I wanted to type up some of my stroke experiences before I started having Brian William's issues in remembering the details.  Please bear with any typos, spelling, grammatical errors, etc as I began writing this account just days after the stroke hit.  Here is what has happened over the last two weeks.

So what happened?  On Super Bowl Sunday Mae and I had come down with a horrible stomach bug. During one of the times when I was getting sick, I felt a searing pain in my head above my left eye. When I was washing my hands I noticed that my left eye had burst blood vessels in the corner by my nose. I also had a headache right above my left eye that did not go away over the next few days. I used extra strength Tylenol to try and deal with the pain, which worked ok, but never really knocked out the headaches. I even rubbed IcyHot over my eye, which really helped although the smell wasn’t the best, but the pain persisted.  What I did not know at the time was that this was the beginning of what would end up sending me to the hospital with an embolic stroke affecting the right side of my body.

I still felt crappy on Monday so I stayed home from work. On Tuesday, I left work after lunch still feeling bad with the headache. At home I went straight to bed and was out for the night. When I woke up Wednesday morning I felt great. I went to work and every thing was going well. However, as the afternoon wore on I started to feel the pain again. When I got home Leigh Ann and I made dinner for the kids, turkey tacos, a crowd favorite at our house. After dinner the boys and Alden went upstairs to start getting ready for bed while Leigh Ann and Mae were working on a homework project in our dining/computer room.  Meanwhile I was cleaning the kitchen. 

While cleaning the kitchen I got a rare call from Tom Gladden on our house phone (he always calls on the cell).  It was a cool call because he had an opportunity to go up to signing day in Athens with his brother-in-law who is a professor at Georgia and meet Coach Richt (yes I asked Tom if he asked Coach Richt what the heck he was thinking pooching against GT).  I was speaking to Tom and cleaning a pan when it happened. 

I hate using the word surreal.  It just it is so overused, kind of like how the word synergy was used in business about 10 years ago.  However in this situation, it really does describe what happened.  I mumbled an excuse to Tom that I had to go, saying something along the lines of I needed to take care of Hugh.  I knew something had happened but was not sure if I was fainting, having a seizure, or what. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. In my head I could see and know what I wanted my body to do and/say but couldn't make it work. It was definitely scary but also really frustrating.  I have never experienced a more bizarre feeling then losing control over my mind's ability to control my body and I hope I never have to again.

Since I did not know what had happened and knowing that I needed to sit down and not freak the kids by collapsing on the kitchen floor, which is what I really wanted to do, I headed/stumbled to the front hall and sat down on the bottom of the stairs.  At this point, I knew I couldn't stand up and also couldn't speak. Gardner and Hugh came down the stairs with some PJ's they picked out. Gardner was happy but Hugh was crying a bit.  I think they thought I was messing with them as I just kept sitting on the stairs and not really saying anything to them rather than helping them get ready for bed.  Leigh Ann yelled to me to see what was going on with the kids. Our trash pick up is on Wednesday and when I did not answer she assumed I was outside rolling in the can. Getting four kids ready for bed can be challenging to say the least and with me sitting in a daze on the steps, it became pretty obvious to Leigh Ann that nothing was being done towards getting the kids in bed.  So once again Leigh Ann yelled for me to see what I was doing. At this point Gardner had walked to where Mae and Leigh Ann were working on the computer and told Leigh Ann I was sitting on the bottom step in the front hall.  At this point Leigh Ann, predictably, freaked out. While Gardner had gone to tell her where I was, I pulled myself up and stumbled through the kitchen into the dining room meeting her as she came to check on me. As soon as I got in there I slumped on to a cushioned bench and Leigh Ann grabbed the phone and dialed 911.  At this point the only thing I could say was that I was ok.  I really was thinking that I was ok and was looking to get out of going to the hospital.   

The next 30 minutes were blurry and chaotic.  I somehow got myself up again and made it to the living room and sat down. I was still in the mindset that this was just some weird sort of neurological episode.  CMFD and Medic arrived soon after Leigh Ann called. I must have been acting fairly normal because the paramedics could not figure out who was hurt and we're giving Leigh Ann a hard time.  The kids were running around but we got them all on the couch and quiet so the medics could start to question me after Leigh Ann confirmed that something was wrong with me.  They asked what I had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Here is where the frustration kicked in.  In my head I could clearly remember making and eating eggs with the boys in the morning but all I could get out was "I don't know."   Heck, I had just helped prepare, eat, and clean up dinner and I knew we had had turkey tacos but still said that I didn't know, because I could not get the words out. 

