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| Where life took a turn Middlesex Centre, ON August 2021 This photo originally shared on Instagram |
Nine Mile stretches to the east to frame left, while Wonderland heads south to the right. To the right of the street sign lies the spot where, as I turned for home on my bike, I encountered an impassable construction zone.
As I looked over my left shoulder to turn back, I accidentally tore my left carotid artery.
The sudden-onset headache was so severe that I stopped on the eastbound shoulder to text my wife, grab some water, and try to regroup. I was hot, in pain, and ticked at the prospect of a long ride home.
I was seeing floaters by the time I got home, but still thought it was just a lousy headache. I showered, tried to nap, and a couple of hours later tried to make chicken on the BBQ out back.
That's when I collapsed from an ischemic stroke after clots from the injury to my artery broke free and went into my brain.
As I awoke to my wife talking to me, I realized I couldn't speak, and my right side was paralyzed. I was locked in, unable to respond in anything more than monosyllables. Yet I totally understood what was going on.
I'm here today thanks to miracle-working docs and nurses and a dear, brilliant neurologist friend who dropped everything to take on my case. Not a moment goes by that I don't reflect on that day, at this intersection.
I'm incredibly lucky, and I'll often get on the bike and ride past here to remind myself of that.
And as much as I wish I didn't have to live with the residual effects of this single motion - I feel a low-level dizziness, like I'm perpetually tipsy, and my balance disqualifies me from the Olympic gymnastics trials - I realize, perversely, that it made me a better person.
Because before this happened, I'm not sure I was cherishing life and my family as much as I should have been. Every moment since, however, has been a very different story.
Sometimes all it takes is a small change in direction.
#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #stroke #awareness #cycling #life #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #health #everything
Related:
So, about that stroke - August 2014
When even "thank you" seems lame - August 2014
More stroke stuff... - August 2014
Stroke survivor shares his story, London Free Press, Aug 14, 2014
Coming up on Canada AM - Lookahead to February 2015 interview
Winding down the day that was - February 2015 - incl link to Canada AM/Heart/Stroke Month segment
Life at the crossroads - April 2015
Two years on... - August 2015
Three bonus years - August 2016
Four years later - August 2017
Five years on - August 2018
Luke Perry could have been me - or any of us - March 2019
The day everything changed - August 2019
Seven years on, August 2020
8 years ago. Thank God that passed with such a successful outcome.
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