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My name is Ineke. I had a stroke. I woke up in the middle of the night at about at... I don't know. 11 o'clock. 11, 12 o'clock and my husband took me straight away to Basildon Hospital and then he stayed with me all the time. But I said to those wonderful people, "Please can I go home? Because there's nothing wrong with me." And they said, "No, you better stay for a little bit longer." Which I did. But then, unfortunately, I had a big one and about that one, I can't remember anything because it knocked me out for a couple of days.

The help and the care was outstanding. I've never experienced anything like it, I must admit. It was outstanding. But from then on in, it was the after-care and she spent six weeks at Brentwood Community Hospital, which was also outstanding. Very caring. The quality of care was superb. You couldn't wish for anything more.

I slept a lot and sometimes I had very good days but the bad days is really... You cry a lot and you just think, this is never gonna end because it's the tingling and I still have that on my right side and I can see this lovely person in front of me but I can't see. I've got to turn down my face to see on the left and on the right. But hopefully, that will come back good again and I'm sure it will in time and the tingling in my right leg and my right shoulder, this is all gone. Believe it or not, this is all gone. So that's good. But now, I'm on the... How do you call it? On the machine and I'm all wired up to make it stronger.

We all sort of... I think most of us understand that strokes are never identical. They affect different parts of the body, different parts of the brain, some of it comes back, some of it doesn't.

Before I had the stroke, I'm a very much get up and go girl. I've got three boys and my husband is a boy and two lovely boys and four lovely grandchildren now and very get up and go. I'm always there with them. Always in the car, going here, going there. But I can't obviously, can't do that anymore. Not at the moment. But I've got lovely daughters-in-law and boys so they come to me now. Pick me up because I can't obviously, you can't drive with this and I can't see very well but I can see straight to this lovely gentleman. So I'll get there. Maybe takes a little bit longer but I'm sure I'll get there in the end.

Going on a year later, she's doing very well. Bits are coming back. She has got some slight disability on the right-hand side. The vision is still not quite right but things are coming back very slowly.

As a result of my stroke, the change I make... Yeah, it is difficult to say. I've got to take it easy because I can't do anything. I can't get dressed quickly. I can't have a quick shower. You've got to take things slowly. Yeah. Yeah, there's a big, big change. Yes. Mentally and physically, you've got to... Like now, I'm talking to you, I'm excited but there's this tingling. So I think, "Keep calm. Keep calm." It's within, isn't it? Like, keep calm. Like my friend says to take a deep breath and keep calm so... And I never used to do that because I used to be out and about and do things but yes, I've got to take things slower. That's one thing that I'm... Coming over 65 soon so yeah, take slower and... But one thing is the best medicine I think that is love and it makes you feel better and stronger and happier, for a start. So I'm a lucky girl, really.

We've all adapted. We got four grandchildren so it's all... It's slightly different but you adapt to it.

You hear about in your daily life oh, so and so had a stroke. Another friend had stroke or somebody you know. You read in the paper and you read... Oh yeah, you follow. You go on to the next page but a stroke is not to be underestimated. It's a very tough thing to go through for emotionally, physically, I'm a get-up girl. I'll... To the gym, swimming. I went swimming. Me and my good friend in the beginning. I used to go to the bottom, she would pick me up again because my right side doesn't work very well. She'd get a hold of me and pull me back. Life does change and especially, people close to you, they've gotta... They understand it. And I'm sure I get on my husband's, maybe not nerves but sometimes with... I think oh, I can do it myself. But you can't and that is hard to take.

Yes. Yes, you have to... Yeah, you have to consider the person and you have to take a soft approach because sometimes you tend to perhaps overlook that they can't do what they did before. So you have to sort of overlook or you can overlook how they were and so then you have to sort of temper that a lot, so that you don't sort of perhaps lose your patience and just stop. Before you say something, just stop and think about you're gonna say.

My right side is... It's just not the same. Is the tingling and in the beginning, you cry a lot. It's a hard thing to overcome. If you can't do normal things any more of life. Driving a car or going on my bike in Holland or normal things or walk in the beginning. You just can't do that. It takes a little while. It takes a little while. So that's all I can say. It takes a while. But hopefully, it'd be alright. Yeah.

Our sons feared the worst and thought, "What's going to happen to Mum now?" but... And so you sort of go into a bit of a black area and think when she's... She was probably unconscious for about six or seven days. So you wonder, is this how it's gonna carry on? Then you tend to sort of think, well aftercare, am I fit enough to sort of look after them? And with the help... And certainly, the Stroke Association have been very, very good because I was a little bit nervous about leaving her and Christine said, she came around one day, she said, "Look, life has got to carry on and it will carry on. We will give her all the help in terms of a button, a pendant on her arm so that she could press it if there was an emergency." And they took care of all of that, so it allowed me a little bit of freedom to make... And knowing that she was safe.

But with support from your lovely family, your husband, your children, your friends, then you will get there and the lower days, you think, tomorrow's gonna be another day and then just be strong and fresh air and exercise and laughing. I think laughing is your best medicine. If you've got good buddies then you'll get there. Definitely. This my experience. I'm sitting here talking to this... to you and my right-hand side is just as bad as it was yesterday and it's tingling like this always in my leg. It's just as bad but you talk, you try to forget about it, but it comes back. But then, maybe this afternoon, I'll go out for a long walk with my best friend and get on with it and that's what you have to do and then hopefully, it'll be alright.

In the end, you've gotta do it yourself. Medicine, I take... I never used to take an Aspirin in my life, not even for a headache and then I take a lot of medication at the moment and then you take that and you... That's another thing and then the doctor say you've got... it's important because I've got to take that at the moment. So they've been very good. So the doctors themselves, I think they've... explaining. Explanations is the best way. How it all works to get better. So you explain it yourself. But I'm sure every patients experience this differently, than my situation. It's everything but it's different. It's different. That's all I can say at the moment.