At this point I saw the fear in Leigh Ann's eyes. I started to realize that this was something more then just a spell. The medics began to ask more basic questions and I was reminded of one of my favorite movies "My Cousin Vinny."  During one scene, Vinny, played by Joe Pesci, is proving that an elderly lady could not have witnessed the robbery because she needs new glasses.  As he stood at the back of the courtroom he held up two fingers and asked is she could read them. Before she could answer the Judge, played by Fred Gwynne (aka Herman Munster), told the reporter to let the record show he was holding up two fingers and thus gave the answer to the witness. I am sure you remember the rest of that scene. When the medic asked me what day it was Alden promptly spit out… “Wednesday,” then had the exact same awkward expression the Judge had when she realized her mistake.  Good thing for Alden because I had no clue what day it was.  For that matter, I had no idea what my age was, birthdate, current month, year, nothing. The medics didn’t waste anymore time and put me on the stretcher and into the ambulance. 

I would be remiss at this point not to mention our amazing family, neighbors, and friends. That first night when Leigh Ann and I left in the ambulance our neighbors jumped to get our kids ready for bed and make sure that we were all set at home. From that point to where we are today, they have all taken turns on watching the kids, washing clothes, cooking meals, visiting, and being a huge support network for us.  Without the dedication all of this fantastic group of people I really don't know how we would have managed. 

Growing up, I think any kid is excited to see an ambulance or fire truck go by. Although it sounds kind of silly, I did enjoy riding in the ambulance with the sirens going and, according to our neighbors, our kids ran upstairs to play with Gardner's new toy ambulance he got for his birthday right after we departed so whether or not brain damaged, I still was thinking like a kid which is something I never want to grow out of! Anyway, the medics kept a close eye on me and continued testing me to see what was going in my brain as we went to the hospital.  They put oxygen on me and started an IV and got me to the hospital (Presbyterian Main) as quickly as they could. As soon as we got there I was rushed into the emergency room. I did not realize that Leigh Ann rode in the ambulance with me and was there with me as the doctors began to try and to figure out what was going on with me. 

During the late 80’s and early 90's, Emory University was conducting clinical trials using a drug called tissue plasminogen activator or TPA. TPA had been used for years to break up blood clots found in the heart.  The goal of the clinical trials was to show that TPA could be used to also break up blood clots in the arteries in the brain caused by stroke. Interestingly, working on these clinical trials was my mother and a team of Emory neurologists. Oh what a small world we live in as these trials proved to be a huge benefit in stroke patients. TPA, if administered within the first 3 to 4 hours of the initial onset of stroke symptoms, is now the gold standard in treating patients suffering from stroke.  Therefore, when I was admitted to the emergency room the doctors immediately made the determination to give me TPA.  As it had a been about an hour since the stroke symptoms hit me until the TPA was administered, it worked just as it was supposed to and broke up the clot in my brain.  The next issue is how did a clot end up in my brain in the first place. 

I am in fairly good shape for a 43-year-old guy. I try and run and/or work out regularly. With four young children and worrying about all of the steak I had eaten throughout my life, I had a cardiovascular exam two years ago which included a stress test and a carotid artery ultrasound.  The carotid ultrasound gives a good idea if a person has a build up of plaque in the arteries throughout the body as the carotid arteries show plaque buildup really well. Both of these tests came back with great results which raised some questions as a stroke of this kind is usually due to issues with bad arteries due to the similar types of things that could lead to a heart attack. 

After multiple CT, CT-A, and MRI scans the source of the clot was found to be a dissection of the left internal carotid artery.  This issue is usually related to some sort of trauma to the neck, in my case I literally threw up so hard that I tore the inside of my artery wall.  Artery walls are made up of three layers of tissue. A dissection is essentially a tear in the artery wall that allows blood to leak into these layers causing a bulge. Picture plywood getting wet to have a better understanding. This bulge caused two issues.  First, it threw the clot that caused the stroke. Second, it restricted the blood flow to my brain. After the TPA broke up the clot, the major issue was to address the dissection. 

