My Stroke Symptoms Were Easy to Miss
On August 5th, I woke up with intense ringing in my right ear, hearing loss, and numbness in my ear and underneath my right eye.
I made an appointment with an audiologist for later that afternoon, but by 8:30 that morning, waiting until 3 p.m. felt irresponsible.
Urgent care? But I kept wondering: what if this was actually urgent?
Emergency room?
My mind went back to the last time that same emergency room dismissed me during a health crisis.
Fifteen minutes later, I ran into the ER and told the person at the front desk what was happening. They grabbed a radio and said, “There’s a female out front experiencing stroke symptoms.”
That was the moment the horror set in.
Another 15 minutes later, I was being prepared for an MRI.
Another 15 minutes go by, and a doctor tells me I just had a stroke, while the nurse beside me administers a clot-busting medication.
My stroke was caused by complications from a rare tumor, and my symptoms did not follow the stroke presentation most people are taught to recognize.
That is part of why I am sharing this.
The following week, I shared the part that was harder to see: what the stroke had taken from me, even though I still looked and sounded like myself.
Nearly One Month Later
Nearly one month after my stroke, my hearing loss diagnosis has improved from moderately severe to mild.
The tinnitus, however, is still here. I attend acupuncture weekly, and for now, those appointments are the only time I experience complete peace and quiet. I have nightmares. I have thousands of dollars in medical bills. I am still dealing with the physical, mental, emotional, and financial aftermath of having a stroke.
This still sucks. And I am also incredibly grateful.
My hearing is returning. A hearing aid has been ruled out. And maybe most of all, I am grateful for what this never became. I still have my mobility, my speech, my independence, and the ability to tell this story myself.
I facilitated five sessions of FACTUALITY this week!
I still have healing ahead of me. I still want the ringing to stop. But nearly one month later, I can look at where I started, look at where I am now, and feel deeply grateful for the progress my body has made.
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