Lifestyle changes since my stroke
I’ve made a number of lifestyle changes since my stroke. If I’d known I was going to have a stroke, I would have made them earlier. Then I wouldn’t have had a stroke in the first place.
Smoking.
I stopped smoking. And yes it’s corny I know, but I stopped smoking at a stroke 
They wouldn’t let me smoke in intensive care and once I got out of hospital I didn’t want to smoke. I knew it had been a big contributor to my condition and that if I kept smoking I could very easily end up in intensive care again. And I have no desire to end up there again thanks very much.
Bear in mind that I had smoked since I was 14 years old. That’s 35 years of smoking between 20 and (at my ‘peak’) 60 cigarettes a day. And I stopped just like that.
If you’ve tried to stop smoking and failed, try again. You can do it.
If I can stop smoking, anybody can. Seriously.
Exercise
I started to exercise. Prior to my stroke, about the only exercise I got was walking from the car to the front door. Now I go for a one mile walk every single morning in the park. And I’ve got to admit it makes me feel much better. Plus I do some of my best thinking when I’m walking round.
Diet
I changed my diet. The biggest change was in the red meats, they haven’t totally bitten the dust but I eat far less steaks and hamburgers these days and more chicken and fish. I eat a lot more vegetables and fruits as well. I concentrate on things that are good for me, not just things that I like.
A lot of the stuff I eat now doesn’t come in a packet. Nor does it get delivered by Domino’s.
All of this is designed to lower my blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
One other change is that I take a lot of pills as well, if you shook me I would rattle.
If I’d made the lifestyle changes earlier, I wouldn’t need the pills.
Change your lifestyle now and you won’t need to bother with the pills.
How to avoid a stroke
Although I was very fortunate and managed to survive a stroke with less severe handicaps than a lot of people, I must admit that I would much rather not have had one in the first place. One side-effect of having a stroke that I can not avoid is the fact that having a stroke puts you at a greater risk of having another one.
Why did I have a stroke? Well basically I had a blood clot in my brain that threw a wobbler. The cause of the clot?
Untreated High Blood Pressure
Yep, untreated high blood pressure changed my life.
Why was it untreated?
Because I didn’t know I had it. I was clueless. I’d never been ill. I had no symptoms.
Having a stroke was the first sign I had of having high blood pressure. It certainly got my attention.
How about you - do you know what your blood pressure is? When was the last time you had it checked? Have you ever had it checked?
If you don’t know what your blood pressure is, please do yourself a huge favour and find out.
If you smoke - stop
If you don’t exercise - start
If you live off junk food - start eating proper food.
Change your lifestyle before your lifestyle changes you.
Recovering from a stoke
I’ve been asked if I made a full recovery from my stroke. That’s a question that’s not easy to answer.
Am I the same as I was before my stroke? No I am not.
Are there people a lot worse off than me? Yes there are.
Do I thank God for my recovery? Yes, constantly.
When I was admitted to hospital I was taken to intensive care. By the evening of my first day, my leg seemed to be fine and my arm had started to show signs of life. It would move, but then not move, and then move again. On the fourth day I was released from intensive care and came home. My leg was fine, my speech was fine, and my arm moved when I told it to, but it was very weak.
At first, although my arm moved, it was pretty useless. My right hand found it hard to do things, for example I could only type with one finger and even then it would press the wrong key most of the time. I had no stamina, if I used a dust pan and brush to pick something up, the effort involved in doing that would just knock me out for the rest of the day.
Today, three years later, my right arm is still weak - but it works All my fingers on my right hand work, but sometimes when I type they seem to have a mind of their own and hit the wrong keys. Fortunately I am left handed so most things I do that involve one hand aren’t affected.
My stamina slowly got better, but it still limits me a lot. 30 minutes of physical exertion and I am wiped out. But that could be my age
I think I was very lucky. Lots of people have much greater physical handicaps following a stoke than I have. And for the fact that I don’t have I give thanks.
Thoughts when you have a stroke
It’s funny what goes through your mind - or at least what went through my mind - when I had my stroke.
I remember being very calm about the whole thing and not worrying. Maybe it was because I knew there was nothing I could do about it. Or perhaps the severity of the situation didn’t hit me. I just know I never doubted that I would be OK.
There was one thing I worried about as I was being placed in the ambulance - we have a very long steep drive which at the time wasn’t paved, it was just mud and dirt. For some reason I got a mental picture of the ambulance getting stuck half way up and the doors flying open and me flying out in a Monty Python like scene.
Fortunately the ambulance made it up the drive. But as we were driving down the freeway towards the hospital, one of my vitals must have changed, because the paramedic spoke to the driver and suddenly the ambulance jolted and accelerated and I heard the siren which had been turned on.
If ever there was a time to panic, this was probably it. And yet I didn’t.
I wasn’t worried about myself, but I was very worried about my wife and youngest daughter who I knew were following in a car behind the ambulance. I didn’t want them to think that something terrible had happened.
Think positive. Be happy. Check out Dr Mani’s blog
How long have you had high blood pressure?
So I’ve moved from the bedroom to the living room - with a lot of help - after waking up and realising I’d had a stroke, and we’re waiting for the ambulance to arrive. My wife asked me if I was doing OK.
I told her I’d like a cigarette. She reminded me that we don’t smoke in the house and that I would have to go outside to smoke. Which she knew I couldn’t do.
Now let’s be honest here - what kind of dumbass wants to smoke a cigarette straight after a stroke? Answer - one who probably wouldn’t be here now if he’d had one.
The paramedics arrived and took my blood pressure (amongst doing many other things). It was off the scale.
“How long have you had high blood pressure” I was asked.
I had no idea. So I answered in the way that only a smarty pants can - “About half an hour I think”.
Somehow, I don’t think so. I’d had it for quite a while.
High blood pressure is a silent killer. It could have killed me but fortunately it didn’t.
Make sure it doesn’t kill you.