Gautam’s Story – Part 3

I am Gautam Goenka. I got a stroke in March 2017 along with aphasia. I describe the occurrence of stroke, my limited life post-stroke and the overall benefits of coming to this group in subsequent paragraphs. 

The occurrence of stroke 

It was 10th March 2017 and it was a Friday. I was at my Gym (Virgin Active – Mill Hill) on the 1st floor. The time was 9 o’clock in the night. Its when the Gym closes on Fridays. I was doing a few last-minute exercises and then I felt something is not right. I came down to the ground floor and grabbed some water. Minutes later, I had lied down on the floor not knowing what has happened. I was conscious nevertheless. 

Personal trainers called an ambulance which reaches the gym at 9.20pm. I am lying on the ground but am still awake. The paramedics loaded me on ambulance and took me to Northwick Park Hospital. But the moment they boarded me on ambulance, I was unconscious.  

I was fully awake two days later with my right side completely paralysed and my speech was fully gone. I had aphasia as well which meant an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the limited ability to read or write. Aphasia is always due to injury to the brain – most commonly from a stroke. 

Post-stroke: My limited life 

After my stroke, first hospital I went to was Northwick Park Hospital. I was unconscious while my wife was taking care of me. It was there I was given Thrombolysis to remove a part of the blood clot of the brain. I had 6 hours in which I had to find different hospital to do Thrombectomy – the remaining part of the blood clot, since they couldn’t do it at Northwick Park Hospital. By the time another couple of hours had passed, I could find the neurological team that could perform the Thrombectomy at St George’s Hospital. I was taken there and the surgery was done. It was a Friday night and by the time the Thrombectomy was done, it was 2am on a Saturday. I was fully conscious by Monday fully aware that my right side got fully paralysed and my speech was gone. I was made to stay at St George’s Hospital for 10 more days.  

After 10 days, I was shifted to Barnet Hospital where I was made to stay for 30 more days. I had to use wheelchair whenever I had to go down the stairs. The wheelchair was driven by my wife. From Barnet Hospital, I was shifted to Edgeware Community Hospital. I had to stay there for around 6 weeks before I came home. I had got up from my wheelchair at Edgeware Community Hospital for the first time (after suffering a stroke) and I would walk for a few steps slowly. I could also speak a few words like ‘Papa’ and ‘Mumma’. After 3 months of being in 4 different hospitals, I came home.  

My right leg and right hand have in the last 3 years has done much better and is almost as strong as my left leg and left hand. My right hand, however, lacks in being agile or nimble, a key strength which I am trying to work on. My right leg has developed a problem towards the end of 2018. It has a problem of Clawing resulting in foot drop wherein the toe comes before the heel. The net result is it affects the style of my walking and can be loosely called as limp. 

I have to do speech therapy as well. In the first year post-stroke, I had to go to Northwick Park Hospital to do speech therapy wherein I was asked to describe lots of words and their meaning. It was sometimes once or sometimes twice in a week. In the second year, University College London took over the reins and I had to go there and describe lots of sentences and later on, paragraphs. I go there once a week. Since end of March 2020, Covid-19 has caused lockdown in London. As a result, I am not able to go. Whenever it opens, I am ready to go once a week.  

Benefits of coming to this group 

My speech is getting better is the first reason. Two years ago, when I came to this group for the first time, I could speak a few words and I would fail to recollect 70-80% of the words. I would struggle to prepare proper sentences once I am in the flow. Now, two years hence, I am able to prepare sentences in a lot better way and I am able to recall a lot of words. Since my speech is coming a lot better, I am definitely more confident about aphasia and I am able to say “I have aphasia” to so many people. My writing is a lot better as well with so many words I am able to recall and preparation of sentences, which used to be my strength pre-stroke. I could re-write these 2 pages and post it on the internet for others to view.  

I find it very useful in listening to other members of the groups. I get new ideas while listening to them which I use while thinking and writing. I indulge in putting my thoughts together to reach conclusions before I write. I quite enjoy ‘Skype’, a technology for group video chat and conference calls. I have been using Skype since the last 10 years. I find Zoom better than Skype. Zoom has been launched 2-3 years ago. The reason Zoom is better than Skype is on Skype, the 2 screens connected to the same computer does not work, any sound is missing if I connect 2 screens. I have to disconnect 1 screen out of the 2 to get sound. In Zoom, you can login with 2 screens and you get prefect sound.  

In March 2020, there was complete lockdown thanks to Covid-19 (a virus). We have been able to keep going with this group for 6 weeks from June and July despite Covid-19.