I had my stroke on New Years Day 2004. On Christmas Eve '03 I went to a Chiropractor for the very first time and had my neck adjusted. I had been having neck spasams after having the flu and thought a Chiropractor might help.

After the adjustment I got real dizzy, nauseated and broke out in a cold sweat. I asked if this was normal. The Chiropractor said "NO, but it's probably just a shock to your system" He offered to let me set in the office until the dizziness passed. I knew he was getting ready to close for the holiday's so I told him I'd just set out in my car. It took around and hour or so for me to be able to drive. I went home and went to bed. When I awoke I felt fine and figured that the Chiropractor was right. I went back for a 2nd visit on the 29th of Dec. He adjusted my neck but not near as sharply as the first time. I got a little dizzy but not anything too bad.

On New Year's Eve I started getting real dizzy buy again didn't think too much about it as I had started my minstrations the day before and figured it had something to do with that. When I awoke on New Years morning it was like I was on a merry-go-round and could not get off. I told my husband, Lee, that I felt funny and he told me to get up and see if it would go away after a while. Well it just got worse. I started to slur my words when I talked, and I couldn't swallow. That really scared me. My balance was also off as I couldn't seem to use my left side, and I had double and blurred vision. I also had a dull ache behind my left ear.

Brain Anurisims run in my family and I was terrified that that was what was wrong. I didn't know the symptoms of a stroke. My husband rushed me to the local "Minor" E.R. where I started getting the hiccups every 15 min. or so. There I was examined and told I just had a Upper Respatory Infection. The doc. perscribed a cough syrup with codine in it and some antibiotics for me to take even though he was told that I couldn't swallow. I was released (by this time I couldn't walk at all) and went home where I started to vomit and dry-heaved all night. The next morning on the 2nd, we went to the "Main" ER and I was diagnosed with "Bells Palsy" due to the left side of my face had started to droop. They gave me a bag of fluids through an I.V. and perscribed me some steroids and herpies medication to take (I still could not swallow anything). Again I was sent home.

On the 5th (after the weekend) we were able to get in to see my Mom's family doc. He said that I had been diagnosed wrong at both E.R.'s

He said if we pinned him down right then he would say I had either suffered a stroke or had the begginging stages of MS. But that he wanted to run an MRI to make sure. So, on the 6th I had my first MRI, which came back with swelling on my brain. My mom's (now mine too) refered me to a nero-surgen in Dallas. I went to see him on my 29th b-day, Jan. 7th. He imediatly addmitted me into the Hospital where 3 more MRI's (this time with die in it) were run. It was confermed that I had had a brainstem stroke due to trama to the back of my neck. The left main artery had been completly severed and the right one had been dammaged.

We concluded that it must have occured when I went to the Chiropractor the 1st time as I have had no other "trama" to the back of my neck.

I was put on Heprin and eventually Coumadin to thin my blood. They put a feeding tube down my throat which I didn't tollorate at all. So they moved it to my stomach and started me in re-hab. I stayed in the hospital for 17 days total.