Have you ever experienced that string of extremely unfortunate events? you can’t comprehend it all, and your memory of the string of events simply mushes together like baby food – you cant even tell whats what anymore. well, that was the month ofSeptember in 2020, for me.

September is the best month of the year!

in colorado, you’ve got the best patio weather in September, its the month for festivals; music, art, ect. the leaves start changing color…. you get the gist.

september also happens to be the month of my birthday TEAM VIRGO! and also themonth of my husbands birthday, AND our wedding anniversary.

its the best time to get outside and have an adventure. Clearly, we love ourselves a beautiful September.

September also happens to host my strokiversary. yes, you read that right. I, little Lew, at the ripe age of 34 experienced a stroke. yes, i prefer the term experienced a stroke vs suffered a stroke.

i know what you’re thinking.

what the heck happened? i’m a young, dancing health nut- not quite the typical candidate for stroke.Well, Stroke doesn’t discriminate, ya’ll. Besides, its quite the story and truly a string of extremely unfortunate events.

Many of my students may remember my first lesson in floor-work is how to fall. Oh, how i wish i had listened to myself. Rule1: Don’t use your chin as a primary landing pad. This can and will cause multiple fractures in your mandibles, which can and will sever your carotid artery, which might just cause a blood clot to find a home in your middle cerebral artery- a very important artery- suffocating your brain. This, my friends is considered an ischemic stroke.

It all happened quite quickly. It was an incredibly lucid experience. I felt as though I was in a dream and i stood outside of myself watching everything unfold. if i have close friends or family reading, feel free to skip this part if this brings up any yucky trauma.

after i hit the ground, i rolled over on my back, seeing stars and heads of worried strangers standing over me.

I’M OK! i said quickly… i hate being fussed over. I AM FINE! i felt my chipped front tooth with my tongue.

ugh. i broke like, half of my tooth. No photos tonight.

it was my husbands birthday. i could only think about him.i can’t ruin the day!!

My husband and his best friend/business partner ran to me and stood over me. I love my husband but he’s got absolutely no poker face. he looked at me, and I knew it wasn’t pretty. my tooth can be fixed. i have a dentist appointment tomorrow so… whatever…I’m fine. Everything’s fine.

My chin, however was gushing with blood. sorry about that, my dear, carotid artery.

fight or flight.

fight.

i need a bandaid.

i got myself up, and decided to walk to the nearest grocery store. I limped by security, bloody as hell, no one seemed to notice. i had a pounding headache.. You know, those migraines that sneak behind your eyes for pure torture.I limped straight to the bathroom and sat on a toilet holding my head in my hands.

this fucking sucks.

my husband and his business partner/ best friend ran into the restroom with a few boxes of bandages and hydrogen peroxide. i stood and held my chin over the sink as my husband poured the hydrogen peroxide on my gashed up chin. no pain. At least the wound is clean!

Security burst through the bathroom doors.

“we heard there were men in the women’s bathroom!”

ok, so… my zombiesque-self limping through the market didn’t alarm you??? and we’re upset by men in the bathroom that is supposedly designed folks who identify as female? these two men were saving my life.

GET WITH THE PROGRAM, YA’LL.

i was unwillling to ruin the day, so the only choice was to press on. Our friend lived close by in an apartment complex, so i wanted to go straight there to have some water and change to get ready for the evening ahead, celebrating my favorite person’s birthday.

MY headache continued to pound through my eyeballs while the boys bandaged my chinny chin chin.

it was then up to me. Do we keep on keeping on?

yes.

we hopped in a lyft and headed to the concert venue then called our friends to met up. it was at this point that i stepped out of my body and watched myself lose control.

my husband held me, my friend spoke gibberish to me and i slurred gibberish back to her. i leaned to my left, feeling a bit wobbly – i brushed it off assuming my wobble had to do with the latest margarita i slurped down.

as i stood outside of myself watching, i knew i needed help. i told my husband i thought i had a terrible concussion, so he helped me to the nearest medic tent and i was lowered to the ground. i felt my husband behind me and held my best friends hand. i watched, above, as the medic team checked my vision.

how many fingers can you see?

WHAT ARE FINGERS?!?

i continued to float outside of myself, as the EMT in the ambulance asked more questions, took my blood pressure and poked me for an iv pick-line. ouch. my left arm was numb and looked like a wet noodle.

my head hurt so intensely, so they gave me some medicine through the I.V. I felt a cool sensation through my veins and near instant relief. i held my husbands hand and closed my eyes. i watched myself relax, somehow, in the midst of chaos.

i felt myself transfer out of the ambulence. where was i? no idea.

with my eyes closed, i heard so many voices and felt another cool sensation in my veins. more medicine, i guess?

“oh my gosh, she is too young for this.”

“ooooh she has cool tattoos!”

the voices blended together but i didn’t know where i was – even though i was floating outside of myself watching everything unfold.

my eyes were closed, and i was transferred somewhere else… in my mind, i had though i was sitting in a weird inflatable globe; the ones that sit outside of restaurants because of COVID-19. i was lowered and laid back. i looked to my left and saw my dad sitting just behind me, who had passed away in 2012. In that moment, I wasn’t confused anymore, I knew id be completely alright.

i heard more voices; nurses, and Irecognized a few voices; my mom, brother and husband.

They had put me on a ventilator; this machine is supposed to help you breathe but it made me cough and i was unable to speak. My right eye was swollen shut; i could barely see anything.

“wiggle your toes, Christa!!”

“can you wiggle your right toes?

easy.

how about your left?”

Laughter.

“Your other left, Christa”

Apparently i’m not wiggling my left toes..how rude.

I wanted to communicate so badly. I looked to my dad for help and i saw his hands form the sign for i love you in sign language. so i made the sign with my right hand.

my family instantly knew i was present and OK!

As i continued to sleep, I put bodies to the voices i was hearing – for some reason, i had imagined these humans around me moving in slow motion, dancing as if they were in a musical. yes, take in that visual…. west side story snapping around a hospital bed.

I woke up to discover that the right side of my head was rather numb and squishy; because of the severity of my clot and brain swelling, I had the top notch neuro- surgical team in Denver remove a part of my skull called the boneflap; making my brain extra vulnerable and delicate without the protection from the bodies natural helmet, the skull.

“ooooh, Christa, you get to have this super cool helmet!you can decorate it with stickers. ” Yeah, because in Colorado we decorate everything with stickers.

oh boy. here we go. talk about a fashion statement. i get to wear this cutie helmet 24/7. what a wild recovery ahead.