scottm

Stroke Survivor - male
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About scottm

  • Birthday 06/05/1958

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  • Stroke Network Email
    Yes

Shared Information

  • Stroke Anniversary (first stroke)
    10-14-2014
  • Facebook URL
    https://www.facebook.com/scott.morris.7140497
  • How did you find us?
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Registration Information

  • First Name
    Scott
  • State
    fl

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scottm's Achievements

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  1. 4.5 years in I still get the fatigue, but not as bad as it used to be. Check your possible medication side effects as I found these made it much worse to the point where I said no to certain ones and the doc had to find alternatives. Worst are the actual neuro drugs but sometimes lowering the dose and accepting the consequences was the better option. YMMV.
  2. I had to call the credit card company this morning, I got a fast talker. I had to ask her to stop and speak slower as I have a brain injury and I can't understand when they talk fast. She was nice apologized and slowed down, that is why I hate the phone,I get confused easily. When they did my recent speech therapy sessions they documented me as having a rich vocabulary but slow and thoughtful when I speak. I guess that's good. Has anyone else noticed a difference in how people react when you say you had a stroke vs. I had a brain injury. They don't seem quite so dismissive with the second vs. the first.
  3. I've been waiting to see if my change of physical status was a transitory thing we get from time to time or more long term. Seems at this point it may be more of a long term healing effect. Every since this started my right side has been weak and very prone to uncoordinated movement. However, for the last couple weeks my right leg has been more coordinated and controlled in its movements which means my gait is immensely improved. I have to temper that with how quickly I degrade when fatigue sets in. My CPS remains but with more control of my leg the skin isn't rubbed by the clothing as much. Take those two together and I have doubled my endurance, not that it was impressive before but I can now walk longer before I start into the zombie shuffle (hey it's Halloween). Time will tell how this works out but I'll take any increment of improvement, it gives hope to the wife and I about the tomorrows.
  4. Fred was one of the first to respond when I started here. You mean a lot to us here, I just want to make sure you know that.
  5. Asha, That was quite moving. We all need to be reminded and remember what we have now, not what might have been. Family and friends can be partners with us as we move forward.
  6. There are times that something strokey happens and all I can do is laugh at myself. Like misreading a sign that I thought said cats eat free at a restaurant.
  7. Well, the wife is furious about how the doctors misled her. She has contacted a lawyer our son who is also a lawyer has recommended. My wife is ready to start nuking the doctors who initially did the surgery from orbit. I can't afford to get upset, getting angry or upset tends to completely collapse my ability to think, I just shutdown. She is angry enough for both of at this point.
  8. Thanks for the vote of confidence Sue, it means a lot.
  9. I had the evaluation done today to determine my final status for the stem cell clinical trial. Bad news is I was excluded because I am too strong. They said they needed weaker subjects so they could show significant improvement. On the other hand that is good news and shows that my PT is working. When we got home I had an email from the trial doctor recommending that I look into a separate trial focused on improving my gait which they had noticed. It is run by a researcher in the same area so I'll be contacting them. Now the news we are uncertain about, it opens a lot of questions that we hadn't expected. The neuro who examined me invited us into his office to see the MRI's I had brought for him. His first observation was "Who ever told you that you had a very minor stroke was wrong" Turns out that what I had was what they call a watershed stroke which usually only happens when you blood pressure goes down so low that the area between the hemispheres loses its blood supply. My wife was explaining that they has spent 5 hours in my chest with me on bypass and his response was 5 hours is a long time to keep someone on bypass. The wife explained it was because it took 3 hours to get the vein from my leg they needed to do the bypass and they only allowed for 1/2 hour. Doctors observation was that they shouldn't have had me on bypass until they had the vein. We learned more in twenty minutes with this neuro than in the last 2 years from any of the doctors. My wife now is thinking that is why they wanted me out of the original hospital, they wanted me to not survive somewhere else. I am at a complete loss now. We will talk to our PCP Thursday as she doesn't have any of the historic involvement in this so I can be dispassionate and try to figure out how to proceed if at all. None of my followup doctors since the stroke were involved back during the original event but now I know why they all seemed surprised that I was not only alive but not essentially a celery stalk. I feel betrayed by the doctors who originally worked on me and then apparently circled the wagons and misled my wife about what really happened. How do you come back from something like what we found out today?
  10. Tomorrow at 10 AM I meet with the study doctor and his minion who has done all the pre-work to confirm I am a fit for the study. Tomorrow is blood tests mainly to confirm none of my major organs are failing, they aren't. Chest X-ray to confirm I have a heart, some people say I don't but my chest is full of wire ties used to put my sternum back together. Will those set off a metal detector at the airport? Then a full suite of movement tests, the ones we've all taken like pick up a marble, now a dime. Then the leg monitor, I'll look like a house arrest prisoner with that anklet, but I can't run. I'll have to wear it for a year so they can get any telemetry about improvement in my gait. People on occasion notice my somewhat less than graceful walk, what will they think if I have that ankle bracelet. Make a note to discuss with the doc, should I need a card if I have some sort of police meeting? What about the airport for the flight to Atlanta? I wonder, what do they use to fill the hole they make in the skull, Bondo? Probable not LOL. Information for my wife in case she has to tell an ambulance crew or ER staff I am part of a medical experiment? So many things to think about and remember no jokes about Project T.A.H.I.T.I when my wife is around, she got creeped out by that Avengers episode and gets upset when I mention taking an island vacation. It you aren't familiar with the reference you can read about it here - http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Project_T.A.H.I.T.I. . We shall see what we see tomorrow but for today I need to get over to the hospital and pickup the DVD with my recent brain MRI.
  11. I always try to keep that thought close. Especially on those days when I am feeling sorry for myself. I have a stroke friend who is wheelchair bound and another who has passed, I'm doing pretty good, still beating the odds and outliving my enemies.
  12. scottm

    Thinking Back

    I remember my first day in rehab, took 2 therapists, one on each side to get me standing and they had to hold me up or I would end up on the floor like a bag of potatoes. Took a lot of work, both physical and mental to get where I can walk slowly but I can do it. My walking isn't always graceful and my vertical integrity is sometime in question. You had a significant victory, claim it with pride.