Hear Aidee’s Story
Written by Aidee Becerra, Reconnect Alumni. Project led by Andrew Davie, Reconnect leader.
On Sunday, January 27, 2024, I started feeling dizzy. I initially thought it was vertigo symptoms. The dizziness came and went throughout Sunday. I felt better, then I would feel dizzy again. I also felt really tired.
I was out of town that weekend, so when I was at the airport, ready to fly back home, I felt so dizzy that I held on to my husband because I could not walk unassisted. When we landed in Ontario, CA, I ran to the restroom; I threw up for the first time. Then we drove home, which was another 30 minutes, and when I arrived at home, I threw up again. At that point, I thought I had food poisoning, or I got a 24-hour bug. I went to sleep, and I woke up around 2 am with an urge to urinate. When I was on the toilet, I started throwing up again and lost motor control. At that point we knew it was more serious than vertigo, food poisoning, or a stomach bug.
My husband had one of our daughters call emergency services. The paramedics came, and they checked me out. My husband told them we had spent a weekend wine tasting. Unfortunately, the paramedics jumped to conclusions and thought I was drunk. They transported me to the hospital, and on the way there I threw up again. I heard the paramedics talking that they thought I was drunk. They did give me medication to help me stop throwing up.
When I arrived at the hospital, I'm confident they told the nurses they thought I was drunk because I was left in a hallway for 2-3 hours, unattended, without seeing my family. At this point, it was already Monday, January 28, 2024. After a few hours of being there, I had to urinate again. I got up and walked to the restroom, accompanied by a male nurse. When he saw that I had bad motor control, he asked me what was wrong. I told him I didn't know I was at the hospital because I was throwing up and had lost motor control. He immediately asked me to smile and saw that I had a drooping smile. He pointed at me and said You are suffering from a stroke.
After I went to the restroom, they immediately gave me a room and finally let my family back to see me. They started doing scans to confirm the stroke. The diagnosis was that I was having a hemorrhagic stroke that was massive and was affecting both sides of my cerebellum. My family was updated on my diagnosis and was informed that they would not be feeding me because I might need an emergency craniotomy, which is basically a cut to your skull to release pressure.
Within the first couple of days, family and friends were stopping by the hospital to check on my family and say their goodbyes to me. I vaguely remember seeing some of my family; they had pity on their faces and were sad.
I didn't eat for 5 days because they thought I might need the surgery. At my family's request, the hospital placed a feeding tube in me. Before the feeding tube was placed in me, I was getting really weak. My husband remembers lifting my arm, and it would fall straight down because I was so weak. This proves that it is important to advocate for your family when they can't advocate for themselves. The day I was scheduled for surgery, the pressure in my brain went down, and luckily I didn't need the surgery. They kept me on the feeding tube because my body forgot how to swallow. When I finally passed a swallow test, two weeks later, they removed it. This is when the hard work began.
The therapist started teaching me how to eat and walk. I started with soft foods like jello and soups. I started walking with a walker; first, I would walk to the door, then down the hallway. After a few days of rehab, like a week, I was discharged to a live-in rehabilitation center.
At the rehabilitation center, I was still wearing a diaper, so they would come and change it and wake me at 7am so that I could start therapy. The therapies there were more intense. I would spend 2-3 hours per day on occupational, physical, and speech therapy. They taught me how to talk, eat, walk, shower, and clean myself after bowel movements. I was just reminded of the first time I put on my shoes and tied my shoelaces; it was a big accomplishment. I was so proud of myself. It was embarrassing when I had bowel movements; the nurses or my husband had to wipe me. So pick your spouse wisely. Anyways, I had to learn to wipe myself, and I was in a hurry.
I was supposed to be in the live-in rehabilitation center for 3 weeks, but after 2 weeks I forced my family to take me home. At this point, I still thought I was going to pass away, so I wanted to be home when it happened. When I was forcefully discharged, I was still in a wheelchair for most of the day and would only use a walker to walk short distances, like going to the restroom. I was also using a shower chair because I have to sit while I shower to avoid falls. I was discharged with no support tools, no wheelchair, no shower chair, and no walker. The rehabilitation center said my insurance had not approved those items yet. What? How am I supposed to move around and be safe?
I'm blessed that we have a friend who works in the medical field, and he sold us a walker and a shower chair at a fair price. He also lent us a wheelchair because he figured that would be temporary. 4 weeks after I was discharged from the rehabilitation center, my insurance finally called me, and they approved the walker, shower chair, and wheelchair. It was too late by then; I had already gotten those items. Again, advocating is very important. I'm sure if we had kept calling my insurance, they would have approved them sooner.
