The Nicsperiment Had a Stroke

Sunday night, I was sitting on the couch, watching a movie with my cat, when I sneezed. Suddenly, I felt like someone had hit me between my shoulder and my neck with a sledgehammer. The next day, I sneezed again, and felt the pain travel up to the back of my neck. I assumed I had pulled a muscle. The next day, I went for a walk. Suddenly, I started sweating profusely, my left arm went numb, my voice slurred, and I lost the ability to swallow. I got my parents to pick me up from the side of the road and take me to the emergency room. After a night from hell, I was placed in a room in the hospital upstairs. After cat scans and MRI's, the neurologist came up to the room and delivered a shocker. At 43 years of age, and less than two weeks removed from running my eighth marathon, I'd had a stroke. And not only that...I'd had a stroke because I sneezed. That's right, a medullary stroke, dictated not by the sufferer's lifestyle, but because of random chance. So now, I am lying in a Baton Rouge hospital bed, left side entirely numb, Right side of my head engulfed in pain, and I can't swallow anything. There are multiple IV's in my arms, and a tube down my throat. Tomorrow, they will take out the tube in my throat and replace it with a stomach feeding tube. Thankfully, my face is not dropping, my voice is no longer slurred, and I am fully mobile. However, I am still trying to get a grip on the situation. This has already been quite a strange year!