The MacDonald Family

It all started on November 21st. Brian started getting really strange and wobbly on his feet on our first night of our vacation in Sunriver. We thought that maybe he was just tired and maybe was just celebrating a bit too much. The next morning, he woke up and he couldn't see straight and couldn't walk in a straight line...or even a wobbly one. We took him to the urgent care in sun river and after hours there, we went to an optometrist in Bend and from there straight to the ER.

A few weeks before Brian was lifting weights at the gym and thought he had pulled a neck muscle. He was in pain after the injury but after going to urgent care he was told not to worry, just give it some time. However, what we didn't know was that he actually had an ventricular arterial dissection which meant a stroke was immanent...but like I said we had no idea.

When we got to the ER, Brian had an MRI almost immediately. Claire and I waited while he was wheeled away, and we were so lucky that Maren and Luke were able to stay with my family who had arrived in Sunriver earlier that day. When the neurosurgeon came in to give us the results of the tests we were all sent into a shock when she told us that Brian had had a stroke. She said that this happens in 1% of people his age, but she was also shocked that his symptoms hadn't been taken more seriously earlier in the day.

At this point, we didn't know what caused the stroke. We were all very concerned that Brian had something wrong with his body that we would need to be even more concerned about another stroke happening in the near future.

In the next 24 hours Brian went through so many tests....his heart, lungs, legs, everything was tested for causes and reasons for his stroke. The final test that gave us the culprit was another ultrasound of his neck and this is where they found the tear in his vertebral artery. We were so happy to hear that the reason for the stroke was because of the lifting weights and not a life long problem.

As of now, Brian is healing slowly. The doctors say that he will make a complete recovery but we just don't know when that will happen. He is making progress everyday though which is why I am now confident to write this post!

We are so thankful for so many reasons. Brians body was tested to the extreme and he was told that he was unbelievably healthy...heart, lungs, etc (we both knew that but loved to hear it anyway), also, he could have had this stroke at anytime after the initial injury....we are SO lucky that it happened after only 9 days after the injury. If it would have happened two or five weeks later, the blood clot that was blocking that artery would have been that much larger and would have caused a MUCH large stroke. Thirdly and most important, he will make a complete recovery and that we don't have to worry about it happening again. Last....That he gets to take some time off work and recover and relax.