The Astrocytoma Experience: How an AI Guided Me Through My Stroke
/MidJourney AI Art
Astrocytoma Blog Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Hello, everyone. I'm writing this blog post with the help of a chat AI because my right hand is currently numb. I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has reached out to me on Facebook, but writing has become difficult. I hope you can understand.
Last Thursday, I was called into a meeting with my company. I work remotely, so the meeting was conducted over the internet. It was at a random time, so I suspected that something was up. As it turned out, my team and I were losing our jobs. Our responsibilities and projects were being transferred to a team in India. I received the paperwork and was understandably shaken. My health insurance would be gone by the end of March, which was a worry.
The next day, I started cleaning out my closets to prepare for getting a roommate to help with bills. While I was cleaning, I suddenly felt my right leg go numb, and it continued to spread throughout my body. I fell to the floor and couldn't stand up again. Eventually, my friend came to help and took me to the emergency room. The doctors didn't believe that I was having a stroke because I wasn't in pain and I was talking normally, but an MRI revealed that I had in fact experienced a small stroke related to the radiation I had undergone the previous year.
After being rushed to the emergency room at UCSF, the hospital where I had gotten my surgery, was difficult to walk through the front door and they gave me a wheelchair. However, the staff didn't seem to believe that I was having a stroke, as I wasn’t in pain and was talking and acting normally. They made me wait in the waiting room for almost 2 1/2 hours before letting me into the ER, which was frustrating and scary.
I felt frustrated with the doctors because they didn't seem to be listening to my concerns or taking them seriously. I also felt like they were dismissive of my symptoms and didn't provide me with the answers I was looking for. It was frustrating to have to keep going back to the doctor and not feeling like I was making any progress in getting a diagnosis or treatment. Overall, my experience with the doctors was disappointing and left me feeling unsure of where to turn for help.
Fortunately, I was approached by seven doctors at the same time, who were all very positive. They informed me that the stroke was a result of the radiation I had received the previous year, and it was not as serious as it appeared. They were confident that I would recover soon and return to my normal state.
Following my sessions with the physical therapist, I was able to walk with the assistance of a cane.
When the nurse came to my room, she suggested that I should take seven different medications, which seemed excessive to me. I asked her about the side effects and potential interactions between the drugs, but she didn't seem to know much about them. I was concerned about taking so many medications at once, especially when I didn't fully understand why I needed each one.
I had high blood pressure, but the nurse only examined the latest test result and ignored the previous ones that were slightly lower. She seemed like a car sales woman trying to charge me higher for a used vehicle.
After doing some research on my own using an AI language model, I had enough information to ask the nurse questions and challenge her advice. I mentioned that I had read about the potential negative effects of taking multiple medications for high blood pressure, and she seemed surprised that I knew about it. When I explained that I had learned about it from an AI, she seemed skeptical and had never heard of it before. She even made a reference to the Terminator movies, but she didn't seem to understand the idea of AI.
Interestingly, the TV behind her was playing an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where Data is constructing an AI android daughter.
“What’s Star Trek?” She asked.
They literally have a 24 hours Star Trek TV Chanel in the ER. I wasn’t the only one watching it.
I'm currently feeling a lot of uncertainty about what's next for me. Losing my job was a big blow, and now my health has been affected as well. It's hard not to worry about the future and what it holds. But at the same time, I'm grateful for the support of my friends and loved ones. I know that whatever happens, I won't be facing it alone.
Thanks for reading. Even though I feel light headed, I think I’m gonna make it through this. It’s just gonna take a little bit of time.
