Hi, thanks for the reach out.. I am doing well, although I do worry about another stroke so anxiety is an issue. A common theme seems to be that the medical profession can't be to specific as to anyone's outcome in particular. I have had varying opinions about me returning to exercise. I got fed up and am now running 5k three times a week whilst I wait to have a PFO closed, I did 98k in November and 76 in December, I am fortunate to be able to do this but I believe that finding anything to take your mind of the experience helps.

One thing I do experience is short term memory loss, but it is not specific, somethings I remember, but the doing stuff, remembering to make a call etc is what I have an issue with. I was wondering how many people have this?. It is strange because if you say to me you were going to call someone, I will remember, I seem to need a kickstart. I am having and issue remembering non important conversations.

Please contact me I am happy to share my experiences with anyone.

I am doing well. I will hit the 1 year mark since I had my stroke this Sunday. Things have improved greatly since I had my stroke, big strides over the past month or so, but I am not 100% of the way back. The worst thing I am dealing with right now is a little bit of brain flooding. It seems like it affects me when I have to walk " between the lines", such as sidewalks, store aisles, walkways, narrow hallways, things like that. I seem to get a little anxious or lightheaded, hard to explain, but it is tolerable and manageable. It's not an issue when I walk in the road or wide open places. It has improved over the past year, but I am starting to think this may be the new norm. No issues driving my car or motorcycle, most other issues I have experienced are barely noticeable now or I am used to them.

I am very happy that much of my guitar playing ability has come back! The (pretty much) daily practice has had me focusing on the fine motor skills on my right side, I just picked up a stomp box (tap with your foot and it makes a drum or cymbal sound) for my daughter, who is also a musician, and this is allowing me to work on keeping the beat with my right foot while I play. Great therapy!

Similar to trkuk, I worry about having another stroke, It took a lot of work to get to where I am and I really don't want to go through it again. More importantly, I don't want my family to worry and I certainly do not want to cause hardship on their end because of my health. I know I am fortunate it was not worse, I try not to whine about it, but it kind of stinks having had to deal with this though. I may have already stated this in an earlier post, my apologies for being redundant, my cardiologist says my stroke was likely caused by periodic and infrequent Afib that caused a clot to form in my heart then it was pumped to my brain. I have had a number of tests and I am otherwise a healthy guy (have run 3 marathons, 1/2 marathon, Olympic distance triathlons, 100 mile bike rides, etc in the past 18 years). I have a Medtronic Linq device implanted in my chest that uploads my EKG everyday to the doctor's office. They noticed at my last visit a few months back instances where I had PACs and they prescribed Metaprolol to make them less intense. I can feel my heart beat through my chest when it happens, it usually only lasts a minute or so. I guess the theory is that PACs can trigger Afib, no Afib episodes yet, but I feel it is a wait and see thing.

I had a DVT in my leg 5 or 6 years back and the cardiologist I was seeing at the time diagnosed it as "my body being injured and it was healing itself" (I was laying a large patio, replacing windows on the 2nd floor in my house and was training for a 100 mile bike ride at the time, so it made sense to me). I am thinking now that it was due to an Afib episode also.

I do want to thank everyone that participates on this site. It has helped me a lot over the past months and I can only hope my experiences have helped others too. It feels good to talk to others that "get it", helps a lot to validate what I am going through!
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