Kathryn R.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
By: Kathryn Reeves

Survivor

Yes, You Can Get Better

On a Thursday in early December 2010, I left work early to see a doctor about a serious headache that had plagued me for more than two weeks. I was diagnosed with migraines and sent home with a prescription. The next morning, after being discovered by some friends when I failed to show up for work, I was admitted to the hospital with a Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis. The clot was very large and caused two strokes, right in the middle of what my neurologist likes to call "Grand Central Station."

Thanks to prompt attention from a team of specialists, just two days after I was hospitalized I was released from ICU. The next day I was sent home. I returned to work a month later.

Five months after my stroke, a shortened attention span and difficulty focusing on tasks are the only physical reminders of what I experienced. The clot has dissolved, my headaches are gone, and I'm back to exercising five days a week.

I am incredibly fortunate. But after comparing my experience with those of other stroke survivors who haven't had such a dramatic recovery, I started to feel that perhaps my story wasn't important. Then I realized that I do indeed have something to share yes, stroke can happen to anyone. And yes, you can get better.