CHAPTER 1: THE DAY I DIED

These are the chronicles of a stroke survivor. To be honest, I had never given this subject any thought before my incident. It all seemed so far away, in another world from mine. I led a seemingly healthy lifestyle, no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes, I ran every other day, I did aerobics often, I slept well, etc. So I never expected this to happen to me. I shudder to think how slow my recovery would have been if I did any of these vices.

You may be wondering what has led me to start this blog. See, what happened to me was life changing and it can happen to anyone despite lifestyle. I wish to help people who are going through it or might, God forbid, go through it at a later stage in life; it is also a healing process for me and it is my story to tell for I have lived to see another day. It is not always that someone survives a stroke, let alone two strokes (according to my neurologist, I suffered two strokes at once).

Although it is inconclusive, my doctors informed me that I had an extreme allergic reaction to some toxic gas which I happened upon. My respiratory tracts were clogged up and oxygen supply to my vital organs was cut off. This led to a cardiac arrest and ultimately the strokes. It all happened suddenly and without prior warning.

I am not a medical professional but in this blog I will attempt to highlight a number of issues about strokes. I will share my own experiences, the experiences of those that were with me when I suffered the ordeal and I will also share medical information from professionals and other sources.

At this point allow me to introduce a few key people. Meet Esoko, my sister in law, who was with me from the time that I was rushed to the hospital. Ken, my cousin who also came to be with me at hospital. Finally, there is Frank. Frank is the person I went to pick up when this whole thing happened. He was the first respondent. But for his quick action, my story would be different today. There are other key persons that I will later introduce in the upcoming articles.

THE WAY IT HAPPENED

As a side hustle away from my day job I used to pick up people for a charge. For those that do not know, there is a well-known app where a person with a vehicle can register to pick up persons who are in need of transport. For obvious reasons I would not want to divulge the name of the company. It was a normal Thursday afternoon and I went through my usual routine of having lunch at home after picking up my kids from school.  Thereafter, I took a nap up to about 1600 hours. When I got up from my nap I turned on the app to indicate that I was available for pick-ups. Shortly, I received a pickup request from a regular customer but it turned out he was far away and needed a taxi faster than I could get there. The next call was from Frank who was a little bit closer to where I was, I agreed to pick him up. I started off from Kalundu to go to Chudleigh. I used the marshlands side road and drove past the famous bakery in Jesmondine. At the junction on central street I turned left and then immediate right to join the other section of central street. As soon as I got on to that section I caught a whiff of a nice smelling scent. It smelt fruity. It was a scent that I could not ignore. I inhaled.

In less than a minute, I got to the pickup place and suddenly I felt woozy. My head was spinning and my hands became weak. I came out of the car but failed to stand and fell to the ground. I threw up twice. Fortunately, I still had some strength in me and instantly my military background kicked in. I called my wife, Charmaine, who was at the time in Pretoria, South Africa.  I told her that I was not feeling too well and that I would go to hospital immediately. She called her sister Esoko to meet me at the hospital. Next, I called a colleague and good friend of mine, Lieutenant Mwewa, but he did not answer. I sent him a live location of where I was. I then gave Frank the pin number to my phone and requested him to call my cousin Ken to tell him to meet us at the hospital. Within a short space of time Frank called another cab to take me to the hospital because he was not licensed to drive.

In quick time, the taxi arrived. I was bundled into the back seat and off we went to Levy hospital. Enroute the hospital, I am feeling better but still woozy and weak. When we arrived at the hospital there was no sense of urgency from the medical staff despite my condition. It was some 30 minutes or so before I was attended to. In the meantime I continued throwing up.

They gave me some medication to stop the vomiting and then put me on observation. I was on observation from 1700 hrs to 2300 hrs when my condition deteriorated. Suddenly, I could hear even the slightest sound of someone in the next room tapping on the table or shuffling their feet. I could feel my face getting numb. I could not swallow saliva and I was drooling uncontrollably. I indicated to Esoko that I was getting worse and struggling to breath. She made the quick decision to transfer me to a private hospital. One that we use frequently as a family. When I got to the second hospital, they rushed me to the emergency room without delay. They observed that my oxygen levels were below 20%, a very critical state. No sooner had I got to the E.R., did I lose consciousness…I flat lined.

I have no idea what happened next. In the next chapter, I will let Ken and Esoko give account of events. What I do remember though, is that I had an out of body experience where I could see my spirit leaving my body. And when I arrived at some place I told someone that it was not my time to die. I told them that my kids were too small and they still needed me. They agreed to let me get back to earth. It was not an easy journey back. If you ask me, I do not know where I went but what I do know is that there is life after death, there is a place where we go. I am still conversing with God on this issue. While I was on my journey to and fro, back here I had been unconscious for 10 hours, from about midnight Thursday to 10:00 am Friday morning. I woke up in the ICU and boy did I come back kicking and shoving till I had to be restrained, literally. I had respirators and various sensors hooked to my body. At this point I felt perfectly fine apart from the weight of my body (I was partially paralyzed) but did not know until later on in the day. This is where I will end for now, to allow Frank, Ken and Esoko to share with you what transpired from their point of view.