Interview 28

Age at interview: 63

Brief Outline: He had a stroke due to a clot aged 62, which caused right weakness, spasms and speech problems. Medication' ramipril, diltiazem hydrochloride, prazosin hydrochloride, adalat (blood pressure), simvastatin (cholesterol), aspirin, dipyridamole (antiplatelet).

Background: Is a single man with no children and is a retired postman. Ethnic background/nationality' White/English.

More about me...

This man had a stroke at the age of 62 he is now 63. His stroke was due to a clot which stopped the flow of blood to the right hand side of his brain. His initial symptoms were a weakness in the left hand side of his face. This was noticed by the landlord of the pub where he was drinking, who called an ambulance to take him to the hospital.

This man's main impairments have been weakness of the left leg and some spasms in the left leg. He has been able to walk again but has found it frustratingly slow as he used to walk many miles as a postman. He also experienced some problems with his speech due to the weakness of his facial muscles. He had some help in the hospital but felt that the therapists were not very understanding or patient with him.

He now takes medication to prevent another stroke ramipril, diltiazem hydrochloride, prazosin hydrochloride and adalat to control his blood pressure; simvastatin to reduce cholesterol and aspirin and dipyridamole to prevent another clot. He found remembering to take the medication difficult and had an incident where he took too much. A friend who lives downstairs now helps to remind him what tablets he needs to take by writing them down. He also hopes to get a special box to put his medication in so he is less likely to forget.

Since the stroke he has tried to change his lifestyle including cutting down on salt and reducing the amount of alcohol he drinks as he thinks this may have contributed to the stroke. 

The landlord at the local pub noticed his face had dropped on one side and called an ambulance.

Well, actually it was I went to the pub one Saturday afternoon, because we used to go Saturday afternoon to watch the horses, me and my brother and a couple of mates, we'd sit and watch the racing on the telly and I was ready to come home, you know, and the, the landlord said, 'I'll ring for a taxi' not taxi, 'I'll ring for an ambulance, you've had a stroke I think'. I said, 'I don't think I have'. He said, 'Your mouth has dropped down one side' it was this side I think and then somebody said, 'You look as if you've had a stroke'. He said, 'I'll ring for an ambulance', so they rung for an ambulance and took me to [the hospital] and I was there and I thought they'd say 'He's alright send him home' because I didn't feel as if I'd had a stroke. 

He had been told by a friend that it could take two years for him to recover physically and that even then his recovery might not be total.

I felt alright myself, you know, but it was just, you know, the walking got me, you know. I couldn't walk very far. That's what worried me more than anything. As I say from walking about 4 hours a day continuously and not, not being hardly able to hobble along. it takes me an hour to get up to the Co-op and back which is just up the road which I, which I used to be back in about 10 minutes. Which is, you know, and they said it would take about 2 hours to get, get any sorry, 2 years, sorry, to get better. You won't fully recover, they reckon. You're still suffer a bit from, you'll know you've had a stroke, you know, which is a bit frightening really. But I'm hoping that in about 2 years time I'll be sort of hopefully recovered but I met somebody at the shop, oh, a few weeks ago and he said that his dad had a stroke and it took him 2 years but he said he never fully recovered and I said, 'Oh thanks for cheering me up'. 
 

Moderates his drinking now even when friends encourage him to have more.

I mean, I don't drink, I have, don't drink hardly any now, I have a, you know, couple of pints but not a lot. They said don't drink too much, [my friend] says don't have too much, I have, I have 2, if I go out, I have a couple of pints. They said you can have 2 and a half, you know and people say, 'Come on, have another' 'No, I don't want one' I'll just keep to two. 

Take the tablets and do what the health professionals advise because they wouldn't be telling you if it wasn't worth knowing.

Well take the tablets you're told to take and do as you're told. That's all I can say is that, you know, they wouldn't be telling you if it wasn't worth telling you, would they?