I am Mrs
Neodesha Liyanage from
Sri Lanka, a 36 year old house wife and mother of a 10 year old son and a 5
year old daughter. My husband is a school teacher. Last year, on September
11th, I got up early in the morning as I had to send my children to Sunday
Dhamma school. At 11 am while I was cooking, I felt my mouth was deviating to
the left side and I had weakness on the right side of my face. I realized that
something abnormal was happening and I called my husband. He took me to the
National Hospital with the help of my mother. I was admitted to a medical ward
and underwent a CT scan of my brain. It was normal and I was on follow-up
observation.
The following
morning I noticed weakness of my right arm and right leg. I could not move the right
side of my body. Then I tried to tell this to the ward staff but I was
speechless. When I tried to drink some water I developed a vigorous cough,
which indicated that my swallowing was also affected. Fortunately, I was
continent. A second CT scan of my brain was done and it showed a massive left
middle cerebral artery infarction (the artery which supplies blood to the
middle part of the brain on the left side was blocked by a clot). Hence, a
large part of the brain cells were dying, including the area for speech. All my
disabilities could be explained by this second CT scan.
I was
admitted just with right facial weakness but it ended up a full blown
picture of a stroke, which I did not expect at all. I thought I would be going back
home soon with medication. I expected a quick recovery from my disabilities.
But it was not that quick, as I was not aware of the course of the stroke on human beings. After one week in the medical ward, I was
transferred to the stroke unit for long term rehabilitation.
In the stroke
unit, I felt comfortable, because the stroke team is more caring. Treatment and
rehabilitation were made to run in parallel. The rehabilitation program
consisted of three major components. They were physiotherapy, occupational
therapy and speech therapy. All three therapies were arranged according to a
daily schedule. The outcome of all these therapies and treatments was reviewed every
Thursday during the stroke meeting, which was led by the senior consultant
neurologist. As I was a young stroke patient, I was investigated extensively.
My main worry
was my affected speech which made me so embarrassed. Because I couldn’t follow
what others said (affected reception) and at the same time others couldn’t
understand what I said (affected expression).
Day by day,
my speech, swallowing and other physical disabilities improved. The caregiver
was my dearest mother who was with me throughout the hospital stay. She was a
courageous woman so I didn’t have any fear after being touched by the stroke.
My husband, my two children, my brother and sister were with me giving me the
maximum moral support. All my friends and neighbours visited me at hospital.
I left the
stroke unit after one month with good swallowing, normal speech and ability to
walk without support. Still my right arm is weaker than the right leg. But I am
independent in day-to-day activities. Now I attend
the stroke clinic and stroke support group meetings monthly, retaining my hope
of cooking in the future, which I am so good at. I would like
to thank everybody who helped me in my fast recovery. The biggest thanks should
go to the senior consultant neurologist, who leads the stroke team successfully
