My origin story: I was born on July 3, 1941, in Eriksdale, Manitoba. I moved to Winnipeg when I was seven years old and raised there. I was married in 1960 in Winnipeg and moved with my husband and our six-year-old and 2-year-old boys to North Vancouver in 1967. We divorced in 1971. I remarried in 1974 and divorced in 1985. I lived in North Delta and Surrey, BC. I remarried in 1988 and moved to Nanaimo in 1990. My husband of 26 years died in 2014 in Nanaimo.

My age: I am 80.

Occupation: I worked as a receptionist at Lockheed Offshore, BC Hydro in Surrey, and was a Senior Accounting Clerk for Kraft Foods in Surrey for 15 years. Before these jobs, I was always working in an office. I was also a realtor for a short time in North Delta and Surrey. I worked as a realtor in Nanaimo for Block Bros. in the early 1990s.

My stroke experience

On July 9, 2016, I had a cerebellar stroke. It controlled my balance and co-ordination. It happened nine days after my 75th birthday. What a shock!

This is how it happened. I was in bed at about 10 pm after a great day shopping with my girlfriend. The room suddenly went upside down and I was very dizzy and started to throw up. I had never had such a terrible feeling before. I couldn’t walk, tried, but just kept hitting the wall and falling.

I was home alone as my husband had passed away in 2014. I managed to crawl to the front door with phone in hand and called 911. The paramedics took me to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

Short stay at the hospital

I cannot remember the time I spent in the Nanaimo Emergency department. I do not remember any tests being done. Just throwing up and being dizzy. I just remember feeling so terrible I would have been happy to die. A man and a woman (must have been the doctor and nurse) told me I have to go home! They said, “You have vertigo and a prescription is in your purse.”

I am still throwing up. This is now 4 am in the morning. They said I have to walk to the sign down a regular hall. It looked miles and miles away to me. I COULD NOT possibly walk down to it. I said I live alone! NO ONE is home. . .The next thing I knew I was in a Yellow Cab with a blanket around me - I had on baby doll pyjamas as it was July. I was also given a barf bag. This was 4 am in the morning!

I live only five minutes from the hospital and I FILLED the barf bag and was throwing up all over the poor taxi driver’s cab. He tried to find tissues for me. Lucky for me he was a good driver and found my house key and helped me into the house. Thank goodness he didn’t just drop me off on the driveway. I am sure I would have died. I have two emergency numbers with the hospital, why did they not call one of them?

I am sure I was still having my stroke when they put me in the cab at 4 am in the morning. NO ONE SHOULD BE SENT HOME TO AN EMPTY HOUSE!

Quick return to Nanaimo Hospital

Another girlfriend, who is a nurse, had a feeling something was wrong and that she should call me the morning that I was sent home at 4 am in a cab. She did not know this had all happened. Thank goodness for her gut feeling. She came right over and saw that I was in a bad way and that my pulse and other indicators showed I was in a bad way.

She called an ambulance and asked for a CT scan – which they did at the hospital and discovered I had had a bad stroke. They kept me in the hospital overnight and sent me home with a lot of support the next day. That included a lot of equipment like two walkers, a commode, a Home Support Service Plan with a homemaker to come in and make my meals, provide bedtime care, do my laundry, hair washing, change bedding, etc. The homemaker also came and made my breakfast and a sandwich for lunch.

I thought, “I can do this myself.” I also felt I could do the physio myself. I was doing more than the physiotherapist was showing me. I know they were just helping me until I could go back to my own routine. So I made up my mind to slowly get back to my old life. I had to do it! I cancelled all the help. I am fortunate to be surrounded with good girlfriends who were there for me if I needed them.

Post-stroke treatment

Before I had a stroke, I had been on Pradaxa blood thinner because I have atrial fibrillation. Dr Hector Baillie, an internal medicine specialist, said the drug let me down. Both my druggist and doctor said that I was the first person they have heard of having a stroke while using this medication! So, I’m now on the blood thinner, Warfarin. My blood has to be thin enough not to throw a blood clot and thick enough to not have a brain bleed. Hence, my INR is checked through a weekly blood test.

Media spotlight

My granddaughter in Calgary was very upset that I was sent home at 4 am in the morning in a cab while having a stroke. She called the CBC. The CBC called me and asked if I would do an on-camera interview about my experience. I was still feeling very sick – I just could not do it on-camera. The reporter asked if she could interview me on the radio, which I did, and it went all across Canada.

Later, when I was feeling much better, CHEK News called me and asked if I would do an on-camera interview of my experience – which I did with the reporter Dean Stoltz. It was on the 6 o'clock news. I don’t know the date. But the next day, a lady called me from Comox saying the Nanaimo hospital had tried to send her sister home the same way but she was there to stop them. She wrote the hospital and complained but did not hear back. I told her to call Dean Stoltz, which she did and she was on CHEK News the day following my interview.

The hospital called me every day for about two weeks. They were apologizing and asking, was there anything they could do for me. The hospital said I’d opened a can of worms, and they were INUNDATED with emails and calls about similar cases. Our health minister was even interviewed, asking him how this could happen!

The hospital asked why I went to the media. I said my granddaughter did, and I am glad she did. I told the hospital when they asked me what they could do, I said, “DO NOT SEND ANYONE HOME TO AN EMPTY HOUSE!” You have to have an advocate, it’s so sad.

What are the benefits of belonging to the Nanaimo Heart Sisters?

I heard about the Heart Sisters in 2017 at the Red Dress Gala and have been a group member for three years. They are a nice group of caring women who have all had heart disease of some kind. I think I am one of the only ones that had a stroke. So, their experiences are very different than mine.