I write this because two weeks ago I had a stroke. - a bleed to the brain... please listen to your body I was just dizzy - and my right arm was as though it was made of wood. but did I think I had a stroke? of course not. I had been chatting with a friend just 20 minutes earlier, then dizziness came on... ok I thought take it steady.... some 10 minutes later I decided to call my daughter as I would normally do... when all I could hear was a 'noise' a 'gurgling from my mouth OMG I knew right there and then.. and luckily so did my daughter... I was in hospital within the hour... where I was given a clot busting drug, this has to be administered with a couple of hours so the ACT FACT is so important. I have the use of my right arm again and my speech is almost back to normal.. will never be right... but my face on the right side is still numb and will continue to be so... Whilst in hospital I had lots of CT Scans, MRI scans also Doppler scans on my neck, it was found that my artery was 95% blocked so last week I had a not very nice operation to remove the plaque from inside my artery.... CAROTID ENDARTECTOMY if you have to have this operation - I know it is quite daunting but so worth it.. without I would most certainly have had another stroke...and a major one at that. There are over 150,000 people in the UK that have strokes each year, 1/3rd recover, 1/3rd require rehabilitation and 1/3rd do not recover, please listen to any change in your body do not take it as just a little nuisance, I am so glad I made my telephone call, and will always be grateful to the doctors for their prompt and tremendous attention.


