This blog is about one woman’s experience of an ischemic stroke. Strokes are the biggest cause of disability in the developed world and the number three killer of adults in the UK (after heart disease and cancer). Suffering a stroke is, therefore, a very mundane day-to day experience, but it was not for Jane. Nobody in her family had ever had a stroke and despite a recent TV campaign outlining the symptoms of the onset of a stroke, it was a condition she remained resolutely ignorant about.
Thursday, 12 April 2012
The dog barking, the doorbell ringing, the sound of voices, strange voices, clanking equipment,metal on metal, I am up off the floor,strong arms help me onto a chair. We are leaving the house, we are leaving the dog alone to guard the house. A moonlit flit.
Clanking through the black treacley night, sirens wailing down the Gloucester road, we make our way to the BRI.
Nurses in grey and white stripes. A and E. They all have names out of Jane Austen novels like Clara and Grace. At some point I wake on ward twelve. Apparently I have had a stroke. I am surrounded by elderly women in chiffon nighties.
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