by Pat Bruno

Created on: July 14, 2008

A stroke is a life-changing event. It forever changes the lives of the affected individual and their immediate families. Generally speaking, there are two basic types of stroke: ischemic (a clot) and hemorrhagic (a bleed). I prefer to categorize these types as catastrophic and cataclysmic. While these terms are not medical, they more accurately describe the impact of the experience. I am a survivor of the hemorrhagic type (the rarer and more serious of the two). The doctors told me that I was lucky to have survived this incident. The word "lucky" has quite a different connotation when half your body is paralyzed and the future use of it is questionable.

The first cognitive reactions of this event were shock, disbelief, fear, and possibly a degree of denial. In talking with other stroke victims, anger is another common reaction. These initial reactions were followed by apprehension concerning the treatment protocol and the necessary timelines to implement a cure. Factually speaking, strokes are not cured. Surgery, rest, and medications do not make you "well". Once brain cells die, the do not regenerate. Treatment emphasizes physical and occupational therapy. While the brain tries to create new pathways to non working muscles (an unpredictable process that remains a mystery), the patient tries to re-learn how to perform basic functions with their remaining assets.

In my particular case, the details of my initial days are difficult or impossible for me to recall. My stay in the intensive care unit lasted approximately three weeks, during which time I was mostly unconscious (though technically not in a coma). Aside from having a hole drilled in my head to help relieve the pressure and fluids from my swollen brain, I had contracted meningitis, pneumonia, and a staff infection. The prospects of my awakening at all were questionable. Recovery of any kind was in doubt.

Since I was on a business trip when my stroke occurred, I was in a hospital that was 400 miles away from home. I can only imagine my wife's reaction to the phone call she received from my doctor. Within two hours she was on a plane heading for a place she had never been before. The facts of those initial days of recovery were provided by my wife and my daughter, who kept a diary of events. When I finally woke up, I could not even hold my head up. Half my body was paralyzed. However, after a time, I could speak somewhat normally. In that context, I did consider myself lucky, although this was pretty much

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