Running After Stroke

I landed at the QE11 on November 1,2021 and then four days later, after a five-hour bumpy ambulance ride, I arrived at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital. 

There was a lot going on with me. I still had an NG Tube (this is how they were feeding me). I was making tiny sounds. My right side was paralyzed, but I was starting to move my leg. I had never taken a prescribed pill before. Now I was taking whatever the doctors gave me. 

My husband showed up with my phone and some clothing. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, I could only have him as a visitor. Earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic, they prohibited patients from receiving any visitors, even if they were dying. I considered myself very lucky. 

I changed out of my hospital gown. That was a luxury. I checked my messages on my phone and tried to answer but I still could not write…I had to answer with emojis. I slept almost all the time. Neurofatigue is real; it is still very real a year and a half later.

I arrived late on a Friday, so there was not much going on during the weekend. They had me move from my bed to a chair several times a day and by Sunday, I was feeling my entire leg.

On Monday, my physiotherapist came. She had me walk the halls with a walker. I did three rounds. My arm was still hanging there, paralyzed, unresponsive. I was sitting on my hand by accident for long periods of time. I had to be extra careful that I did not get it caught anywhere. 

Two days later, I graduated to a cane. The next day, I was doing one of my regular walks up and down the hall, and I noticed my physiotherapist watching me from the nurse’s station. She came to my room later and asked me to go for a walk. We walked out of the stroke unit and down some halls until we got to a large lobby with a stand-alone staircase in the corner. She asked me to climb up and down the stairs. Then she took my cane away and had me do it again. From this point on, I was cane-free!

Several doctors met with me. I was starting to talk a little. I had aphasia and dysarthria. I asked them how long it would take to recover from my stroke. They said at least a year. My stroke has only caused me to cry on three occasions. That was one of those times. 

During my walks around the stroke unit, I noticed a room full of what looked like exercise equipment. I kept wondering when they would take me there; I wanted to rebuild my strength. Dr. Meaghan Keating told me it was just a storage room with random equipment, which really disappointed me. I told her I was a runner. She gave me some extra exercises to do in my room. She also told me I WOULD run again. I never forgot her words.

I was home by mid-November. On December 22, I had a blood clot in my brain. It came from the same artery as my dissection; it wasn’t healed yet, so some blood scraped off and landed in the same spot on my brain that was damaged by the stroke. This put me way back on so many levels. I stayed overnight in the hospital and they sent me home. They put me on real blood thinners instead of baby aspirin; forever, they told me.

I had an occupational therapist, and a physiotherapist come to my home once a week. My arm was slowly waking up. I was doing an hour of arm exercises every day. After my exercises, I had to rest. After visits from the therapists, I had to rest. After a shower, I had to rest. For me, neurofatigue is one of the worst conditions left by the stroke, even more frustrating than my maimed right arm. My speech problems are super frustrating as well. 

After months of arm exercises and resting, I managed to do 15 push-ups. My right arm was shaking like crazy, but I did it. 

Two days later, on June 16th, I went on my first run since my stroke. My husband waited by the phone because I was not sure I could do it. I ran 5km. I was elated. 

That same day, I booked myself into my first race ever. Just because I could. The 5km Sunset race at the Maritime Race Weekend in Halifax. I convinced my cousin to run with me. She is not a runner! My sister came too; this was not her first race, so at least someone knew what was going on. We picked pirate names and bought pirate bandanas. 

I ran all summer. September 16th,2022 was our race day. It was freezing. I did my best time ever since my stroke and 19th out of 158 in my age division. 

It has been 1 year and 7 months since my stroke. I am in speech therapy. Neurofatigue is an issue, but not nearly as bad as before. I nap once a day. My speech gets worse when I am tired and I cannot drive long distances. My right side, from the top of my head to the tips of my fingers, is mostly paralyzed. 

I am still running. 

For those fellow stroke survivors or family members, here are are a couple of good resources:

There are lots of Stroke Survivor Groups on Facebook; joining one made a world of difference to me.