Member’s Stories
Geoffrey’s Story
My name is Geoffrey Moreira. I am 61 years of age having worked all my life commencing from age 19 as a Swimming Coach in Sri Lanka where I was born. A family man having 2 daughters, Sophie now married to Nathan with their 1st born Caleb. Adele being the younger of the two now 29 is super confident, travelling the world when opportunities arrive and studying Event Business Management. They both visited to offer Love & Encouragement.
I relocated to the Gold Coast in December 2006 to work and enjoy the sunshine and of course the water. Life dealt a cruel blow whilst working for Telstra Big Pond in March 2010 when I felt my left side in both arm and leg feeling numb. I discontinued my responsibilities and walked home having discomfort and lying down in bed. I tried to lift myself off the bed to suddenly realize I could not and had no balance. Fearful of the next chapter of my life, I shouted to Tania my Partner that I couldn’t walk and cried uncontrollably. The ambulance was obviously contacted to transport me to the Gold Coast Hospital Emergency.
My fears were confirmed when I was advised that I had suffered a stroke. Well I presumed after an extended stay in hospital I would be back to normal. But alas I was totally wrong in my assumption. For 9 weeks being relocated to intensive Physiotherapy ward, I succumbed to daily upper and lower body exercises. A combination of frustration, isolation, anger, tears and emotional up and downs followed during that period. The Rehab: Unit staff and patients became my “family“. The stroke survivors were on the “same boat“ as me so to speak and gradually my feelings eased to positive thinking processes and exercise eagerness. Laughter and joking were the order of the day interspersed with a strict diet. We even became encouraging of others to pursue their goals even minor.
Exchanging life stories were encouraged to the point of exhaustion. Sleeping became a problem as home responsibilities took priority missing loved ones especially my 2 daughters living in Melbourne and Tania my current partner. I would also like to express my gratitude to Vikki my 1st wife for the life we had for a number of years. Tears and emotional pain were sometimes unbearable at night that left unimaginable stress; however dawn brought many other challengers to accept, like new exercises that were challenging.
2 years later I am progressing quite well walking, exercising on a stationary bike and pool routines alternatively over the week. I am continuing to have a positive attitude having listened to my loved ones both in Queensland and Melbourne. I encourage those people that have a disability to engage in all capacities of daily life to its fulfillment to achieve in no uncertain manner to regain faculties for a good, healthy, mobile life. I pray and encourage with you.
My Daily Routine: –
Be Positive; Be Alert; Be Relaxed in Mind & Spirit; Daily Rehabilitation;
Either Walk or Swim regularly alternatively; Respond with Kindness & Generosity;
Right Behavior; Right Attitude; No Anger; Sleep Well;
Strict Diet; Medication; Be Pro Active in your Beliefs; Have Confidence.
DON’T THINK …DO.
Geoffrey Moreira
3/64 – Brown Street,
Labrador Qld. 4215
Landline: – 07 55 638 289
E-mail – kiwi.boy1@bigpond.com
8 January 2013
Colin’s Stroke Story
I am writing these words in the hope that they will give other Stroke Survivors hope and encouragement to live a Better Quality Life after Stroke. I had a major Stroke (on 28 March 1992) nearly twenty years ago at the age of 51 years.
My first encounter with Stroke was in early January 1991. I was living in Melbourne at the time and came to Queensland to spend Christmas with my parents in Southport. My brother and his two children had also come to Southport to spend some time with our parents. On the evening before I was due to return to Melbourne we arranged to have a family barbecue. I was the designated chef for the barbecue. My father and I prepared the barbecue and I opened a stubbie of beer before commencing cooking the meal. I had only taken a couple of sips from the stubbie and all of a sudden I felt funny in the head, very drunk and unable to speak coherently. I went and told my mother how I was feeling and told her that I could not continue cooking the barbecue and was going to bed.
The next morning I got up very early and decided to see our GP (whom I knew commenced at 7:00 am). After diagnosis he informed me that he believed that I had had a Stroke. “How could this be I asked him – “I am a young, fit, and apart from high blood pressure healthy person”. He responded by telling me that he would make a certainty of it and sent me for a MRI scan of my brain. So off I went and had the scan. I waited for the results and took them back to my GP. The scans confirmed his diagnosis and I was shattered. I told the GP that I was due to catch a plane back to Melbourne later that afternoon and he informed me that there was no way that he could allow me to fly on a plane that day.
