10 Things I Learned About Living as a Stroke Survivor

I live a life of peacefulness. I'm not rich and don't want to be. I am a Goodwill addict. And I've never accepted the stroke fully, but I'm close, getting to recognize that I am competing with myself--one more step to climb, yet another minute on the bike, an additional hour standing.

I have solitude now, but I'm not lonely. When it's quiet in my apartment, I am thinking all the time--of this blog, another book to read, another book to write. And the ten things I learned about living as a stroke survivor. Here they are:

1.  I find people staring at me, like an oddity of sorts among the "normals." I used to return their stare, angry and maniacal, but now, I like myself enough to not care.

2.  I'm worthwhile, making a contribution, albeit small, to society at large, by giving my knowledge about strokes to anybody who affords me the opportunity to speak. There is always a stroke group who loves to hear the stories behind a stroke survivorship.

3.  I pursue my love of reading to keep my brain at optimum level. If my eyes tire and can't read the words on the page, I use audiotapes.

4.  I always use the computer since I am a writer. But you don't have to be a writer to stay in touch with the world via the computer, with CNN or Google news, for example. My iPhone and my iPad do the same thing. 

5.  The last cry for help was the last. Having Life Alert, a direct connection to the emergency crew by pushing a button on a necklace that's always around my neck, makes me and my sons more comfortable. The cell phone, if it's charged, works the same by calling "911." (The operative word is "charged"!)

6.  Most of my falls were in my kitchen. But now, I bought a used wheelchair and a new cushion that I keep in my kitchen to prevent falling--sit, retrieve, and stand.

7.  I speak from the gut now to medical professionals, telling them, for example, if they missed a question on the "new patient" form or if they don't let me finish my thought, always preceded by, "With all due respect...."

8.  I like to be organized to simplify my life and to accommodate all my OCD (which many stroke survivors have) tendencies. So I have a file cabinet and a desk which I bought at Goodwill for $15.

9.  I set the alarm on my iPhone when I have to take medication by speaking to Siri, the intelligent personal assistant that comes with Apple products. It takes the guesswork out of remembering. I also set the alarm to keep from napping longer to avoid insomnia at night.

10. I live each day with appreciation for the love of my sons, their respective significant others, and the friends I have obtained coast-to-coast in America and around the world.

As I say in the intro to the blog, "I don't embrace the stroke -- not now, not ever -- but I accept it because I have two options: live with the stroke or... well, you know the alternative." 

I am here, alive, and trying my damnedest to keep it that way for a long time.

The Relationship Between Surgical Procedures and Blood Clots

Wake-up time. If you're going to have surgery in the near or distant future, please read this post. As common, a little history first.  

Blood clot

Blood clots are a solemn reminder of just how fragile the human body is. Blood clots usually appear in your legs and are called deep vein thrombosis (DVT), the most common type of blood clot after surgery. They typically remain in the legs, but can break free and begin to move through the blood stream, like to the lungs or brain, known as an embolism. I had two blood clot experiences as a stroke survivor, and with both, the hospital kept me for a week each time. You might think that doctors and nurses are obsessed by blood clots, but this event is serious business. And the obsession is valid.

Blood clots can lead to a stroke, another name for an embolism that travels to the brain. Strokes can result in long-term disabilities including slurred speech, an inability to speak, one-sided weakness, and facial drooping, for example. 

Pulmonary embolism

A pulmonary embolism means one clot landed up in your lungs, causing possible pain and severe shortness of breath, resulting in death for 30%.   

Clots are often associated with surgery. The reason is, the person is lying still during the procedure and potentially for many hours post-surgery. (Blood clots, as mentioned in my blog, can also form when an person is motionless for long periods of time, such as during airplane ride a long car trip. http://stroketales.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2013-07-01T00:00:00-04:00&updated-max=2013-08-01T00:00:00-04:00&max-results=2)

The type of surgery you are having can also increase the risk of having blood clots after the procedure. If your surgery requires your arteries, veins, or tendons to be cut or repaired, the risk of a blood clot is higher because your body works to stop bleeding by forming clots. 

The risk factors for blood clots both during and after surgery may include:

• History of Blood Clots: If you have had a blood clot in the past, your are more likely to have one in the future.  
• Genetics: If your family is prone to clots, you may be, too. 
• Atrial Fibrillation: Patients with an irregular heart beat have an increased risk of forming blood clots.
• Pregnancy: The chance of blood clots increase as the body makes blood clot faster in preparation for child birth.
• Cancer: Some types of cancer make blood clot more easily.
• Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT): One known side effect of HRT is the increased risk of forming blood clots.
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Prolonged Immobility which include the time during anesthesia and recovering
• Heart Valve Issues people with replacement heart valves or heart valve problems have a higher risk of forming clots that can then travel to the lungs or brain.

