Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I now realise there were warning signs before I had my stroke.

I had started a new job, which entailed moving away from friends and family and taking on a highly challenging role which involved longer working hours and a longer commute. I had been feeling tired before I moved and started to feel exhausted, but attributed this to all the changes made. I had a continual headache, found it hard to read the notes I had written and felt like something was not right with my thinking.

On 19 November 2021 I was having lunch in the very noisy dining hall at my work when all of a sudden I lost my hearing and my vision turned blue. Everything then went spikey and I felt a vice like clamp around my head. I remember thinking that maybe this was what if felt like to have a stroke and told my colleagues I was seriously unwell. My face was normal and I could raise my arms but I was very confused. I don’t remember much after that as I was taken to hospital.

I had a subarachnoid haemorrhage, following a burst cerebral aneurysm in the central anterior communicating artery of my brain. I had brain surgery to put in an extra-ventricular shunt to drain brain fluid. The surgeon had hoped to insert a coil into my aneurysm but did not have one of the right size. I therefore had to undergo a craniotomy 24 hours later, when a clip was put in the aneurysm. I can remember being very sick and having banging headaches and a very high temperature, plus not being able to chew properly as my jaw muscle had been cut.

I was discharged from hospital twelve days later and am so grateful to my nephew and neighbours for their help. I could not walk far because of pain in my right leg and poor balance. I found it very hard to pace myself as I did not really understand what this meant and remember crying when I tried to do walks which had been easy for me but were now absolutely exhausting. I had been put on anti-seizure medication as a preventative measure and found the exhaustion eased a bit once I stopped this.

I returned to work in February, for financial reasons, which I now know was too early. I had had my driving licence revoked and had a 90- minute commute each way on the bus, so found I was exhausted before I got to work. I started working restricted hours, gradually building up the time I could do. However, I lost my job as I was not able to work full-time hours. I was devastated about this and ended up having to move back to my old home. Luckily my MP had helped me to get my driving licence back in August, so this helped a great deal.

I suffered sudden sensorineural hearing loss in my left ear a month after returning and started to worry about what would happen if I lost the hearing in my right ear. It was at this time that I contacted Different Strokes Southampton as I realised I needed help from people who understood what I had been through. I was brave enough to phone Ranj and he was so helpful. I started tp attend face to face meetings where everyone has been compassionate, kind and supportive. I felt that I was being viewed as a person and not as ‘damaged goods’. I realised after the first meeting that I had laughed for the first time in a long while.

I don’t know what the future holds for me but I know my Different Strokes family will support me in whatever I decide to do.

Therese Allan