Stroke Survivor: My Three New Years - 8th Year Strokeversary Edition
This is an update to the first 4 notes I first wrote about on Facebook in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019. My “Three New Years” all occur in January. They are the traditional New Year, my birthday, and my stroke anniversary - a.k.a. strokeversary or re-birthday - on the 1st, 6th, and 20th of January respectively.
1) On the first day of the year on the modern day Gregorian calendar, I joined billions around the world, friends and family in that ritual of shedding the old, while welcoming the new. As usual, I had many blessings to count - including life and limb; luxuries and a job to help provide those things. More than most, I enjoy thehealth and wellness. I had a roof over my head, nourishment, access to many love of family and the support of friends. As in recent years, I committed to 4 New Year's resolutions:
- Renewed focus on health and wellness (committing to try and lose 5-10 pounds this year by increasing my exercise levels and better managing my nutrition).
- Helping others by volunteering, paying forward my blessings, mentoring others, and spreading the word about health and wellness.
- Becoming better organized by being punctual, organizing my physical spaces, and decluttering my mind.
- Committing to self-development by learning new subjects, becoming better at learning Spanish, acquiring new skills, and exploring / mapping out an educational program that leads to a terminal degree. I am also in the process of writing 4 books, and hope to complete at least one of them this year.
I've struggled with the 3rd the most, but I'm glad I bit the bullet 2 years and learned about decluttering from Marie Kondo, conducted a decluttering session with the lady who now cleans my home monthly and her husband, and maintained my home to the point where I became and have maintained the coveted Airbnb "Superhost" designation.
2) On January 6th, I celebrated my second New Year. Being so close to the more popular New Year, it's always offered me an opportunity to re-calibrate the commitments I made five days earlier. This also marked the 21st anniversary of my dear Mommy’s calling to be with the Lord. It offered yet another opportunity to reflect upon the values she instilled upon her seven sons, and the example she set by her faith, words and deeds. As I remember the eulogy I gave at her funeral in 1999, some of the lasting memories I recall were that of her selflessness in serving those who were less fortunate than her. She was a devoted member of the St. Piran's Church (Jos, Plateau State)
Choir, served her country on a major Nigerian financial services board - National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), regularly visited prisons, helped beleaguered women and children, helped countless relatives, housegirls and houseboys (household help) attend school and establish meaningful careers, volunteered with the Red Cross, serving as Plateau State Chair, chaperoned many a young bride through the protocols of her wedding day, child birth and
child-rearing, all the while regularly giving to the needy - Christian and Moslem alike. She was absolutely the best mother in the world, bar none!
3)
I finish writing this as my beloved New England Patriots have have won their record 11th straight AFC East title. Sadly, we are not goimg to be defending our 6th Superbowl championship, but there's always next year. Talk about perseverance and a culture of excellence. This evening 8 years ago on what would have been my late brother Yakubu's 45th birthday, I suffered a cerebrovascular accident (CVA), a.k.a "Stroke" after arriving home from work. On my 5th strokeversary in 2017, I mustered the courage to visit Norwood Hospital to obtain records of my hospitalization, so I could better understand what I presented at the ER. Without going into too much boring detail, I was a 41 year old "Nigerian/African/young/pleasant male" (yes, these were all descriptions in the notes) with no history other than GI disease. I was a social drinker, and a pack-a-day (conservatively, I’d say) smoker). It was noted that I had a family history of stroke, given that Dada (my dad) had suffered a stroke (in Jos, Nigeria) at age 54, from which he never recovered, dying 3 days later. Additional history that I reported noted also that mommy had died (also in Jos, Nigeria) at age 57 from a brain tumor, and that our youngest brother Timothy also had been diagnosed with a brain tumor (which was successfully surgically treated in London in December, 2008). We thank Almighty God every day for Timothy’s life, and for the intervention of our late Aunt Elizabeth Pam in helping to ensure that he received the very best care befitting of her late little sister’s “baby.”
