Today was my 8 week follow up with my consultant in Leeds.

I’m not going to lie, I felt a little sick first thing. I’ve been shaking all day, just before we left the house I was shivering (with nerves, I wasn’t cold). I was apprehensive, even though I knew nothing had changed medically. I had a stroke 8 weeks ago which I’ve been trying to get my head around and have been very unsure as to what I can/can’t/should/shouldn’t do and also what my future looks like.

Questions which kept going round in my head;

• Can I exercise again?
• If yes, what can I do?
• Do I need to be careful with my neck because of a stent I had to have fitted
• Can I teach fitness classes again?
• Could the same thing happen?
• Am I high risk of having a stroke again?
• Am I at risk of another dissection

8 weeks with these questions flitting in and out of my mind and no answers.

I arrived about 20 mins early for my appointment and my consultant was at the desk. I said I was early and checked in. I was told to take a seat. My mum and partner were with me.

The consultant came out and invited me into his office – he saw me early.

He was really great! He explained what they think had happened which I already had an idea about.

The cause of my Ischemic Stroke was a Carotid Artery Dissection. In simple terms, this is a tear in the inner lining of the carotid artery in my neck.

There can are 2 types of these, one can be from trauma, usually an underlying health issue of some kind. The other is that it can happen spontaneously. They don’t have specific evidence of what can cause this. It could potentially be; a virus & turning your head suddenly. These were a couple of examples. I have read online that it could be over exertion of some kind or hypertension of your neck.

A Carotid Artery Dissection is one of the leading causes of Stroke in Young People.

The run up to my stroke ….

I feel this needs to be explained….

On 21st December 2019 I started with a cough. I hoped after resting for a day that it would clear up. No such luck. Long story short, it got pretty bad. I was exhausted, slept most of the time till Christmas Eve. Managed a meal Christmas Eve and managed Christmas Day at my parents but I went to sleep around 3pm. Boxing Day, I stayed at home and pretty much slept fot the majority of 4 days, in between coughing fits.

I tried taking things for it, I had a cold with it at this point as well. I’d been sick from coughing too much. I didn’t go to the docs as I know usually they like you to wait at least a couple of weeks because it should clear up.

30th December I was back at work. Still coughing a lot. I then tried to teach a Body Pump class on 2nd Jan. I could barely teach. In my mind I thought it might do me good. 3rd Jan I went to the docs. She listened to my chest and I had a bad viral chest infection. She signed me off teaching for 7 days.

Could this have caused the dissection? Yes, it could have but we’ll never know for definite.

I can say that from reading online that headaches seem to be a symptom for people who have a dissection. I did have a couple of headaches but just put it down to the virus. I went back to teaching (Fri 10th Jan). I taught a Body Pump class again on my 3rd day back (Sunday). My chest had cleared and I wasn’t coughing anymore. During the class I saw stars in between tracks. It seemed to clear but at the end of my class I was talking and I basically couldn’t see them for a few seconds. Again it passed.

Hindsight is bittersweet I guess. I should have gone to the doctors again, but I just put it down to the virus.

Strangely during the 4 other classes I taught that week, I felt ok but when members asked how I was, I did keep saying I’m still not 100%.

Obviously never imagining what was to come.

Prognosis from my consultant…

After explaining the cause, or potential cause, he reassured me that the chances of me suffering another stroke or a dissection is very minimal. 😊

I had to have a Thrombectomy to remove my blood clot. They go up through your femoral artery in your groin up to your brain to remove the clot. My artery had collapsed, meaning they couldn’t get through it, so they had to fit a stent to open it up to get up to my brain to remove it. On the last CT scan I had, it showed that the stent had collapsed and blocked. This had been a constant worry because they leave it and don’t do anything. It can be more detrimental to try to open it. For me, I have no symptoms, ie. headache, nausea, so basically my blood is finding alternative routes to the brain for me to function – I find this incredible! He told me there will never be a change in this stent so I don’t need to worry about it. Another ✅ I just need to get my head around that now.

Exercise – I can exercise – woohoo! For the last 8 weeks I’ve only been allowed to walk. He said I can run in the future, maybe not straight away, low impact aerobics is ok, swimming fine. The only thing he’d suggest is not doing weights. I can deal with that. I obviously won’t jump into anything and probably won’t be going to the gym in the current climate but in future I can. Another ✅

As I was there, I also asked about Covid-19. Am I higher risk? And could a cough cause another dissection? He answered no to both.

I will be on blood thinners for life.

I asked a few other questions, but the ones above were my biggest concerns.

I will most likely have an MRI but not urgently. He is also getting me back to use this tool thing which is like an ultrasound on your head which shows how your blood is flowing.

At a time where there hasn’t been much good news, today was a good day! Lets just all pull together and get through Coronavirus now!