Ruth Lyle

Ruth Lyle was 58 when she suffered a stroke whilst on holiday in Spain. Here Ruth shares her story with Different Strokes to highlight her stroke was not a sudden bolt from the blue, rather a series of symptoms over 6 days.

“I awoke one morning and felt as though someone had twisted my head around the wrong way, I saw lots of different coloured lights, I just thought I was overtired. I went off to work with a very fuzzy head and struggled through the day, as I was going on holiday the next week, I thought the rest would do me good. By the next again day my voice was monotone and I felt very dizzy and driving was very difficult as my vision just did not seem right.

The next day I was taken to A and E to be checked out, I was given a thorough neurological examination which did not show anything untoward, however my blood pressure was very high but that did not concern the doctors. I explained I was flying to Spain the next day and was told to enjoy my holiday and get a CT scan in my return. By the next day my left arm was dangling at my side but I was still using it, however during the flight I could not hold anything in my hand and kept dropping things.

At the resort, I fell whilst carrying lemonade and still felt dizzy. After a nap, I tried to have a shower fell into the bath and then had great difficulty dressing.  A doctor was called and he immediately spotted my face and left side had drooped, checked my blood pressure which was very high and diagnosed a stroke. I was taken to intensive care where I got a CT scan and monitored. The hospital in Spain were excellent and thankfully my travel insurance paid for all my treatment and were very helpful (as I was being wheeled into intensive care, my son David Holmes was being asked for €3000) -credit card to the rescue. He didn't get much holiday as he came by taxi each day to see me and has gone above and beyond in his care for me.

Four months later I am recovering well at home. I have really persevered with my left arm as I could not lift it very high after the stroke and as I sometimes lead Book Bug sessions  in my local library, I really enjoy these and my left hand would just not get high enough to do the actions for "Incy Wincy Spider" and "Twinkle, twinkle little star"  I worked very hard to be able to do this, so you could say that my left arm mobility is thanks to a spider and a star! The fatigue gets me down; however, I have learned to pace myself- very hard as I was always very busy. I now do yoga and practice meditation as the brain seems to still think at the old rate and the body cannot keep up.

I came across Different Strokes through reading Mike Ripley’s excellent book "Surviving a stroke" which resonated strongly with me. I have found the online forum to be useful and feel inspired to want to help others, I am treating the stroke as an opportunity to do different things and accept new challenges.