The official cause of my stroke? It wasn’t immediately apparent. I was transported by the Walpole Fire Department Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and presented at the Norwood Hospital ER between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m., having called EMS to report that I felt I was having a stroke. In the ER, I exhibited signs of a right brain stroke, with left side weakness ranked on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) scale as a 2.0, which was relatively low. I had demonstrated some strength in my left lower extremities, as well as my left upper extremities. This development, along with the time that had elapsed, essentially took me outside the window for administration of TPA, a clot-busting drug administered to stroke patients within 3 hours or so of showing stroke symptoms. The ER physician and the on-call neurologist consulted with the Stroke Team at Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital where I’d been a patient, and the determination was that outside of the time period, TPA administration would be considered “off-label use.” After an initial set of lab and radiological exams, I was administered Aspirin, Lisinopril and Simvastatin (drugs that act as a blood thinner, high blood pressure treatment, and cholesterol lowering respectively), then admitted into the Cardiology Unit 33 for ongoing observation and telemetry. Thereafter, by 5 a.m., I’d gotten worse, losing all movement in both my upper and lower extremities, but “there was nothing the could do.”
It took a while thereafter following an X-Ray, CT-Scan, MRI, and finally a transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) on the second day at Norwood Hospital, to determine the official cause of my stroke. The TEE confirmed a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), also known as a hole in the heart as the cause. We’re all born with one, but it closes naturally in about 90% of the population (read more from my note “We Are the 10%” here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/musa...). My PFO remained open, and thus allowed a blood clot to travel to my brain, bypassing the lungs and causing a clot in a part of my brain called Corona Radiata. My dad, a.k.a. Dada suffered a similar fate in March 1989, but sadly, did not make it. This is why when I took a nap after experiencing stroke symptoms that I hadn't recognized, I believe HE woke me up and guided me to call 911 from my home phone (enabling paramedics to immediately ascertain my address without me having to talk much). For this reason, I consider myself as having received a new lease on life on January 20th, 2012. I've chronicled my journey towards recovery on social media spaces, and appreciate all the words of encouragement and offers of support from one and all as you’ve tolerated all my
posts and updates.
Each year, I want to continue to bust the myth of the 2-Year Plateau when it comes to Stroke recovery. It refers to the notion that one gains as much movement and function in 2 years, as one is going to get, and then one hits a plateau. Nothing tangible supposedly comes after this. This proud stroke survivor and son of Plateau State, Nigeria says “No Can Do!” to that, and Amen
to God’s miracles in my life that have seen me through one adversity after another, given me the will to live and love, and enabled me to spread the word and hopefully helping others along the way.
Since my stroke, I’ve been blessed with having recorded the following highlights/improvements, thanks to the incredible help and support of my healthcare providers, family and friends who pushed me and cheered me on. To able-bodied folks, these may seem like nothing, but to a stroke survivor coping with disability or facing uncertainty, they can mean a lot:
- Improved my core strength, leg strength, and arm strength
- Lost between 65-80lbs since my stroke
- Vastly improved on my Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
- Logged my food and beverage caloric intake on Myfitnesspal for 2,288 straight days
- Visited and worked out at the Answer is Fitness - Foxboro, MA gym almost 800 times since my stroke
- Opening the refrigerator and round door knobs in the house using only my left hand
- Effortlessly cutting/chopping vegetables on a cutting board, without assistance.
- Operating the windshield wiper and turn signals in my car with my left hand
- Able to bench press weights
- Reached and exceeded a personal best of 100 pushups https://www.facebook.com/musa.pam/v...
- Reached a personal milestone of 4.2 mph on the treadmill at the gym https://www.facebook.com/musa.pam/v...
- Installed two window air conditioners mostly one handed, amongst other home improvement projects
- Became champion of the Sanders (Net) Division in the 2017 North American One Armed Golfers Association (NAOAGA) Golf Tournament, in MI, whose motto is “Never Quit!”
- Named 2017 Massachusetts Maritime Academy Alumnus of the Year.
- Recorded almost 200 patient visits of fellow stroke survivors as a peer visitor at Boston’s famed Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital where I was a patient
- Played in my alumni soccer games at my alma mater, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
- Scored a goal in said MMA alumni soccer game in September 2019 for the first time since my stroke
- Received 16 rounds of quarterly Botox injections over 4 years to help combat muscular stiffness or spasticity on my left side before discontinuing
- Serving as host and tournament chair for 2 NAOAGA golf tournaments in the Boston area
