My purpose is to share my experience with the general public especially to the close members of the family of someone who had or may have an impending stroke. With regards to this subject I felt that many people do not know what to do when faced with this predicament.

When a close member of the family has a stroke, we are totally lost, helpless and fearful as we do not know what to do and how to take care of the patient especially after he or she is discharged from the hospital. Some people are fortunate to have prior knowledge or friends and relatives who can provide advice and help in the initial stage. There are many useful guidance but perhaps not revealed to the caregivers simply because it is taken for granted that they know about it.

My first encounter with a person having a stroke goes back to 1998. Just after getting up in the morning, this person suddenly felt pain around the back of the neck and in a few minutes he was unable to stand as his legs became paralyzed. This person was warded in a hospital but surprisingly by evening he completely recovered. Both hands and legs did not suffer any paralysis and his speech was back to normal.

That incident was the first warning and it should be taken seriously. We thought that since he went for regular checkups and taking his medication, it should be fine. Later we learned that once a person had a stroke, the chance of it happening again is very much higher. Hence we should not be complacent but rather we should be more vigilant in monitoring the high blood pressure and also be more stringent in his diet control. When the situation was back to normal these were totally neglected except for the regular checkup.

Later there was a warning sign which we did not know. This person noticed that the body was not responding to the signal from the brain. He said he was walking and knew he had to stop at the front gate of the house to open the gate but the legs continued to walk and he knocked himself into the gate.

In 2000 the stroke happened again and this time both the hand and leg on one side was paralyzed. This is where I begin sharing my experience on this subject of looking after a stroke patient. Firstly I must say that I felt fearful and helpless over how to look after him. I delayed taking him home from the hospital giving the doctor the excuse that I needed to sort out a few things before I could bring him home. Anyway, sooner or later I had to face this daunting task of looking after a stroke patient and I had no experience at all!