I now move on twelve months. Again I was in Southport where I had been since late November 1991. It was the Australia Day holiday, 27 January 1992. I was in our lounge room watching a TV program that I had recorded the previous evening. My mother came in and told me that dad could not get out of bed. I went in to his bedroom and asked him what was wrong. He indicated to me that he wanted to go to the toilet and could not get out of bed to do so. I got a plastic bottle for him and helped him up to relieve himself. He flopped back onto the bed and went into a coma. I immediately realised from my own prior experiences that he had suffered a Stroke and called the ambulance who took him to Allamanda Private Hospital. My father never regained consciousness and passed away five hours after he first had the Stroke.
Once again I delayed my return to Melbourne and stayed in Southport to tie up and finalise my father’s affairs and to provide some assistance and comfort to my mother.Then on Saturday, 28 March 1992 my mother and I had arranged to meet someone in Oxenford at 9:00 am. I awoke early, got up, collected the newspaper, and went back to bed to read it. After a while I got up and prepared breakfast, called my mother and we ate breakfast. After breakfast I washed up and then had a shower. After the shower I felt funny in the head and was very dizzy. I thought to myself that as I had not taken my blood pressure tablets and that this may be the cause of my irregular feelings so I got my tablets and went to walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water to take the tablets. I only got halfway to the kitchen and collapsed. I was violently ill and could not move and had no speech. My mother was visiting our neighbour at the time and when she came in and found me on the floor I indicated to her that I wanted a pen and a piece of paper on which I wrote “call 000”. This she did and the ambulance arrived and took me to the Gold Coast Hospital (GCH) where I was admitted to the Accident & Emergency (A & E) section. I knew in my mind that I had suffered a Stroke and all that I could think of was the short time that my father had after he had his Stroke and that I only had five hours left on this earth. The doctors continued to monitor me and at about 2:00 pm one of the doctors came to me and said – “Mr Oxenford we are going to move you to a ward upstairs”. As soon as I heard these words I knew that I was not going to die.
When I arrived at the upstairs eight-person ward of the GCH the initial problems that I experienced after my Stroke were the loss of the mobility in my left arm and left leg; the ability to eat or drink and the loss of my speech. My first night in this ward was horrendous. Several of the other patients were making loud noises throughout the night and I had practically no sleep at all. Early the next morning I recall one of the staff in charge of the ward coming to me and telling me what a bad night that I had and that he was going to arrange for me to be moved. I was amazed when I was moved to my own room. I still had no speech and used to write everything on a piece of paper to communicate with others. I was also still paralysed and every two hours two wards men would come and turn me on to one side then the other side and then onto my back. One day Gee May a physiotherapist in the Rehabilitation Unit came to assess my condition. With her help she had me stand up and take a few steps and to my delight she told me that I had good balance and that given time and a lot of effort she was confident that I would be able to walk again.
After about two weeks I was transferred to the Rehabilitation Unit of the GCH where I commenced physiotherapy and speech therapy rehabilitation and this was when the hard work started. I had Physiotherapy and Speech Therapy every week day for over two months. In fact I believe that I drove the therapists mad as instead of one session a day I used to request more. A feature of Rehabilitation Unit was a couple of hours rest after lunch each day. I was unable to rest and used to drive the therapists to despair when I would get up and go up to them and say – “I’m not here for my good looks, I’m here to recover my lost functions”. Little did I realise that too much exercise, etc, was considered to be harmful and not an aid to my recovery.
After nearly three months in the GCH I was finally told that I would be able to go home on the forthcoming weekend to see how I would be able to cope. This great news was usually a precursor to being discharged from the Rehabilitation Unit. I had had great difficulty with eating food after my Stroke. I had to eat a modified diet which included all food being processed and eating a bit like a baby again. In fact I lived on baby food for a long period in my early days in the GCH. On the Saturday of my first weekend home I asked my mother to take me out for a good steak which I am proud to say I was able to eat. When I went back to the hospital on the Monday morning and told the speech therapist what I had eaten over the weekend she could not believe that I was able to eat a steak.
