On January 27th, I had a stroke. This explains a lot of my silence lately. I’m doing OK but I want to use this space to explain where I’m at to everyone. I haven’t communicated with nearly anyone since it happened, so I want to break that silence a bit and get everyone up to speed.
Long story short, I had what they call a cerebellar stroke, which is rare. At first they told me I had two strokes, but apparently I had a series of small ones. It was caused by some kind of blood clotting. The doctors are still investigating the situation, since such a stroke is rare in people as young as I am.
I was in the hospital for over a month. I got out in March. It has been a while since I got out, but I am very slow to move. My entire right side is numb. I am able to walk OK, but anything with my right hand is challenging. Nearly everything exhausts me, but there is improvement.
I am slowly getting back to functional, with one step at a time. They say it can take 6-9 months to get sort of normal, so we will see. In the meantime, I am trying to utilize my time for recovery and rehabilitation. I have most of my cognitive functions, but my short term memory is a bit wonky. My speech is a bit slow. So, I think way faster than I speak and type, which takes some getting used to. I could be doing a lot worse, but I’m still recovering pretty seriously.
I will try to write more later. Right now, it is pretty exhausting. I will try to chat with as many people as I can, but it is not easy, so bear with me if I am slow to reply, or do not respond at all. I will try, though.