Kirk Luke
Hi, I new to this but I felt I needed some help with what we are going through. On 5-8-05 I had a major stroke on my right carotid artery. I've had migraines ever since I was 13 and have not had one since my stroke. I hoping that the part of the brain that died was the part that gave me the migraines. :hahaha: I am now 44 and here is my story. 8 days prior to my stroke I had a bad migraine, the kind that takes you to the hospital for shots. This was the worst I've had ever so I went to my chiropractor friend and he gave me a neck manipulation. It felt great. I've gone to chiropractors all my life and never had a problem. This time was different. Three days later, I had just come home from church and was gathering up items for a road trip to Las Vegas with my company. I was bending over to get some CDs and I fell forward. I then fell back onto the couch but I'm not sure exactly how that happened. My wife asked if I was okay and I said I just tripped. I think she said "old age?" My tongue started to swell and I asked for some milk because I thought I might be having a reaction to my headache medicine. The milk just poured out of my mouth. The left side of my face started to drop and I couldn't stand up. My wife called 911 and then call a fireman friend who lives near us. He came over and asked me several questions and then pinched my left arm. I couldn't feel a thing. The ambulance came and they took me to the hospital. I had 20 minutes left to get the clot buster after they had done the CT scan. I was in the hospital for two weeks. My right carotid artery was 100% blocked. I had a TIA the second week in the hospital. I had the hiccups everyday for two weeks. I figured I had over 100,000 hiccups night and day. I was discharged and was able to slowly walk out of the hospital. I have always been very athletic - basketball, Volleyball - so I told myself that this was not going to slow me down. Little did I know how my life would change. I don't remember a lot of what happened in the hospital. My wife had to fill in the blanks. I was told that I was given three shots of Morphine to stop my headache but it didn't work. I forgot how many kids I had - only one. I forgot words, I mix up my sentences, food tastes terrible, I went from 215 lbs down to 188 lbs. My left arm and hand do not work as well as they use to. I have a limp with my left leg but it is getting better, my back hurts, and I cry a lot which I hate. I notice little things that bother me, which never did before. I am starting to take anti depressants which should help my tastes and hopefully make me happier. I don't like not being in control of my life, not be active and not enjoying food. I know all of this will change but that doesn't help me now.
It's now been over a year since my stroke and I still am taking anti-depressants, blood thiners as my right coratid artery is still 100% blocked, back hurts all the time, I can't sleep, My balance is still off and my vision seems to be worstening.
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