Having a Stroke
G'day and welcome to The Strokes with Matt Gillett. So the type of stroke I had was a hemorrhagic stroke, which is about 15% of all stroke cases. This was due to a tear and a rupture of an underlying issue that I have called an arteriovenous malformation, something I was born with, and I'll explain a bit more about that condition in a moment. The other 85% more common is a Ischaemic stroke, usually due to a clot which travels from another part of the body or starts in the brain.
For me, after I found out I was in an office with my work colleagues, I felt a bit nervous. But given that the dizziness and the numbness wouldn't abate, I asked my friends for some help, called the ambulance, and given, as I wasn't presenting with any acute symptoms, the wait time was a while, so I called an Uber. My colleague, she was really caring and wonderful and helped me get the help that I needed. When you're in a desperate time, the NHS, the public health system, is amazing. I was quickly into a triage station, noted there was something wrong and shortly after saw a doctor. The next few hours were challenging. I was on my own, not sure what was wrong with me, surrounded by people who were in a bit of trouble. There's a lot of confusion and concern for yourself and then for the people around you. The combination of that was I was booked in for a CT scan, and that CT scan revealed that I had a bleed on the brain. Couldn't tell why. At that stage it was just an image showing there's a tear or a hemorrhage the size of about a pound or a dollar coin, so only small.
Talking to my mates back home, some of them would joke like, oh, that's only puny, mate, you should get back to work, but certainly I wasn't feeling up to it. That began the first part of my hospital stay at UCLH London. The care was awesome, but also you learn some stuff like the FAST protocol, which if anyone finds themselves in a position that they feel like they're having a stroke or in the presence of someone else, just remember that. So FAST, standing for face, ask someone to smile and see if they can move their face. Arms, can they lift their arms or how's their strength? Speech, are they able to talk normally? And then the last part and important part is time to get them the care they need. So that's where I was at, yeah, first day in hospital and it was kind of a relief to know that what I was feeling was something that was real, but albeit scary. So, yeah, take care and see you on the other side. Matt
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