I was discharged from the Rehabilitation Unit and continued therapy as an outpatient for about another three months. It was during this time that instead of a one, on one, session, Anita Adam the speech therapist started group speech therapy sessions when up to ten people would attend sessions and talk about every day events from a newspaper or magazine put onto the table. I believe that these group sessions were an excellent idea and assisted greatly in helping us to return to everyday living.
It was from these group sessions that the Gold Coast Stroke Support Group (GCSSG) was formed. A number of Stroke Survivors and their family members began meeting regularly in the Speech Pathology Department of the Gold Coast Hospital. Meetings were initially held in the Group Room in Ward 12 of the GCH under the auspices of Anita Adam, Speech Pathologist. Due to alterations to this area of the GCH meetings were transferred to the Oncology Education Room on the 9th Floor of the Hospital. This room was small and considered unsuitable for the monthly meeting purposes of the GCSSG. The Oncology Education Room became unavailable due to the renovations carried out in the Hospital from April 1997.
I was a member of the Parish Council of Saint Peter’s Anglican Church, Southport and made an approach to the then Rector, the Reverend Canon NJ Knott with a request to transfer our meeting place from the GCH to the Undercroft of St Peter’s. I considered St Peter’s Undercroft to be a more appropriate location at which to conduct the monthly meetings of our Group. St Peter’s Parish Council confirmed the GCSSG’s use of the Undercroft in terms of the request.
The first meeting of the GCSSG was held in the St Peter’s Undercroft on the 9 April 1997 and have been held at this location since that date. The St Peter’s precincts provided the GCSSG with an adequate and improved site at which to hold its monthly meetings. Adequate car parking was then available in the St Peter’s grounds and the Undercroft has wheel chair access. Car parking was more appropriate at this location than on the streets surrounding the busy Hospital precincts although regretfully this is not now applicable.
The GCSSG is a support Group formed to help, and to provide support for those people and their families and carers in this community who have survived a Stroke. The Group holds its monthly meetings in the Undercroft of Saint Peter’s Anglican Church of Australia, Cnr Nerang and High Streets, Southport, on the first Wednesday of each month (except January) from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. Morning tea is available from 10:30 am prior to the commencement of meetings. Meetings commence at 11:00 am sharp. Somerville Funerals sponsor and provide a Finger Food luncheon on a bi-monthly basis after our regular monthly meetings.
The GCSSG monthly meetings provide a forum for many specialists (both medical and therapeutic) in the area of Stroke. It offers members up to date information and education in the area of Stroke treatment, rehabilitation, prevention and research.
I firmly believe that talking with others about your experiences, both before and after meetings, can often bring surprising results. A chance word may result in your learning how someone else overcame a problem you are having, or the other person discovering how you mastered a problem they have. By coming along to meetings of the GCSSG, Stroke Survivors will almost certainly find someone there who has had a similar experience to their own. They may be able to suggest from their own trauma, ways and means to give others: -A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE.
My mother, Doris, who is now aged 96 years was my carer after I had my Stroke. She herself had a Stroke and/or TIA in August 2002 and suffered from arm and hand weakness and our roles were reversed when I became her carer. We are both still living in our family home and I continue to be her carer.
In 2006 the GCSSG had an average of 61 attendees (28 Stroke Survivors-19 Carers-14 others) at the Group’s twelve (12) meetings held that year. Regretfully, attendances at monthly meeting are in a sharp decline and this is of some concern. The average number of attendees to the 2011 twelve monthly meetings was down to 41 (19-9-13). Stroke Surviving members of the Gold Coast Community are encouraged and requested to come along to the GCSSG’s monthly meetings. After all what do they have to lose by not coming to meetings? Remember the people who you meet at these monthly meetings are in a similar position to you yourself, we are all Stroke Survivors and you may be surprised what you will learn as a result.
For further information on the GCSSG readers can telephone me on my land line number
(07) 55 313 254; my mobile number 0400 849 573 or contact me at my e-mail address – colinoxenford@bigpond.com
Colin A. Oxenford
Stroke Survivor
23 February 2012
