A Stroke and its Aftermath

HOSPITAL DISCHARGE

I didn’t see the consultant again before my discharge seven days after the stroke.

I was anxious to discuss my condition with someone, and his assistant did see me an answer some of my questions, but I still felt somewhat in the dark about prognosis and long term treatment.

I had already discovered that I would not be allowed to drive commercially for at least twelve months so that meant that my new business, which I had spent almost a year developing, could now be virtually destroyed[1].

One day on the ward a bright young Australian girl came over and introduced herself to me as the speech therapist. I must admit that I immediately burst into laughter and she asked why.

“How on earth can an Australian be a speech therapist?”, I said. “Surely it is a contradiction in terms!”

She laughed too and then said that she could see that my speaking seemed OK.

At this point I put on a very serious voice and dead-pan expression and said, “Well you may think it sounds OK, but before the stroke I had a Scottish accent!”

What I hadn’t realised at the time was that some people with brain damage have been known to change their accent and speech mannerisms, so she took me seriously for a moment until I put her out of her misery … well, you have to have some fun sometimes, don’t you?

On my last day I was given a number of new drugs to take and told that after a week I would need to see my doctor and would be prescribed warfarin[2], a very frightening drug which thins the blood to prevent strokes, but can also cause uncontrolled bleeding if the dosage is wrong.

There was little reassurance given about this drug and I must admit that I left the hospital rather less than well-informed from my own perspective. Perhaps an area which needs attention.

Regarding the period I was in hospital, however, I must say that cleanliness was nothing less than superb, the meals were very good indeed … not restaurant standard, but nicely prepared, hot, tasty and sufficient. There was also quite a lot of choice on the menu.

The most stressful part of the stay was the incompetent stupidity of PatientLine, who provide the bedside telephones and televisions, but even that is better than the endless stream of soaps on a communal telly which used to drive thinking patients to distraction before personal viewing came into being!

The staff seemed cheerful and very diligent and the only other complaint was this business of the monitors going off through the night on some beds. This really should be an easy problem to solve with twenty-first century technology. Bluetooth devices, for instance.

I left the hospital on 21^st and arrived home with some concern over what I would have to do to earn a living. The old brain box had let me down. I needed to innovate, and quickly. That innovation is covered by aspects of my websites. I’m even earning a few dollars in Second Life!

[1] In fact a guide from our original bus business has taken over the tours and we are selling them for her on commission, which will just about pay to keep the website live over the next twelve months when we’ll review the situation.

[2] Once used as rat poison to make rats bleed to death.