Dunham Family and My Stroke Story!

On Monday, January 20, 2014, I had a seizure and I spent the night at Saint Alphonsus in Boise. My strokes happened two years ago, and I had no idea that a seizure would be a possibility afterwards.  It would have been great to have forewarning because this was a shock emotionally and physically. Seizures are bouts of disorganized electrical activity in the brain. They can happen spontaneously (primary seizures) or from brain damage (due to stroke). Seizures come in different flavors. Last week, I lost consciousness. In May, I had an "incident" that resembled a seizure. I never lost consciousness, and I described my symptoms in detail. I had an aura on my right side, and it seemed that my right side vision was disrupted. It almost seemed that my right vision was a memory like a two second delay.  Even though I described that vividly, the doctors did not seem to know what happened. Instead, they prescribed anti-seizure medication, Keppra, even though they said it

When my strokes happened, I had rehab at the hospital. My schedule was intense for me. Two times a day, I had occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. It was incredibly hard. I had to skip and do yoga on a Wii. I could not to it very well. I had speech therapy. Over and over, my patient therapist would ask me to say word with pictures. “Mark, what is a “comb?” What is an “A?” Etc. I got out of the   hospital  on Friday, January 27, 2012. On Monday, January 30 th at 9:00 a.m., I started at “STARS,” St. Alphonsus Rehabilitation Services.    For about 10 months, I had therapy. I had mainly occupational therapy and speech therapy. They had me doing all sorts of things. “PowerPoint, Excel, and Word:” That was my livelihood “before.” I had to complete “Hart Charts” and “Dynavision” for vision loss. I was a math whiz before the strokes. Now, even now, I cannot “do” math. I read financial, but I cannot express them. In the beginning, it was 6 times a week p

Today marks the  anniversary  of my second Ischemic stroke which was a massive one. It was caused by torn carotid artery. Here is a definition: “ Carotid artery dissection is a separation of the layers of the artery wall supplying oxygen-bearing blood to the head and brain, and is the most common cause of stroke in young adults .” Further research tells more of my stroke story: “Once considered uncommon, spontaneous carotid artery dissection is an increasingly recognized cause of stroke that preferentially affects the middle-aged . Arterial dissection of the carotid arteries occurs when a small tear forms in the innermost lining of the arterial wall (known as the tunica intima). Blood is then able to enter the space between the inner and outer layers of the vessel, causing narrowing (stenosis) or complete occlusion. The stenosis that occurs in the early stages of arterial dissection is a dynamic process and some occlusions can return to stenosis very quickly. When complete

Almost two years ago, I had two Ischemic strokes. Ischemic strokes accounts for about 87 percent of all cases. Ischemic strokes occur as a result of an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain.  My initial stroke was caused by a torn carotid artery.  The American Heart and Stroke Association have a good definition:   “Cerebral embolism  refers generally to a blood clot that forms at another location in the circulatory system, usually the heart and large arteries of the upper chest and neck. A portion of the blood clot breaks loose, enters the bloodstream and travels through the brain's blood vessels until it reaches vessels too small to let it pass. A second important cause of embolism is an irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation. It creates conditions where clots can form in the heart, dislodge and travel to the brain.” According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , here are U.S. Statistics about strokes: §   Stroke is