurse brought me to my son’s bedside and asked if I wanted to
hold him. Of course I did, so she helped my remove his tiny,
less-than-two-pound, body from the incubator and put him in my arms. While holding
him, I had trouble holding my head up. His weight was pulling me down, but time
like this was limited, so I soldiered through and kangarooed him far beyond the
time my body told me to quit.
My husband
came and visited our son for a bit and then we drove home together from the hospital.
I closed my eyes in the car the whole ride because the medicine that I had
taken earlier had provided me with no relief all day long and I hoped that
maybe some rest would make the terrible pain stop. I got into bed as soon as we
arrived home, drank some water, and watched some television. Even in a show
that I had watched countless times before, I couldn’t recognize the characters.
The storylines were confusing and their names escaped me. I turned off the TV,
took some more medicine, and fell asleep.
I woke up in
the middle of the night to a headache that was so excruciating that it felt
like my head actually exploded. The pain was far worse than any migraine that I
had ever felt but, because I’m prone to them, I thought that maybe this was
just the worst one I’ve ever had. I got in the shower, and that’s when everything
went black. I called for my husband, and the next memory I have is from in an
MRI machine. The technicians were discussing the scans and how the neurosurgeon
was on his way.
I had a stroke – a rare simultaneous ischemic and
hemorrhagic stroke in my right temporal lobe. I was told that I would be lucky
to live to see my son’s first birthday, and that it would be unlikely to see
him go to school. But I am here.
RELATED: Do you know the symptoms of heart attacks in women?
________________________________________________________________
Underestimated Strength is a collection of posts all about our journey through life as we navigate preemie parenting after the NICU. You can read my posts here every Tuesday! Also, feel free to follow me on Instagram, where I speak freely about our story and advocacy.
Do you have any questions, comments or topic suggestions? Contact me via email: kristina.mulligan.blogs@gmail.com!
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