A "stroke" of bad luck, maybe.

[marchone]

Well its been a while. Seems I am one of the lucky ones.

Aside from a slight limp on my left leg when I'm not paying attention to "how" I am walking, and s slow left middle finger (which has actually kept me out of a lot of trouble whilst driving...) I have been able to almost fully recover.

I do have an aural delay which is really weird.

Ever go to another country and speak to someone who speaks your language, but with a heavy native accent? You sort have to let what they said rattle around in your head for a bit, then the light pops on and you can put together what they said?

That is me every time someone speaks to me when I am not fully engaged in a conversation. Walk into my office and start talking before I see you and have time to kick my mind into gear, and I'll look at you like you are speaking a foreign language, which to me, you sort of are, really weird. Makes me look like a real dolt sometimes to people who don't know me, as I look back slack-jawed and silent, but if that is my biggest stroke complaint, I am truly lucky.

On a relevant topic, the relearning how to play is going really well. I don't quite have all my speed and flow back, and may never get it, but I have definitely been able to clean up some sloppy habits I previously had.

I used to avoid using my left ring finger whenever possible, because it just felt clumsy, now fixed, and have defeated my occasional-baseball bat grip altogether.

My left hand is definitely more precise, just a bit slower. For some reason my feel for where my left hand "is" on the neck (without looking, and we ~all~ look from time to time...) has improved, to a weirdly high degree, and I have absolutely now idea how or why.

Overall, I can't complain.

It took me three years to recover. Still, with a residual deficit in my right hand that prevents me from using a plectrum anymore.

 

[Salicete]

It took me three years to recover. Still, with a residual deficit in my right hand that prevents me from using a plectrum anymore.

Numbness or strength?

I find the strength in my left hand has mostly returned, but I don't have nearly the tactile sensitivity I used to.

 

[marchone]

Numbness or strength?

I find the strength in my left hand has mostly returned, but I don't have nearly the tactile senility I used to.

Numbness. I can’t detect normal pressure between my fingertips to grasp a lock on a pick firmly enough by feel. I have strength.

 

[Salicete]

Nice typo I made there, (and fixed, check your quote) but in fact it is a bit like my hand has gone a bit senile, so it works.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I got lucky and had minimal side effects. Some weird side effects were that I couldn't remember the word "letters" and said we should drop the .... ah ... envelopes off at the mailbox. I couldn't remember the names of the artists that performed a lot of music that I like. If you gave me a multiple choice test I could pick out the right answer because I knew it, just couldn't recall it immediately. That was happening more and more as it seems like there is less bandwidth given to remembering things when you can just look it up on your phone in a few seconds.

 

[Salicete]

I got lucky and had minimal side effects. Some weird side effects were that I couldn't remember the word "letters" and said we should drop the .... ah ... envelopes off at the mailbox. I couldn't remember the names of the artists that performed a lot of music that I like. If you gave me a multiple choice test I could pick out the right answer because I knew it, just couldn't recall it immediately. That was happening more and more as it seems like there is less bandwidth given to remembering things when you can just look it up on your phone in a few seconds.

Yup, it is really strange, and bit random, what strokes do to your brain and body. Everybody I talk to seems to have their own unique horror story.

 

[definenredefine]

To try to answer why a doctor says such and such "likely" (rather than definitely) caused a stroke, it's because it's very difficult to tell with 100% certainty. Strokes are caused by interrupted blood flow to the brain, but there are a couple things that can interrupt said blood flow - clots or bleeds. Each of those has multiple causes as well. Clots can result from an arrhythmia (usually atrial fibrillation), or long-standing arterial damage from high blood pressure along with high cholesterol. Bleeds can result from ruptured aneurysms or severely elevated blood pressure. In patients who have a clot but don't have an arrhythmia, determining the exact cause of a stroke is very challenging.

 

[marchone]

To try to answer why a doctor says such and such "likely" (rather than definitely) caused a stroke, it's because it's very difficult to tell with 100% certainty. Strokes are caused by interrupted blood flow to the brain, but there are a couple things that can interrupt said blood flow - clots or bleeds. Each of those has multiple causes as well. Clots can result from an arrhythmia (usually atrial fibrillation), or long-standing arterial damage from high blood pressure along with high cholesterol. Bleeds can result from ruptured aneurysms or severely elevated blood pressure. In patients who have a clot but don't have an arrhythmia, determining the exact cause of a stroke is very challenging.

My attending docs told me definitively that my condition was caused by AF flicking off a piece of plaque that made its way far up into my brain causing an Ischemic stroke. That’s why a patient needs to understand a 6%-7% chance of misdiagnosis can result in sudden death.

Many physicians won’t administer a tPA injection for the very reason they may face a malpractice suit if they misdiagnosis. The misdiagnosis would be missing a Hemorrhagic stroke. A tPA shot would explode blood vessels at the blockage.

 

[definenredefine]

My attending docs told me definitively that my condition was caused by AF flicking off a piece of plaque that made its way far up into my brain causing an Ischemic stroke. That’s why a patient needs to understand a 6%-7% chance of misdiagnosis can result in sudden death.

This is a very common cause of stroke. We see it pretty regularly.

Many physicians won’t administer a tPA injection for the very reason they may face a malpractice suit if they misdiagnosis. The misdiagnosis would be missing a Hemorrhagic stroke. A tPA shot would explode blood vessels at the blockage.

This is true. We always - ALWAYS - do a plain head CT before administering clot busters like tPA for stroke patients. That's the best way for us to quickly rule out a hemorrhagic stroke. Even that's no guarantee that we'll use such drugs - there are many criteria that rule out therapy.

 

[Salicete]

It’s been a while since I posted. I recovered, mostly, got a new job, moved my 95 year-old mom to my house, and basically had to start a whole different life.

The good news, I can still play, not that I have much time to these days. The stroke left the two middle fingers on my left hand a bit less articulate, but on the up side, it forced me to stop avoiding using my little finger whenever I could, which, surprise-surprise, greatly improved my overall technique.

I never used a baseball bat grip, thumb hanging over the neck. I had a bass teacher when I was a kid who would slap my hand off the neck if he caught me doing it. Times were different.,

With a weaker left hand, I do it a bit now, and it permits some fingerings, and reach I didn’t have before. I’m not super fluid anymore, but ya know what, I can still play about anything I could before, and jam with my son, so life ain’t all that bad.

Hope everyone here has a great holiday season, however you chose to observe it, or not, either way, hope life finds you happy.

 

[pepj]

Wow. Best wishes on your continued recovery.