March 3, I went in for a routine upper back/neck adjustment, hours later I was being rushed to the hospital with severe vertigo and vomiting.(the spinning room resembled that of a Christopher Nolan camera technique) Turns out I suffered a massive cerebellum stroke due to a vertebral artery dissection/cerebella ischemic. The nero ruled it — after my MRI/MRA without hesitation due to my chiropractic manipulation. “It wasn’t gradual, it was a trauma. “

M, 35, active, w/ no previous medical issues or accidents. I’m currently still sitting in the Critical Care Unit recovering from my stroke. In fact I’m using talk to text because even at the lowest brightness setting on my iphone, the screen is still too bright to avoid a nice dull migraine.( For the first seven days anything above a whisper and any light above a practical would trigger severe unconscionable debilitating head pounding)

My days in the CCU consist of 24 hr IV/blood pressure/heart rate hookups/blood work every five hours, mannitol doses every six hours, ct scans every other day, Angiograms, (in the later days) blood thinner injections (daily in my stomach) and supplemental pills for anything i’m lacking/over producing.

I’m no expert, and I’m certainly no Dr. so i try and ask as many questions as possible and understand half the answers (don’t nail me to the cross neuros of the internet)

They say play stupid games, win stupid prizes, I don’t think i played any stupid games. I played a very normalized game and just was completely unaware of the risk (albeit rare) involved.

Yesterday I started PT and I’m walking and talking mostly normally. I am overflowing with gratitude.

My doc told me I’m a lucky son of a bitch, I told her yeah for someone who played the fucking ding dong lottery and won. (she smirked. i’ll take it)

Another thought I found interesting in the conversation of how rare/uncommon this is. My doc said “This may only happen to a chiropractor once in their life time, but all of those chiropractor’s one time patient events — come to me, so to me, it does not seem rare at all, and that scares me”

For all of my friends and family who have reached out via text and or defied visitation rules in the hospital, thank you. you have kept me grounded and your relentless empathy has motivated me to get better every day.

one love, x