It has been seven years since my stroke.
In that time I have had to get myself back on my feet just as many times.
It took a while to get started after I got out of Hospital. I sat on my backside for a month. Dieu! I was so tired. I think I was sleeping 18 hours a day. Out cold as well. In between I would watch Peaky Blinders on my iPad. The number of times I dropped off and Nicola, my wife, would come home from work or walking the dogs to find me Sparko, snoring away and the iPad on the floor still playing, was many.
I had been discharged around the middle of November. I finally got up the determination to walk the length of our kitchen around the week before Christmas. Up until then I had crawled around on my hands and knees or bum-shuffled up and down the stairs.
After that first walk, unaided and without bumping into anything, I was ecstatic. I can remember whooping with joy and cheering very loudly. The next day I walked backwards and forwards for a full five minutes. Every time I got near the doors at either end my two Labradors: Esther and Poppy would enquire brightly of me, "well, when are we going for a walk."
It had been over a month.
Technically I could begin driving again. I couldn't manage my SUV. I got a Micra. everyday the dogs and I would head off down to Coed Y Brenin woods and after 10 minutes or so of Qigong by the river under the trees we would walk. Half a Kilometre at first. Then a little further. All through that Spring until 10 Kilometres was nothing. I even managed a full daily total of more than 25k on more than one occasion. I kept this up all the way through 2019. getting stronger and stronger. By early May 2020 I had the distance under my belt. I was nearly ready to increase the Intensity and although I had been doing some easy hill work, now it was time for some serious elevation work on some steep slopes. I had a goal of summitting my favourite hill: Cader Idris in the south of the National Park. Just above Dolgellau. I was up and down. One week strong the next crawling along. I put off anything too serious until September and then the following Spring. I knew I could get up anywhere locally. I just wasn’t too sure that I could get back down again. I had managed our local hills and Rhinog Fach a couple of times. Easy Peasy. Cader Idris, however, is gnarly ground and to be treated with the utmost respect. Having been to the top over 1000 times in the years that I have lived here I know exactly what is expected of my body and my mind.
Coed y Brenin is great for rehab as none of the ground is particularly steep.
There is one great little stroll that has around 100 metres of quite steep elevation at more than 45° and something similar on the downslope the other side. Great heart pumping work over a short distance and a good eccentric workout on the way down to the river at the bottom of the valley. this wonderful stroll could then be extended further for a couple of kilometres. At the time the trees were still standing. Wandering through early in morning or in the evening was a glorious experience. The dogs and I were out 2 or 3 times a day for a minimum of an hour. I credit them with my recovery as much as my own efforts. I was getting my legs and lungs back again. I felt sure that by the time the following Spring arrived I would be completely back to normal. I even quit the anticoagulants that were making me feel lousy. We bought ourselves another house. That makes 3. We had a celebratory Christmas and were ready to hit the ground running after the New Year
Then lockdown came May 2021
After a positive start to the year. Suddenly we were imprisoned. If not in reality then psychologically. However. Our income fell off a cliff. Our holiday cottage cleaning a maintenance business was shut. No other source of income was available. Our Working Family Credit was ceased. Four children and nothing but our savings was a challenge. Our eldest had moved out in February. Kyle her boyfriend moved in with her.
Then came a disaster. Esther and Poppy were mother and daughter. Poppy developed cancer. With no income nor insurance there was only one thing to do. The kicker was that life for Esther without her daughter would be unbearable for her. She was getting on a bit and probably in the first throws of Dementia. You know what we had to do. We haven't had the heart to have any more dogs since then. It certainly ranks among life's worst days.
Not long after our government persuaded us that we needed to get vaccinated. I felt morally obliged to do so, if not for me then for the sake of my family and friends. We were already emotionally raw. It seemed the right thing to do.
Almost immediately after the first vaccination I lost the power to walk.
I was back where I was months before. It cleared in a few weeks. Second Vaccination, same effects. Third vaccination. Since then I have been in Afib and my blood pressure became elevated. It took 3 months of recovery this time. Wales was in and out of lockdown through until May 2022 I think we managed to get a grant or two, which kept the wolf from the door. Like so many people we were completely battered by then. Emotionally, psychologically and to add insult to injury, financially as well. It is only now, all these years later that as a family we are beginning to get back on our feet again.
Health wise personally
Not so much. My immune system has been on the floor. I’ve rallied and collapsed, rallied and collapsed.
2022 saw me running a TikTok channel. Challenging myself to 1000 days of TaiJi Qigong. Life went on as normal. I was still very tired. Falling asleep everywhere. I was in a dark place.
As Spring 2023 came around I took a job driving lorries at ZipWorld in Blaenau Ffestiniog. It was a great little job ferrying the punters up to their rides and giving little talks about the area. I was back in my element. I failed the medical at the end of July. Because I was driving passengers they felt they had to let me go. I had been working since early March. I was gutted and back on the floor again.
I went to visit an old friend that runs an outdoor centre near St. Asaph. I found out that he was in the middle of treatment for prostate cancer. We had lost a mutual friend to complications after fighting the disease. I decided to help out where I could. Running a paddle sports session in the River Elwy in August I began to feel quite poorly. Early September saw me attending a Bushcraft Instructors course. I spent the whole course running with sweat and feverish.
By Christmas I had deteriorated quite badly. I had contracted Leptospirosis. A course of Doxycycline would it out but the damage had been done. The whole of January and February were a complete blur of doctor’s appointments and new drugs. My Afib was out of control. My blood pressure through the roof I was coughing and spluttering. I was right down in the dumps.
I didn’t begin to recover from that until March. More months lost
Whilst all this was going on my legs were playing up. My Achille’s tendon has a lump on it the size of golf ball. My feet and ankles really hurt. Every step is agony. I keep trying to get out down Coed y Brenin. I have a run of a few days then become breathless and dizzy. I blame it on the after effects of the Lepto. The docs prescribe me Doxasozin to help control my blood pressure and there we are back at Part 1.
Throughout all this there has been one thing that has kept me going and that is Qigong. I firmly believe that without it I would be in a far worse state than I am now.
I am now taking Rosuvastatin and Isosorbide mononitrate as well as my usual BP meds. A GTN spray lives in my pocket. Some days are great some uncomfortable. I am on the waiting list to have stents fitted. It will probably be a while. Current waiting times in the Betsi Cadwallader Health Authority region are between 26 and 60 weeks. So much for the WAG’s target of everyone receiving treatment within 24 weeks with 95% of those waiting no longer than 36 weeks. I’m not complaining I’m still alive and I am sure there are many other Old Men in a worse state than me
I am off out in my new Kayak on Sunday. I’ll keep you posted.