I was moved from the ER to the Neurological Intensive Care Unit on Wednesday evening. What began was a very trying next few days.  In order to keep blood flowing to my brain I was given levophed, a blood pressure medicine, which raised my pressure up to around 180/100. In addition, I was given plavix and aspirin to stop any further clotting at the point of the dissection. The biggest problem for me was the increased blood pressure plus the damage to my brain was causing massive headaches. The headaches were addressed with various different intravenous and oral pain medications. The problem with the pain meds is that they counteracted the levophed so a push and pull situation developed. Eventually the headaches got better and the focus became about my brain working correctly as the levophed was reduced. 

In order to test whether or not I was making any progress I was put through various physical and mental exams.  The tests used to evaluate me were the NIH’s stroke scales.  The physical tests did not bother me too much as I felt I would get back my feeling and movement on my right side (left brain damage equals right side issues).  That stated, there were some pretty wild situations where I could not feel the nurses pinching my leg or arm.  I also had tests where I put my arms or legs in the air with my eyes closed that were pretty hilarious.  I thought they were up in the air when they were lying on the bed.  The physical tests really were ok as I had control of my body within a day or two after being admitted.

The mental tests were an entirely different experience.  These exams were trying as they really evidenced to me that a part of my brain had actually died.  For example, I would be shown a picture of a strange kitchen scene (see attached) and be asked to describe what was happening.  I could get some of the items correct but other things I could not verbalize.  For example, I could not say the word stool if my life depended on it.  I could say chair, but no matter how hard I tried I could not get the word stool out.  I have attached all of the other test pictures, phrases, and words on the next few pages.  Among them I could not say feather, huckleberry, baseball player, cactus, and the phrase “Near the table in the dining room.”  I even tried to cheat and look up desert plants as I could remember that a cactus is found in a desert and if I could just read the word cactus next to a picture I would have it.  Even going to that extent I still could not get the words out.  Eventually these tests became easier as my brain adapted the changes in blood pressure flow and worked around the portions that were damage by the stroke. 

As my eight-day ordeal in the ICU continued, I focused on getting out of the hospital.  What did I need to do to get out in as a healthy a state as possible so I could get home to my family?  With both Alden and Mae having spent weeks at a time in hospitals when they were toddlers, I knew that there were certain “gateways” I would have to achieve in order to head home.  In addition, I did not have access to a shower so I really started to stink a few days in, so in the best interest for my caregivers and me, I had to get out.  I also need to digress at this point for funny story.  Everyone in the Faherty family will readily admit to having some pretty greasy hair if not showered regularly.  On Sunday our rector, Josh Bowron, came to visit and give communion.  As we began speaking he asked me if I needed a towel to dry my hair.  Understandably this cracked me up and I relished being able to tell him that my hair was not wet, that it was just grease.  Back to getting out of the hospital, obviously doing well on the aforementioned stroke scales were huge towards getting home. These tests showed that my brain was healing but were also indicators of the blood pressure issues I was battling.  I could not go home on levophed as it is an intravenous medicine that has to be administered carefully.  Therefore, I had to show that I could get off of the levophed, which means functioning at my normal blood pressure (i.e. talk). The issue was that when the rate of levophed was reduced the blood pressure was also reduced and therefore the blood flow across the dissection was reduced resulting in less blood to my brain and therefore a slurring of my words and/or troubling coming up with words.  Therefore my goal was to get off the levophed, which reduced my BP, but at the same time being able to pass tests and speak normally.  This goal/task took patience, which any of you are still reading this tale know I have very little.

The patience eventually paid off.  I was discharged from the hospital with strict instructions to take things easy (once again, like patience, not something that will come naturally to me).  The dissection will take from three to six months to completely heal, think of a bad bruise taking forever to finally fade away.  I am currently on Plavix and a baby aspirin to keep any clotting from occurring. I still have times where I lose feeling in my right arm but I am confident this too will pass.  I am very happy to be home with my family and of course to finally be able to take a shower!  Keep in mind that this incident was a freak accident.  Really, how many of you have heard of a stroke due to a throwing up from a really harsh stomach bug?  With that stated, it is great to have the medical professionals that knew exactly how to address this situation and work towards a positive outcome.  Thanks to all for support, prayers, thoughts, etc, over the last week and a half.  I have always cherished time with my family and friends; I will do so even more now.  There is still a long way to go but the scariest part is over.