Pradeep's Story

My husband, Pradeep Pushpavanam is only 36, never did we dream a nightmare called "STROKE"
Without any warning our whole world just crumbled.

Pradeep had high BP, high cholesterol, borderline diabetes and borderline glaucoma. He was taking medication for BP. The doctors said that he did not have diabetes and gluacoma. He was trying to follow a strict diet for cholesterol.

It's been a month now since he had his stroke and he is still in rehab. He was in rehab after two weeks of being in the stroke unit. After a week of being in rehab he had this bleeding and was transferred at once to the ICU.

He was taken of the coumadin at once and will not get any more blood thinners. After a week in ICU he is now back in rehab and each day is a nightmare for me as I do not know what to expect.

I used to take life for granted.

But knowing my husband, who did a BS in Chemistry back in Madras, India, BSC Tech in Chemical Engineering in UDCT, Bombay, MS in Purdue, Indiana, US and an MBA - Finance, NJ USA (Oct 2000), he is a fighter and will never give up. I am also staying strong and keep encouraging him.

As a child he had whooping cough and was suspected to have TB which I believe was false.

Ever since I married him 5 years ago, he likes to sleep on his tummy and his right side of the neck would be face down. This means that his left side of the neck would stretch.

This gives me a jittery feeling, since his left carotid artery wall expanded and the passage was very narrow. I wish I had read your story earlier atleast two months before.

I feel very sick about it now and I keep blaming myself for the whole tragic event.

It happenedwithout any warning
On Wednesday night, April the 18th, my husband went to sleep at 9.00 pm. He was in a very boisterous mood since he was all set to be tranferred internally within his company to the finance department. His dream was to become a financial analyst as he started to hate Chemistry.

That night at 2.00 am I saw him walking to the bathroom and then he went to the kitchen to take medication. He came back to sleep. At 3.30 am he was groaning and kicking his legs like crazy.

I sleep with my 2 year old and my husband sleeps alone on the bed. I ran and asked him if he was alright. He opened his eyes looked at me and closed his eyes again. I thought that he had had a bad dream.

I wake up at 6.00 am ready to take a shower to go to work. My son cries and my husband carries him to the bathroom. My husband looks irritated and tired. I still do not know that something is wrong. Then my husband brushes his teeth and takes a shower. He drops the hand shower 4-5 times and I think that it was strange.

He comes out of the shower and tries to talk but his words are mumbled. He does not know what is going on and tells me so. He also says that he took an overdose of Vicks 44 formula and that could be the reason. I tend to believe him. He paces the floor like crazy and bangs his head in frustration that he is not getting words out clearly. I do not know what to do. I call my sister in Dallas, Texas to ask her whether I should call 911 (emergency). My husband grabs the phone from me and says I need not call my sister. I then page the doctor at 7.00 am. I still feel that if I had called 911 at 6.20 am instead of calling my sister, I could have prevented the remaining cells from dying.

He was atleast able to walk and move his right hand at the time.

The doctor calls me at 7.45 am and leaves a message. I have gone to the day care to drop my son off. Even then I did not know that he had a stroke. I come back and call the doctor's office again. I speak to the doctor at 9.30 am only. I tell the doctor that my husband's speech is mumbled and he is lying on the couch. I also tell the doctor that he took an overdose of Vicks 44. The doctor gives me an option of going to emergency or bringing my husband in. I opt for the latter. My husband' gets up at 10.00 am to go to the bathroom and drags his right foot. His right hand is little numb too. He comes back to the couch and lies down. I then prepare breakfast and feed him an omlette at 10.30 am. He eats half of it and then refuses to eat the remaining.

At 11.00 am he throws up all the omlet and slips from the couch. At 11.30 he lies flat on the floor and opens and closes his eyes. I call 911.

Headaches go undiagnosed again

My husband always complained of headache for more than two weeks before he got the stroke. He went to the doctor on April 5th and doctor said everything was under control. He complained to me of headches and I made an emergency appointment with his doctor for April 12th. Doctor said that it was due to allergies and gave allegra.

On April the 18th he had the stroke and I was due to make another appointment with his doctor since the headache was still there.

Living with Guilt

I will always live with this guilt haunting me throughout my life.
If only I had rushed him to the emergency...........
I hope and pray that my husband is motivated like you and recovers.

Anita