It started during my business trip to New York.
Before I left for Manhattan, I began experiencing a tingling sensation in my left arm and hand, but because my MacBook Pro is like an appenditure, I thought I had a pinched nerve in my shoulder that was causing poor circulation in my arm, but in the coming days when I was no longer able to sleep because that numbness had migrated to my abdomen, thigh, leg and foot, I knew something was wrong. I called the Aetna Nurse Hotline and explained my concerns. It wasn't until the nurse began asking me questions that I realized the severity of my symptoms...issues I'd been experiencing and taking for granted (unsteady on my feet, blurred vision, and having a difficult time finding the right words....overall forgetting and being unable to remember simple things) .
Since none of these symptoms involved my face, I didn’t make the connection. As I spoke with the nurse, she explained the urgency of going to the emergency room. She suggested, with a nervous undertone to her voice, “You may be having a stroke.” I called an Uber to go to the hospital immediately. The Uber driver was a praying man of God and began pulling down strongholds, speaking in tongues and running red lights.
We made it to the hospital safely and during triage I learned my systolic blood pressure was more than 40 points higher that my normal 110 (110/60) and my heart rate was much lower than usual, less than 50. After running all of the necessary tests: chest x-ray, CT Scan and MRI of my head and neck, it was determined that I may have had a number of Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs), minor warning strokes, that usually lead up to a larger more menacing and debilitating, possibly life-ending stroke.
Here is more information about TIAs: http://www.stroke.org/understand-stroke/what-stroke/what-tia
Going to the hospital was my wake up call and I’m glad it happened this way, so I can share this information with others. I hope I can reach one of you if not all of you. Many of us are in survival mode and we don’t think about ourselves as much as we think of others. Often times, we don’t take care of ourselves. Many of us maintain an unhealthy weight, drink alcohol (or do other unhealthy things) when we’re stressed out, and don’t actually sit down and assess our symptoms let alone act on them. We usually take over-the-counter meds, which mask symptoms while we ignore our bodies.
I praise God for my second chance and I want you to have one too. Preserve yourself. You are an originally designed special creation and we will miss out if you're not around. If anything in this article raised your level of concern, get checked out today!
Concerned you may be experiencing a stroke? Check out this website to recognize the subtle signs, get your body the help it needs, and call 911 immediately. You could save your life or the life of a loved one. http://www.stroke.org/understand-stroke/recognizing-stroke
No comments:
Post a Comment