Hi, I'm Tania.
With the help of my daughter we created this site to help me heal by sharing the thoughts, laughs, and tears along my path to recovery. A truckload of those emotions are equally about surviving in a Cuban family - stroke or no stroke, so be prepared to hopefully laugh and cry along with me. These photos were taken 3 years apart.
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I am a stroke survivor and I want my experiences (good and bad) to help others understand the not so frequently talked about stroke symptoms, the importance of being your own advocate, the patience needed to support someone with a brain injury, and what life after stroke can look like. The goal of my blog is to inform, entertain, and most of all, make you curious. On August 8, 2020 my life changed forever. I woke up feeling fine and after about 15 minutes awake I saw a blinding light in my right eye - like a crack of lightening. I immediately felt unsteady and thought I might be having a migraine. Not soon after I couldn't locate my left arm and shortly afterwards I collapsed onto the floor upon standing. I did not know I was having a stroke. In the ER, doctors favored a complex migraine. Processing the chain of events from that morning is ongoing. After spending a week in the ICU to raise and regulate my blood-pressure, I spent another week in the hospital then experienced new symptoms. They found bleeding. After a quick encore in the ICU and a confirmed hemorrhagic conversion I spent the rest of the month in hospital, followed by a short stay at an acute in-patient rehabilitation hospital. As I'm typing this I am curious if that means in a way that I had 2 strokes.
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Vertical Divider
I was found to have a PFO (patent foramen ovale) - a hole in my heart that didn’t close the way it should have after I was born. In November 2020 I had surgery to repair the hole which dramatically reduces my risk for another stroke. Know what's cool about that, I watch the entire surgery. The bloodwork for surgery revealed a clotting disorder - Antiphospholipid (AN-te-fos-fo-LIP-id) syndrome which is a condition that can cause blood clots to form in arteries and veins. #bloodthinnersforlife I’ve been told 20% of people have PFOs and less than 2% of those people have strokes. I don’t see myself as unlucky for being in that slim margin. I’m still here for a reason - to live a more balanced life and to help others through my experience.
Many people comment that I look great - that they'd never guess I had a stroke and I am sure in their mind it's a compliment. I still struggle and live with non-visible disabilities that impact my ability to think, feel, and understand what I hear and see. I have left side neglect/extinction with a lack of sensation runs head to toe along the entirety of my left side - this poses many complex issues and safety concerns - the current count of times my hand has gotten caught in a door is 3 with a broken/fractured finger twice. I also have cognitive issues with attention, working memory, and executive function – all fancy words for I forget, thinking hurts, and words are hard. I'm not a fan of focusing on my deficits - I'll explore that in a future blog post. I’ll never be the exact person I was prior to the stroke – that’s ok. I accept this because I've seen the images that show the damage to my brain. I've been working hard to get to 100% of my new self. I intend to be the best me possible and know Tania 2.0 will do great things. |
In My Own Words... and Voice
Storytelling with The MothRecently, LoveYourBrain gave me the opportunity to attend a Moth storytelling workshop with 14 other members of the LYB community. This is my story.
Guesting on The NeuroNerds podcastIn this episode, Joe is interviewing 2x stroke survivor, mother, and Dictionary nerd, Tania Saiz. Tania shares her perspective of recovering from a stroke while parenting. Joe and Tania talk about how she deals with physical and cognitive deficits plus the challenge of finding her new normal while raising a family.
Brain injury awareness month is wrapping up, but we’re still bringing the awareness year-round! In this episode, our host Joe is chatting with Tania Saiz about how they learned to advocate for themselves and better work with their doctors throughout recovery. They also chat about how they chose to grow and evolve out of our brain injuries and how connecting with other survivors has helped them feel supported through their evolving journeys. If you know any brain injury survivors or are one yourself, please reach out to us on our socials for support!
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