Stroke Update
Shoutout to anyone who has been praying for, thinking about, or generally concerned about me over these last couple of months. The last 40 or so days have been the hardest of my life. Not being able to eat, drink, or even swallow my own saliva is nothing that even crossed my mind as far as what I'd be dealing with at age 43, just a week after setting a personal best time in my eighth marathon.
Well, over this past week, I
have some good news. The first came with the numbness on my left side, though it
is the more minor improvement. I was in the shower and suddenly noticed that the
left side of my face could feel the hot water. It appears that this one part of my
left side has now come back to feeling. The rest is still numb, but I am hoping
it will wake up too. The more major improvement came a few days ago.
This positive turn actually started out of a very negative moment. There was a water leak in my house late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning at around 3:30 am. I stepped into my hallway and almost slipped and fell in a huge puddle of water that had spread to three different rooms, and even ruined the contents of a couple of boxes that I hadn't unpacked yet. I had to call my parents over to help me clean up the mess and try to figure out the problem. We mopped up and I think we solved the leak issue, but I didn't get back in bed until after five. When my head finally hit the pillow, I swallowed angrily...but I could swear, I felt the saliva go down my throat and hit my stomach. A few days later, during my swallow therapy--where the therapist puts electrodes on my throat and shocks it while I try to swallow--she told me that I should try to incorporate ice into my swallowing exercises. I did and suddenly noticed that I was no longer coughing and choking on the ice meltings as I've done before. I thought to myself, I think I can swallow water now. I went to my kitchen, tried, and lo and behold, the water went right down my throat. Since then, and conversations with my swallow therapist, I've started eating smooth-textured food. I just drank my Ensure for lunch instead of having it shot into my feeding tube. This is miraculous. I am excited about future improvements, and also the possibility of removing the feeding tube and eventually getting back to my normal life...whatever that is.
This positive turn actually started out of a very negative moment. There was a water leak in my house late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning at around 3:30 am. I stepped into my hallway and almost slipped and fell in a huge puddle of water that had spread to three different rooms, and even ruined the contents of a couple of boxes that I hadn't unpacked yet. I had to call my parents over to help me clean up the mess and try to figure out the problem. We mopped up and I think we solved the leak issue, but I didn't get back in bed until after five. When my head finally hit the pillow, I swallowed angrily...but I could swear, I felt the saliva go down my throat and hit my stomach. A few days later, during my swallow therapy--where the therapist puts electrodes on my throat and shocks it while I try to swallow--she told me that I should try to incorporate ice into my swallowing exercises. I did and suddenly noticed that I was no longer coughing and choking on the ice meltings as I've done before. I thought to myself, I think I can swallow water now. I went to my kitchen, tried, and lo and behold, the water went right down my throat. Since then, and conversations with my swallow therapist, I've started eating smooth-textured food. I just drank my Ensure for lunch instead of having it shot into my feeding tube. This is miraculous. I am excited about future improvements, and also the possibility of removing the feeding tube and eventually getting back to my normal life...whatever that is.
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