Fiona

A stroke with an incredibly lucky outcome

My uncle had a stroke on the 18th June 2019, it was a total surprise to him as he had no prewarning or medical indication that he was vulnerable.  For his age he is medically regarded as being very fit doing manual labor almost every day on his farm and does not smoke or drink (for several years now) and is not over-weight.

The first indication that something was wrong was when his kidneys started playing up.  He has had previous bouts of kidney stones and the painful consequences so was soon on his way to Calvary hospital in Canberra.  On arrival he was immediately admitted and given several medications, including painkillers, while further tests were undertaken.  As a result, hospital staff decided they would have to operate to alleviate his kidney problem which they confirmed was a large kidney stone in his right kidney that was too large to be passed normally.  He was to be operated on the next day.

The following afternoon whilst being prepped for surgery, his eyesight suddenly diminished; it was akin to looking at a snowy television screen before totally blacking out. My uncle said he could not see and one of the senior nurses in attendance said, “He’s had a stroke, quick we need to inject (some super drug).”  The next thing he remembered was about 30 minutes later when he regained consciousness and was hooked up to a few devices and medications.  He regained his eyesight and felt quite comfortable despite the attached devices.  He was then subjected to further tests and informed they could no longer operate on him at Calvary Hospital but would have to transfer him to Canberra Hospital for which arrangements had been made including an ambulance.

He was placed in a two-patient room with a chap of similar age who had had a stroke about a week ago, although still had no eyesight – my uncle realised at that point just how lucky he had been.  He spent a further week in Calvary Hospital, having several more operations and number of additional tests.

Overall, he was very lucky to have had the stroke in hospital and not out in the paddock where the only witness would have been his dog.  In addition, staff at Calvary were terrific, particularly the nurse who immediately diagnosed his situation while he was being briefed on surgery.  My uncle is now on a daily tablet no bigger that a matchhead and feels fitter than he has for some time; frequently doing 12-hour days of physical work on the farm.  Oh, how incredibly lucky he was.