The Stroke

My eyesight had gone wacky.

This didn't alert me the way it should have. I've worn glasses for thirty years; that prescription has changed a lot since 1995 and I'd grown used to getting it updated, so when things got extra blurry I realized it had been awhile since my last optometrist visit and I started looking for a new doctor.

It did not register just how quickly this had happened. Or how bad it had gotten.

In fact, it took entirely too long. Instead, my body threw out other hints -- hey look, this really boring walk is exhausting you. Hey look, you start coughing when you lay down.

Hey look. Your feet are swollen.

I had a smattering of sick days. I had a hard time reading. I couldn't concentrate at work. Then I finally googled my symptoms late one night. So at 1AM on a Tuesday in July, I woke up the Tall Guy.

"Hey. I think I'm having a heart attack. I need you to take me to the ER."

He didn't believe me at first, but inside a minute he was much more worried than I was. He hurried me through packing a bag and we were out the door.

The ER was quiet, which was one reason they took me back right away. Saying "I think I'm having a heart attack" definitely sped it along as well, and the response the doctor had when she took my blood pressure got things moving very fast.

After that? I don't fully remember.

The Tall Guy watched me crash -- my blood pressure was lowered far too quickly initially -- and watched me stabilize. And then the tests and scans started. My age did not help things, nor did the fact that my body had clearly been fighting something for awhile.

It took a week to be absolutely sure. Inflammation had to resolve, more family history related, scans repeated to see what had changed. All of these things I'd never done before -- CT, MRI, EKG, echo -- became old hat.

I hadn't had a heart attack, but a stroke.

MRI image from the Mayo Clinic

That is not an easy thing to hear when you're 41. I could argue there are worse things, things I'm glad they didn't find in the midst of all those tests, but suddenly I was still facing a thing that most folks my age don't get to go through. With the added bonus that, well, it could very definitely happen again.

Yet here I am, four months later, and I can safely say I feel better than I have since about 2023.

Yes, a lot of things have changed. I have a small army of doctors now. I have meds. I pay a lot more attention to what I eat. Some of this ... well, some of this I definitely should have done sooner. It wasn't the biggest surprise. There's a lot of family history of cardiovascular problems and I do have health insurance that I was not using properly. (Old habits die hard, I guess.)

But.

But I'm still here. And I'm making plans for 2026, big and small. It is time to get this year behind me.