I had been having a very painful headache the entire week before this.  I say "a" headache because once it started, it never really went away during the entire week.  It was the worst headache in intensity, as well as duration that I have ever had (before or since).  Because I am a special education teacher in a middle school, and was in a stressful marriage, headaches were not an unusual thing (especially in May, when every kid in school has Spring fever).
   
On May 10, 2002, I was one of the teachers to go on a day long field trip to a local amusement park with the kids.  I had been taking a decongestant, which seemed to help some, and took some on the way home from the field trip.  Then, when I got ready for bed a couple of hours later, I took another dose (forgetting that it really wasn't time for it).  I don't know if that triggered the stroke, or if it would have happened anyway and the headache was just an indication of something bad to come.
   
Nevertheless, I woke up about 2 AM on May 11.  I thought I had the flu.  WOW, what a flu!  Even moving my eyes made me so dizzy I wanted to throw up.  I had to hold on to the bed and various other items of furniture to even get to the bathroom.
    
By morning, even after a call to the Dr. and a 3 AM trip to the pharmacy for motion sickness medicine (every time I moved my head the room spun and I wanted to puke...guess that qualifies as motion sickness!) I was still violently sick.  By then, my left arm and leg were starting to tingle and go numb.  So, duhh, we decided to go to the emergency room.
    
The ER doc did the usual stuff, tested my grip in both hands, and sent me for a CAT scan.  Nada.  He decided I had the flu and gave me something for the nausea.  As I lay on the gurney, my arms and legs started jerking (kind of like a small, light seizure), so he decided I was having an allergic reaction to the medication.  I believe his words were, "Hmmm, that's an allergic reaction.  Good thing you are young, because when elderly patients do that, it means they are having a stroke."  Then he pumped me full of Benadryl and sent me home.
    
Over the rest of the weekend (it was Mother's Day weekend......what a great Mother's Day present!!) I alternated between trying to prove I could walk, not knocking things over with my uncooperative left hand, trying not to see double every time I looked to the right, and pretending I was just fine, thank you.  Other exciting events that weekend included, having to crawl to the bathroom in the middle of the night, falling off the toilet head first into the wall, and trying to get dressed by myself.  Are you getting the feeling that I'm stubborn?
    
On Monday May 13, I got up and was barely able to take a shower by myself.  I remember sitting on the side of the bathtub sobbing that I wanted my life back.  That morning, I went to my regular Dr., and he checked me for about two minutes, and said, "Hold on, I'll be right back."  He was gone about 10 minutes and came back and told me he had called the hospital and happened to get connected with a neurologist, and in my opinion, the best neurologist in town (also one of the nicest, most down-to-earth doctors you'd ever want to meet), and Dr. Quinn (I kid you not) wanted me to come to the hospital immediately for an MRI. 

My husband took me back to the hospital and I checked in.  While he was parking the car, the nice ladies there let my little girl ride on my lap in the wheelchair on the way up to the room (she was almost five at the time).

I mention the dates, because they are forever seared in my mind.  May 10, 2002 marks the last day of my old "normal" life.  My life as I knew it was over for good.  Time to build a new one.  This site is part of that re-building.  I use a rather unique approach to the whole thing.....humor (seriousness is used only when necessary).  If you can smile about, or at least relate to some of the things in this site, then maybe it'll help make the process not so scary!

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind people to not be careless like I was and wait to go to the hospital.  If it had been a hemorrhagic stoke, I very well could have died, or had worse irreversible damage to my brain and body while I waited to go to the hospital.  DON'T WAIT!  If you think you're having a stroke go to the hospital immediately.  If it's a false alarm, you'll get over the embarrassment.  If it's not a false alarm, you can't get over being dead!