"A Hole"

At 12 noon on 24 December 2004 I suffered a stroke. I was 48. My mother and grown up children were with me and after phoning NHS Direct, they rushed me to Royal Bournemouth Hospital by which time I was unconscious. The next bit of my story is only told because of my friends and family - I knew nothing and remember nothing until February 2005! There is a big hole in my life there.

Apparently Bournemouth Hospital spent sometime discussing whether or not to send me to Southampton Hospital. My case was serious. I had only a 1 in 10 chance of making it through. In the end it was blue flashing lights last thing on Christmas Eve that took me to Southampton.

I can't really tell you much about the next bit. I know Southampton put in a drain on my head, but I had pulled that out about 2 weeks later. But I started to recover. Slowly. Bit by bit. The stroke had been a bleed into a deep part of my brain, probably caused by high blood presure.

And now I'm home. I've lost my job. But I will get another one. This first year home has been hard. But I will make it through. I can do most things, walk, talk, be normal with people. Its only me or the people I'm closest to that notice the differences.

I can't thank Southampton Hospital enough. I know I was not aware of what they did for me at the time, but their skill and knowledge in their specialist stroke unit, saved my life.