September 5th, I'm 7 months post stroke, I remember the day it happened, I had symptoms for 4 days, a different one everyday until the big day, Monday, I had a headache, Tuesday, I was feeling tired and dizzy, Wednesday, I was having problems with my speech and I was dragging my left foot walking on snow. Thursday, the same speech problem and tiredness. Friday was when it happened, I was losing my balance as well as having all the symptoms on that day, I kept falling, it was so scary. I even went to our family doctors clinic because I really was not feeling right that day. I guess he must have suspected what was happening to me, the only thing he told me is if the symptoms persist, that I have to get myself into the emergency of a hospital. I went home ang lied down on the couch. Good thing my mom, left her work and came home because after talking to me on the phone, she knew there was really something wrong with me, she called 911, and when paramedics came, they checked everything, blood pressure, temperature and pulse, everything was ok, but my symptoms persisted so they took me to the hospital, the emergency nurses, noticed that the left side of my face was drooping, then doctors came and checked on me, I remember they aked me to smile and raise my hands, then I was headed to more complicated tests like CT scan and MRI, results showed that I had a stroke, but they couldn't be sure what caused it. I was transferred to Toronto Western Hospital, the premiere hospital on strokes here, there I had more tests, then I was given heparin. neurologists after looking at my MRI, said I had a rare condition called moya moya disease where arteries in my brain were shrinking which nwhat caused my stroke so basically, the heparin won't work because the arteries are totally blocked. I remember, I had lots of visitors, that first day and night at TWH, my friends who worked as nannies too in the same area I did, my employers, my sisters employer and her children, my moms friends, a second cousin and her husband, a high school schoolmate and her family, I was just lying on the hospital bed, all I could do was smile because I couldn't talk.

Wow, that was 7 months ago, and I'm looking at where I am right now compared to where I was then, I could say, I made significant improvements.

Just thankful that I am still alive and blogging now about what happened to me then.I'm very positive I will get through this in time, we all do, in varying degrees and length of time and we live our lives better than before. You begin to be more appreciative of every day that comes.