posted on Mar, 3 2017 @ 12:44 PM
Back in April of 2009 I had a severe ischemic stroke that was the result of blunt force trauma, the result of a simple mistake, a 5’ jump from a
ladder onto a concrete floor. My heels struck the concrete floor first with all of my weight and I felt my brain being jammed downward into my spine.
The pain I felt was unlike any I had ever felt before. It was a deep pain in my head and neck. A very, very deep pain. I recovered from it about
twenty minutes later but the actual stoke didn’t happen until about another three weeks after the ladder incident.
When the stroke began I was home alone after work. It felt like was the entire earth’s gravitational force was trying to pull me down onto and
through the floor and suck me into the center of the earth. I can also described it as having the weight of an elephant on your body crushing you into
the ground. I knew something was gravely wrong however instead of being frightened I was pissed that something bad was happening. I thought I might be
dying but to me it wasn’t an option. I was especially pissed at the guy upstairs and I called out to him to “go F yourself as I have been a good
man and never did anything wrong”. I went on to say “why don’t you go get the mafia guy across the street or the Physician who has double books
so he can cheat on his taxes “. I then called out to god to “come back for me in forty years”. Now lying on the rug in a second floor bedroom
of my home, I could not get up nor raise my arms. I dragged myself using my hands and fingers to pull my body across the floor by using the carpet
fibers while on my stomach all the way down the 13 stairs head first and then across another 30’ of tiled floor into the kitchen. That process took
around 40 minutes. Then the cordless phone on the wall was the next issue. I swung my leg to knock a rolled up newspaper off the seat of a chair. Then
all I could do was take the paper and fling it towards the phone with my hand and wrist it to knock the phone off the wall as I still could not lift
my arms. That took over 20 minutes and then phone came off the mount and hit the floor in pieces as the battery pack popped out from the rear cover
and skid along the tile floor and stopped around 20’ away. To this day I cannot recall as to how I was able to reinstall the battery nor why I
never considered using my company issued cell phone. Just to end this part of my story I called my wife and brother who called the police and
ambulance to which my journey continued and that’s when I had the 2nd stroke while in the 1st hospital while strapped on a gurney in the emergency
room with my wife sitting next to me watching the whole thing. I then remember arguing with two emergency room physicians who said that it cannot be a
stroke because you can’t have more than one stroke in a day. Well so much for that hospital being certified as a Certified Stoke Center as they were
wrong and thank you for transferring me to another hospital the following day.
Getting back to the guy upstairs as I write this seven years later I guess I didn’t piss him off too much.
Because of prior sports concussions the ladder incident would be my 7th known concussion. The others were from playing football and hockey as I was a
rough player who wanted to go pro but never made it. I also used to run about twenty miles a week and was always in excellent shape.
Part I
I ended up in three hospitals over thirty-two consecutive days eleven of which were in the intensive care unit. I only had one incident in the ICU
when “lurch” tried to crawl into bed with me. Lurch was a 6’ 8” monster who spoke in broken European dialect. He just had a hole drilled into
his skull as that’s how they fix some stroke patients so I guess he just got confused. I yelled so the attendants pulled him out. Hess not really a
monster but a huge dude as he looks like jaws from the old James Bond movies. I was in the ICU along with other stroke patients and then in a private
room up to my release again situated among all stoke patients. I never knew that many people had strokes until I was among them for 32 days. I
witnessed many deaths and could tell who was next up based on looking at their eyes as they have the look. It’s a look common to both young and
old, male or female, white or black and Latino. The stroke initially left me blind and I could not walk and I will describe my blindness as only
seeing the silhouettes of people being beamed up and energized like in the Star Trek movies. My vision returned after several days however it took
almost two weeks before I was to begin to walk with the aid of two physical therapists. My balance was really off as the stroke was on the left side
of the brain so I used a walker for another week and then began to walk by myself unassisted during the 4th week. Once I left the ICU if I had to use
the bathroom I would crawl on the floor on my knees to avoid getting a nurse or aid. During the entire stroke episode I never saw any tunnel, light or
saw or spoke to any deceased relatives. What I did begin to feel was what I will describe as some sort of crazy energy inside me that would come and
go at random. It did not happen that frequently so I thought it was just part of my recovery so I never even mentioned it to the Neurosurgeons during
my discharge interview from the third hospital. I went home for another two months of rehab at a rehab center and I could not drive a car and was not
allowed to return to work. MY wife was my driver and I thank her as my bud.
In August I was finally cleared to drive so I returned to work and we began returning to our once normal life, including going to estate sales on
weekends and that’s when the crazy energy returned. It didn’t happen frequently but certain homes in which it appeared the owners were deceased I
would sense the energy. The energy was also not just in my stomach I also sensed it in the room as it would pull me. In some homes that crazy energy
was so strong I would tell my wife that I am getting out of the home. I again with reiterate that it did not always happen. Possibly only a dozen
times. It did not frighten me but left me wondering what’s up with this.