Shawn’s Story

Site created on October 12, 2021

Welcome to our CaringBridge site. You can read Shawn’s story below; visit often for updates throughout Shawn’s road to recovery. We appreciate your support & words of hope & encouragement!

On Saturday, October 9th Shawn suffered a stroke caused by a vertebral artery tear.

We were driving home from Clintonville with the boys & his neck was stiff so he stretched it. He heard what he thought was his neck cracking, which turned out to be a tear in one of the walls of his vertebral artery. Searing pain quickly followed on the right side of his head, face and body & he pulled over for me to drive. By the time we got home he was experiencing weakness on the right side of his body, but we thought maybe a pinched nerve because of his ongoing back & neck problems. Never in a million years did we think it was a stroke.

I drove him to the closest ER, where they did a CT scan & got in contact with a neurologist at Thedacare Regional Medical Center in Neenah. Even though his symptoms indicated a stroke, there wasn’t evidence of one on the CT so they ordered 2 MRIs & 2 MRAs, which finally showed the tear in one of the 3 layers of the artery wall. The tear in the artery caused blood to leak between the layers of the artery wall (kind of like wet plywood). He was transported to Theda in Neenah where they put him on a blood thinner.

He’s unable to feel anything besides pressure & pins & needles on the right side of his body, has limited movement of his right arm & leg, & his sense of temperature on his left side was also affected. They said the part of his brain that was damaged is what controls sensation on his right side.

Despite the circumstances, we count our blessings for so many reasons. Shawn’s speech & vision weren’t affected & we were lucky he wasn’t alone when it happened. He’s strong and this is one of the few times I’m very thankful he has the stubbornness of a Swinford! ♥️

Newest Update

Journal entry by Leslie Swinford

Its been way too long since I updated you all!! Life, work, Thanksgiving, deer hunting,…sorry! 🤦‍♀️

I started easing back to work a few partial days a week two weeks ago and returned full-time this week (scheduled around Shawn’s appointments). 

Shawn’s follow up CT scan showed that instead of healing the tear in the layer of the artery wall, the dissected (torn) artery actually healed closed. The neurologist says this is a good thing because it reduces the risk of that artery tearing again in that same area and that other arteries will provide the blood flow that was being delivered by the one that’s now closed.

For the most part his restrictions have been lifted. Still no driving, no extremely heavy lifting, and no chiropractic adjustments of his neck (not that he’s planning on having his neck adjusted anytime soon).

He was discharged from Thedacare in-home nursing and therapy on the 19th, and started outpatient occupational and physical therapy last week and this week. Things are still continuing to improve every week, but it can be difficult to see the baby steps when we’re in the thick of things. The therapy sessions help a lot to keep things in perspective, showing us all of the things he can do that he wasn’t able to do before.

Both of us know that this journey is a marathon, but it doesn’t stop the frustration from creeping in. All of ‘this’ is a lot to come to terms with…things that took little effort or thought are so darn hard now and it’s so hard when everything is sore and he’s uncomfortable more often than not. Thankfully there are more good days than bad. The ultimate goal is still to get him back to as close to 100% as possible and despite the occasional setback, his determination (ahem, stubbornness) hasn’t wavered. With the support of family, friends, and his caregivers, we’ll continue to accept the challenges thrown at us head on and overcome the obstacles along the way 💕
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