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My stroke
·
I
went to the synagogue on the Day of Atonement and I was fasting. ·
I
had a terrible headache, I could not move my head. I went to bed. ·
Next
morning, I dressed the children and I stayed all the time in bed. ·
Sunday,
I still had the headache and I managed to dress up my little daughter who
was two years old, and the headache was there, terrible. I sent my husband
and the children to get some bread, and meanwhile I would lie down. ·
I
collapsed at 9 o’clock in the morning and I did not remember till the
Thursday evening when I woke up. ·
That
happened on 5 October 1987. I had a burst middle cerebral artery. ·
When
I woke up, I found that my right side was paralysed, and I had had a
stroke. ·
I
had a scan later on, and they decided not to operate on me. They sent ,e to a general ward. ·
The
physiotherapist was very good. She was very young and made me do lots of
exercises. After two weeks I recovered the use of my right hand and right leg. ·
The
occupational therapist came to see me only once. She showed me a kitchen and
told me to make a cup of coffee. ·
My
reaction was to feel very desolate and I started to cry then. ·
A
week after the stroke my speech therapist came to see me. I had her three
times a week, or a student, for half an hour, for six months. ·
I
was discharged from the hospital after three weeks and did not see a
hospital doctor for the whole stay in hospital. ·
The
speech therapy stopped after six months and they said that I gradually
would speak a bit better. But it didn’t come back. ·
My
GP came to see me at home, but was not very helpful. ·
In
December 1987 I had two very good friends from Israel to stay with me,
each for a fortnight ·
I
started to cook, to look after my daughter, to go shopping, and slowly get
back to my own life. ·
After
that I remained six years without any speech therapy. ·
I
went to my GP, and I waited another year till I found a group in
my area. It was a Wednesday from 10a.m. to 12.30p.m. ·
I
was the youngest and none of them had aphasia, speaking very well. We used
to read an article in the newspaper, and each read one paragraph in a loud
voice. We discussed it. Then we did some English exercises. ·
When
I wanted to say something, the speech didn’t come out, and I was stuck,
they all spoke all together and I was made to
feel like a silly female. · Then I discovered a patient doing very well. He used to go to Edgware and to Angel (City University) twice a week. And after a year waiting my turn, I went to City Dysphasic Group which I still go to. Then the group became to Connect. · I can't speak properly. My main concern is to speak a bit better. It comes, but slowly. |
(see
photo)