WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR LIFE CHANGES FOREVER?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, the first lines of the Charles Dickens novel “A Tale Of Two Cities”. Now I’m no Charles Dickens and this isn’t about two cities, but it is about two lives, changed forever one sunny day in June 2018.
Today is Sunday, 1st July 2018. Last Sunday, and indeed just Tuesday past, were both very ordinary days. Me and my wife Janet went out for a walk, went shopping, watched television, I played golf and because there is a heatwave currently, we spent a bit of time sitting out in the garden, mainly in the shade, sipping our glasses of wine. Quite content.
That changed last Wednesday, 27th June. Having gone to Burntisland on a day jaunt with her sister and great niece, they visited the local fairground and she and her sister went on one of the rides. Not sure what happened, but half way through the ride, Janet felt "funny" and after it stopped she had to sit down at the side, feeling dizzy and had pins and needles down her arm. A passing retired nurse saw Janet and immediately said for someone to call an ambulance. Janet was suffering a stroke!
An ambulance arrived quickly and took her to the nearest Accident & Emergency unit, at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. The first I knew of any of this was when Stacey, Janet's great niece, phoned me at 3.56pm. When I first looked at my phone, I presumed it was Janet using Stacey's phone.
So I went over to Kirkcaldy that Wednesday night and Janet was in the Medical High Dependency Unit, part of the Intensive Care Department. She was coherent, but lying flat out on her bed. Blood vessels had burst at the base of her brain causing the severe pins and needles down her right arm and leg, and she had double vision, initially in both eyes, then only in her right eye.
Janet felt her face was "frozen" and her tongue swollen and this affected her speech, with her words being slurred much of the time. She was on medication by way of a canula in her left arm, which left quite a bit of bruising.
The nurse on duty at that time said that physiotherapy would start almost immediately and that Janet would at some stage either be released home or if not much progress in a week's time, be transferred to the Borders General Hospital ("BGH"), near Melrose. During that first night, Janet's condition was checked every hour, with her blood pressure and heart rate closely monitored. Her condition stabilised and there was no further deterioration.
At the end of the following day, Thursday, a bed became available in the Stroke Ward at the same hospital and Janet was transferred there, where each patient has their own en-suite room. This was a quieter environment, giving her more chance of a decent night's sleep, which she really needed as she gets tired very easily.
Her son and daughter-in-law, Neil and Ruth, visited yesterday afternoon which she enjoyed and her other son and daughter-in-law, Alex and Debbie are visiting tomorrow afternoon. I've also had a text from her granddaughter, Nicole, who is to visit on Wednesday evening.
My own children have been phoning me very regularly, which I greatly appreciate. We were due to go down south in 3 weeks time to see them all but obviously that has needed to be cancelled, although Gemma and her boyfriend, Rich are coming up to stay in a month's time and Gordon is talking about bring the boys up to see us.
So for the past four days, I have visited Janet, usually in the evening and staying for 90-120 minutes each time. We talk our usual silly nonsense, interspersed with serious discussion about our future and having a good cry in each others arms. At this present time, there is really no change in Janet's condition, which looking on the positive side means she has at least not deteriorated. Her physio starts in earnest tomorrow morning.
It is very early days to know how good a recovery she will make, but I can only hope she gets back as much movement as possible. I am missing her so much and the house seems so empty without her presence.
Today is Sunday, 1st July 2018. Last Sunday, and indeed just Tuesday past, were both very ordinary days. Me and my wife Janet went out for a walk, went shopping, watched television, I played golf and because there is a heatwave currently, we spent a bit of time sitting out in the garden, mainly in the shade, sipping our glasses of wine. Quite content.
That changed last Wednesday, 27th June. Having gone to Burntisland on a day jaunt with her sister and great niece, they visited the local fairground and she and her sister went on one of the rides. Not sure what happened, but half way through the ride, Janet felt "funny" and after it stopped she had to sit down at the side, feeling dizzy and had pins and needles down her arm. A passing retired nurse saw Janet and immediately said for someone to call an ambulance. Janet was suffering a stroke!
An ambulance arrived quickly and took her to the nearest Accident & Emergency unit, at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. The first I knew of any of this was when Stacey, Janet's great niece, phoned me at 3.56pm. When I first looked at my phone, I presumed it was Janet using Stacey's phone.
So I went over to Kirkcaldy that Wednesday night and Janet was in the Medical High Dependency Unit, part of the Intensive Care Department. She was coherent, but lying flat out on her bed. Blood vessels had burst at the base of her brain causing the severe pins and needles down her right arm and leg, and she had double vision, initially in both eyes, then only in her right eye.
Janet felt her face was "frozen" and her tongue swollen and this affected her speech, with her words being slurred much of the time. She was on medication by way of a canula in her left arm, which left quite a bit of bruising.
The nurse on duty at that time said that physiotherapy would start almost immediately and that Janet would at some stage either be released home or if not much progress in a week's time, be transferred to the Borders General Hospital ("BGH"), near Melrose. During that first night, Janet's condition was checked every hour, with her blood pressure and heart rate closely monitored. Her condition stabilised and there was no further deterioration.
At the end of the following day, Thursday, a bed became available in the Stroke Ward at the same hospital and Janet was transferred there, where each patient has their own en-suite room. This was a quieter environment, giving her more chance of a decent night's sleep, which she really needed as she gets tired very easily.
Her son and daughter-in-law, Neil and Ruth, visited yesterday afternoon which she enjoyed and her other son and daughter-in-law, Alex and Debbie are visiting tomorrow afternoon. I've also had a text from her granddaughter, Nicole, who is to visit on Wednesday evening.
My own children have been phoning me very regularly, which I greatly appreciate. We were due to go down south in 3 weeks time to see them all but obviously that has needed to be cancelled, although Gemma and her boyfriend, Rich are coming up to stay in a month's time and Gordon is talking about bring the boys up to see us.
So for the past four days, I have visited Janet, usually in the evening and staying for 90-120 minutes each time. We talk our usual silly nonsense, interspersed with serious discussion about our future and having a good cry in each others arms. At this present time, there is really no change in Janet's condition, which looking on the positive side means she has at least not deteriorated. Her physio starts in earnest tomorrow morning.
It is very early days to know how good a recovery she will make, but I can only hope she gets back as much movement as possible. I am missing her so much and the house seems so empty without her presence.
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