After surgery, if you are able, get up and move during your recovery, one of the ways to prevent blood clots. Staying well hydrated by drinking ample amounts of water can also reduce your risk of forming clots, too.  


One treatment for blood clots post surgery is heparin, a medication that is given by injection or by IV to prevent the formation of clots, to reduce the clots that already formed, or to keep the blood clots from getting larger. Another is Coumadin, or the generic Warfarin, given to help the body remove a clot from the bloodstream.

In cases where there is a high risk of the clot moving to the lungs or brain, especially after surgery, a device called an inferior vena cava filter (or Greenfield Filter) may be placed, which acts like a tiny porous vessel, catching clots before they can damage the lungs or brain. A small incision in the groin or neck is how the filter is put into place in the inferior vena cava. But the blood clots can break off and go to your lungs or brain anyway. That is how I had a pulmonary embolism. The filter can catch all, but sometimes not everything.

So you really have to hope for the best because the cold truth is, you never know what's gonna bite you in the ass next.

Walmart--A Convenient Place to Shop, Unless You're a Shoplifter

As a stroke survivor, I always feel vulnerable. I can't escape  from danger because I can't run away--from a fire, a mugging, or even a bee attack, for instance. As a result, I evoke unsolicited drama wherever I go. So it's time to tell you the story of when we went to Walmart.

Walmart, especially the super-sized ones, is the place you go when you need a variety of things, a consolidation of the trips you would have taken to the grocery store, the hardware emporium, and the plant shop, for example.

A couple of days ago, I (in my wheelchair because sometimes the scooters are wet from I-don't-know-what but I can take a guess) and my friend went to Walmart wearing casual clothing--the two of us in jeans and hoodies (my hoodie comes into play later on)--to shop for a bag of romaine, light bulbs, and a plant not requiring much of anything, like water and sunlight. But every time I go there, I get what's on the list and a slew of more items. Every time. Good marketing, I imagine.

Anyway, I also picked up an avocado and a box of tomatoes that an AARP article nudged me to do, a sun hat (which I didn't at all need), flip-flops for the future even though I still have an AFO, an extra extra jar of Musselman's  applesauce, just-in-case, that I use for taking my pills, a can of Pledge, two dust cloths (that are related to the Pledge), and two plants in case one of them dropped dead on the ride home. I also picked up batteries for my MP3 player that I use for exercising. My friend picked up a plastic container of Hershey's syrup that her son loved for chocolate milk.

The ride through the store was a hard one, going down every aisle in case I missed something, especially the sale items which Walmart calls "rollbacks." After a while, I couldn't carry the things on my lap anymore, after dropping the Hershey's syrup and Pledge three times. So my friend put the dropped items in my hood and we went to the cashier to check out. I got the receipt and attempted to exit the store.

However, I was in a high-anxiety state when extraordinarily loud alarm bells and buzzers started going off simultaneously. Soon, two beefy security men appeared. My friend (soon to be not) forgot to take out the Hershey's syrup and Pledge from my hood unknowingly. Really. Unknowingly! Evidently, Walmart has cameras, or security people watching from above.

Could it just prove my theory: You never know what will bite you in the ass next? I closed my eyes, expecting the worse, thinking to myself in the wheelchair, "Where am I exactly going? Could I run away? NO way!" My friend was standing alongside me.

"You have something in your hood," one of the guards said to me. It wasn't the time for jokes, but actually I had two things in my hood.

"Oh? I didn't know," I replied with all the self-righteousness I could muster. And I didn't know. She and I forgot about the allegedly stolen items. Because that's what they were. Allegedly stolen. Good thing the guards stopped us inside the store. I don't want to even think about what could've happened if we were outside the store.

I offered to pay for them and the two guards were looking at us skeptically with we-don't-give-away-free-stuff-at-Walmart expressions. Not a word from the guards any more. Without looking back, we just turned around, went to a cashier, and paid--me for the Pledge and her for the Hershey's. 

We didn't say a word during the long drive home. I was proud of myself for not saying, "She did it. It was her fault." And she was probably saying to herself, "Why do I even work for this woman." 

I found this article the next day on the computer:

Fort Lee, FL--A security guard at a Fort Myers Walmart was caught on video tackling a suspected shoplifter and holding her down. That employee has since been fired for how he handled the situation.

That worker told investigators he tried to stop them and they took off running. That's when he tackled them.

If that's the way Walmart's security guards were trained, were we lucky in retrospect? Absolutely!