I just joined and thought I'd share a little bit of my experiences related to Ischemic stroke. My story starts with a heart attack that fortunately general discomfort woke me from my sleep. Put a stent in and ballooned a couple others that were restricting flow. Shortly after being released, I was at home and was taking my BP with an automated machine, and I did it more than once as it didn't feel like the machine was working. My family looked at me strange and said it was. My family called for an ambulance and it was determined I had a stroke. Although I was able to talk and had full motor skills, at one point I lost all my vision. Out of all the things that were happening, not being able to see bothered me the most of all. Like one other person on this thread posted, the health care providers said to give it some time and the brain sometimes is able to rewire itself. At the time, I didn't really believe it, but it was hope, and that's what I needed...hope. I'm not sure how long it was that I couldn't see, but I think it was the next day at some point that I could begin to see. I remember the nurses putting some tape/cotton swab on the bed-side call button so I would be able to know what button to push during the night if I needed assistance. It was strange, as I thought all would be dark. It was more like a light gray, not bright enough that I felt the need to close my eyes, but wasn't black either. It didn't make a difference if I shut my eyes. As some point, I began to see outlines, and was really blurry. Eventually, a few hours later, I could see. The long term effects is my peripheral vision is less than it used to be. But compared to a world of solid gray, I was grateful to have this much of my sight back. One thing I wasn't prepared for was viewing my head scans in my follow-up appointments and seeing how much of my brain had been damaged/affected from the stroke(s). I never imagined I could continue doing everything I do as normally as I do seeing that much damage, so again, I was grateful. I remember that night at home, feeling like I was in shock, as I wondered how can I be functioning with so much damage. Faith, family, friends, and Mayo's great healthcare service got me through it all. It is great to be alive! GR82BAlive