Sooo … when I started writing this I’d just finished my 4th week back at work, but then we went on holiday and I didn’t get round to finishing. If you follow me you’ll know I’m doing a phased return over 8 weeks so I’m half way through and just doing my 5th week now.

It’s gone really well! It’s lovely being back, seeing members and staff, catching up. It’s nice for people to see I’m doing well. I’m remembering most things. I’ve always been good at names which I haven’t lost, although some come to me straight away and others I know I know but my mind goes blank or it takes longer to remember. I’ve done membership jobs which was my role when I had the stroke but also worked on reception covering breaks. One day in my 4th week, a receptionist wasn’t well so I worked most of the afternoon on reception and I managed really well. I feel like returning to work has given me more of a purpose again 😊

The fatigue has been a bit worse. The occupational health company told me to prepare for the fatigue and I did, but it’s hit me more on a few occasions than I thought it would. It’s not constant, but up and down. I still feel tired in myself most days, but able to get through the day. I have allowed myself early nights, not done as much exercise and also had naps. I’m also making sure I don’t concentrate on one task for too long at work. The day after I worked reception, I knew I was tired, so I paced myself and actually just went home a little earlier than planned because I started feeling it set in.

A few people have asked why I’m tired or what I have been doing to make me tired … I don’t like saying that people wouldn’t understand unless they went through it because everyone at some point may suffer tiredness or fatigue in different ways. I will say that unless someone has been through neuro-fatigue it’s probably difficult to describe or for people to understand.

The fatigue is made up cognitively, emotionally and physically. You might be tired from 1, or all 3 of these things. It might be from not doing much at all or delayed from a couple of days before. It’s also a big part of the healing process. For example; a broken leg takes time for rehab to repair and re-gain strength but it also needs rest to help the healing process. The brain is exactly the same, it needs to be worked and re-trained in different ways (in essence your brain is finding new pathways and re-wiring around the injured area to be able to do things you used to do); e.g. reading, writing, speaking, testing concentration, walking, movement of limbs, having more than one thing happening at the same time, etc … if a part of the brain injured is the part which controls your personaility, you may find someone changes, if the injured part is part which controls communication, a person may struggle to read/write/speak again … unfortunately some will recover better than others.

When I first had the stroke, I was tired. I had an hrs nap at least every day which was a conscious decision. When tiredness set in, I would feel a bit spaced out, at this point, I shut my eyes for a bit and seemed to feel better afterwards. It’s gotten better over the months. I’m now 8 months post stroke and still feel tired most days but I can get through. I seem to have gotten used to doing the exercise I was week to week but as I wasn’t at work, I had a lot of rest as well. Bringing you up to date, since starting work I’m a little worse again. I’m sometimes ok for a few days then have a day or two when I’m worse. Most of the time I just feel tired & my eyes feel heavier. Other times I’ll feel like I need to close my eyes. I mentioned at the beginning of this blog that I have just been on holiday and that just before that I tried 2 days in a row at work and felt it was a little too much. I started feeling nauseous and lightheaded and like the room was spinning. I considered whether it could be my blood pressure, so took it and it was fine so I tried to sleep a bit more when I could and once I’d had a couple of days rest/sleep I felt better.

I’m learning where my limits are & it is just a learning curve. I am being careful but I also want to get back to my hours at work. I know that there’s no rush for this as my health comes first and I definitely don’t want to put myself back, so please know I’m not overdoing it. ☺ We travelled back from Cornwall last Thursday and it was a long day. I worked Friday. During the day I was very cold and couldn’t seem to get warm. My lower back was aching a bit too. Once I was home I slept a good couple of hrs, so obviously needed it and after another nights sleep I was much better, so the tiredness, sitting in the van and the travelling had affected me again but in a different way this time.

I’m now in my 5th week back at work, still building my hrs. I have regular days to go in now and we’ve put a plan in place to build up to my 28 hrs a week making sure I have later starts and days in between longer days.

Luckily, this plan and my hours can change if needed and I have great support from work. 😊

All in all, it’s going really well so far and I’m really glad I’m back.

MRI Results…

In other news, I recieved a letter regarding my “MRI brain and MRA of the extra intracranial vessels”, results from about 8 weeks ago so it was probably done about 6 months after my stroke.

The letter says;

That the scan has shown small areas of gliosis (post stroke scarring) involving discrete and small patchy areas of the right MCA territory. There is no evidence of any other acute or recent ischemic injury. The MRA confirms the complete occlusion if the right ICA as previously suspected on the CT scan from Harrogate Hospital in January 2020. The rest of the vessels seem patent with a good flow particularly on the right sided anterior circulation.

I don’t really understand fully what the results say but the consultant is arranging a phone call to go through them and to chat about my clinical progress. It all sounds good though ☺ the fact that my flow of blood is good even on the right anterior side where the stent is 100% blocked is great and from what I’ve googled 🤣 gliosis is good as well.

As always thank you for reading 🦋🦋🦋