The Duchy of Jerald

4 months later
Sept 12 2016, 10 days after my 64th birthday, I'm reaching for the toilet paper, and my arm
doesn't move. That's it folks thats all the drama of stroke, it used to work, now it doesn't.
Then it does again.
Get up get dressed and call 911. My leg only works sometimes it seems.
The paramedics show up and act like they hate their jobs. They really hate that I live up four
flights of stairs. They make me walk down hanging onto the rail. They stop and chat with the
pretty nacissist who lives downstairs, naturally, these guys never get laid. Eventually she turns to
me and asks me how I am, finished talking about her dog. Well, Im leaving in an ambulance,
how do you think I am? Scowls of disapproval all around.
They park me in a chair for 9 hours at the hospital, as I begin my slow decline. Eventually they
got me a stretcher, after I fell and gouged open my knee. I drifted in and out of consciosness, at
one point I heard a man yelling, we are to be called STAT! when these cases come in.
They did the MRI found the stroke and admitted me, where I continued to decline for 3 days
into full paralysis on the right side, leg snd arm.
3 months later I was rescreened by the Neuro nurse of 20 years experience who admitted me.
We never thought you'd get out of bed. I had been out of a wheelchair for a week, using a
walker, walked down to meet her for coffee.
The therapist said, you will walk out of here dude, after you shake my hand. I was
unconvinced.
So here I am. They say I am getting better cause I work hard, who knew?
This week I had meeting to be screened to go into seniors independant housing. My own place
again, really nice. They say its mine, first up for availability.
I dumped a shitty courier job, a shitty condo full of crazies, a huge car loan, got a pension for
life, and a full time art career, now that I had stroke that I'm recovering from. I mean all I have to
do is exercise, and take baby aspirin, 2 years to full recovery expected.
Fuck, what an adventure.