A stroke of bad luck

By Hunter

When I was eleven years old, my mum had a stroke. 

It was a Monday morning, one fine day in March 2021, when mum woke me to have a shower before school.

My mum was dressed ready for work after walking on the treadmill that morning. Mum came into the bathroom to give me my school uniform, ‘Hi Mum”, I said, she looked at me but did not say hello back, it was strange! I spoke to her again, but she did not reply, “why aren’t you talking to me?”, I asked, I thought I had done something wrong. Mum was trying to speak but words were not coming out, she seemed alright otherwise. I told mum she was scaring me and still she did not speak, she instead hugged me, and I continued to get ready for school. Mum then took me to school, and she promised she would get help if she did not improve soon, I was happy with this and went to school for the day.

At around 2.45pm I was called over the loudspeaker at school, there waiting for me was my stepdad and in an instant, I knew mum was not okay. My stepdad told me mum was in Accident and Emergency at the hospital and we were going to see her. I explained that mum could not speak this morning before taking me to school.

Mum was in a room by herself and was glad to see us, I was glad she was being looked after now. Mum had a CT scan on her brain to see what might be going on, she was being monitored by a lot of doctors and nurses. A special doctor called a Neurologist requested an MRI to see deeper into the brain, but she could not have it until the next day.

The next day we visited mum in the ward at the hospital before school, my Nan and Pop came too. Nan and Pop were very worried about mum and were wondering why she had the episode when she is so healthy and fit. Mum was in a room with another three people, much older than her, she was hooked up to a heart monitor and was very tired, that day then we left mum was taken for the MRI. The MRI showed the new stroke as well as an old one, mum would have to stay in hospital to have more tests done to see why she had the strokes. Mum’s speech therapist said she had Aphasia from the stroke affecting the area in her brain for speech and communication. Mum would need to have special exercises to build other cells in her brain to improve her speech.

A few days later mum was transferred to the Rehabilitation was at a different hospital, she went in an ambulance as she was feeling nauseous and could not sit up. Mum was in a room with another lady who had had a fall, she was 85 years old. Mum continued to have headaches, a foggy brain and was tired all the time, she did not eat much and was very teary sometimes. I made mum a hand-crafted card to cheer her up, she loved it and the nurses said it was a very lovely thing to do.

Mum is out of hospital now and recovering well, though it will take time for her to be confident with her speech, the therapists come to our house now. Mum cannot drive still and will not be going back to work for a while. Mum is still taking medication to make sure she does not have another stroke while doctors continue to do tests. Nan and Pop have gone back home now, I was so pleased they came to help us at home and spend time with mum.

“I love you, always and forever mum”