On Thursday, November 12, I (Jim) was at a luncheon meeting at the American Legion. When I got the soup I ordered, I had trouble holding and opening the package of crackers. My left arm felt numb and heavy. My speech got mumbled and I realized I was having something going wrong.
I knew it was bad enough that I left the meeting to call 911 on my cell phone but was not able to manipulate it properly so I asked the waitress to call 911.
When the fire department EMS got there they agreed I was having a STROKE!! It took a while but they finally took me to the Venice hospital. While waiting to go I had a call placed to Carol to let her know what was going on and also so she could get our car which would be left at the Legion.
The ER staff went into fast action and I got a CAT scan and then they shot an anti-coagulant to dissolve the clot that was the problem. Within 15 minutes of the shot, I began to have improved use of my left arm and the numbness in my tongue was leaving and I could speak more clearly.
I did have to stay on ICU for 24 hours so they could monitor me. They said I had a stroke that was larger than a TIA (mini-stroke) but much less than one where a blood vessel breaks. So I spent Thursday and Friday nights in the hospital and came home on early Saturday evening,
I have been having in-home therapy since then and everything is improving but typing is still a problem because my fingers don't seem to go where I tell them to go!!
I was very lucky that the stroke was small and that I got treatment for it quickly enough. Full recovery is expected.
