mystrokesstory
this is the story of my strokes. in jan of 2012 I had been walking 2 4mile walks per day which in the past would have been no problem. however during the end of December I noticed both that I was getting kind of tired after my second walk and that I was tending to drift to the left near the end of the walk. on jan4 during my second walk it started to snow and the last 2 miles was in 3 or 4 inches on the road(we have gravel roads and are typically plowed after the storm is over). the veering to the right was getting bad and during the last 1/4 mile after every 2 steps I was facing left. the I was also very tired at this point. I did get home and sat and seemed ok after a while. went to bed and at 2am woke up and realized that my right arm was different than my left. I could still pick up a pencil but it took concentration similar with writing. also playing my drum was off with this hand. went back to bed and hoped that it would go away when I woke up (like a bad dream) but it didn't. cat and mri's found stroke. I was kind of fatigued at first but after 2 or 3 weeks I was able to do 2 mile walk once. and after that I was very tired and 2 days later had my second stroke, this one affecting my left leg.--this one not present on mri. the fatigue effect of my second one was rather large. again I could walk -- left arm not affected but with slight impairment. but could only walk to the end of my driveway -- 100 ft -- without extreme tiredness in both legs setting in after the exercise. this lasted for about 6 weeks and then fatigue lifted and I was gradually able to increase my walking to 4 or 5 miles once a day. went on in this manner until this july when I extended my walk to 7 miles with the last mile being up a good sized hill. was again getting pretty tired from this extension and 3 weeks after I started coming home from the walk I noticed difficulty in walking somewhat like before but not as intense. again after getting home was not super but ok. kind of funny but when I lay down to sleep I thought for the first time in a year and a half that I may have overdone it and be in stroke territory. I was!! about 2 am I woke up to go to the bathroom and noticed that the tip of my index finger was kind of numb. a couple hours later I noticed that the tip of my thumb was also numb. by the end of the following day my left arm and leg were damaged. several days later cat found stroke. I am now two weeks in post stroke and fatigue is intense. my 2 or 3 walks are to the end of drive and in late afternoon and evening both legs feel very heavy like there is a little lead somewhere there. compared to most others on this forum I am only slightly affected and am continuously inspired at their stories of acceptance along with a determination to improve. i'm sorry for the length of this but I wanted to write my story for me and to be available for anyone. thank you for reading these ramblings! david
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