Tag: Strokes

Leap To It!

There are less than two weeks left in February, and time is running out for my online sale. Get your copy of Stroke of Luck (print or e-book) on Amazon for a tidy 24% discount.

Of course, there is one extra day to place your order, with this being a leap year.* Extra day or not, leap to it and save!

* Did You Know?

The tradition of inserting an extra day into February every four years is how the calendar is aligned to the rotational frequency of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

But wait… one orbit takes 365.24219 days. That means if a whole day is added every four years, for an average of 365.25 days, the calendar would be lengthened a bit too much.

As a result, the schedule of leap years is adjusted slightly to reduce this mismatch. If the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400, the leap year is skipped. The year 2000 was a leap year, but 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not. The next time a leap year will be skipped is the year 2100. This gives an average calendar year of 365.2425 days, almost exactly matching the orbital frequency.

Earl Grey GC Member Profile

In this, Heart Health Month, it was a great pleasure to sit down with Christa Abbott, Director of Marketing & Communications for Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary. (I’m quite sure it used to be called Heart and Stroke Month, so I should be okay borrowing the older designation!)

I’ve been a member of Earl Grey for many years, although admittedly golf has taken second place behind running for most of that time.

Christa and I talked about my stroke journey… the medical one, not the golf one… about the role that running played in getting me through that ordeal, and about the process of writing my book, Stroke of Luck.

I was really pleased with the piece that Christa wrote, and in particular how she incorporated one of my main messages… the importance of knowing ALL the symptoms of stroke… into the graphic for her article. Here it is:

Splash screen from Earl Grey Member Profile (Christa Abbott, 2024)

You can find the post on the club’s Instagram page here.

Christa neatly highlighted the phrase “BE FAST” as a reminder of the full range of stroke symptoms. You can read my post on this potentially life-saving topic here. I’ve included the information below, for quick reference.

And the picture of me that Christa used?

It was taken at about the 8k mark in the Calgary 10k race, in May 2017. I’ll be the first to admit it isn’t the best picture that’s ever been taken of me during a race. That said, when I do show this picture, I point out that I had just suffered a vertebral artery stroke a few minutes before it was taken!

For me, this is a stark reminder that strokes can affect any of us, at any time.

You can read the full story in Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics, available online at Amazon, or at independent bookstores, like our great local store, Owl’s Nest Books.

Thanks to all my friends at Earl Grey, and everyone else who has supported me in this initiative. Oh, that reminds me, there is one thing I plan to do in this next phase of my life (My Second Running Life)… suck a little less at golf!

Happy Heart Health (and Stroke) Month to all,

Steve

ICYMI: “Map to Triathlon” Podcast Interview

I had the great pleasure of chatting with Todd Malcolm a few months back, just as I was preparing to launch Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics. In case you missed it, I recommend you check out Episode 141 of Todd’s excellent podcast series, “Map to Triathlon”, which is a feature of his No Limits Triathlon program.

Episode 141 of Todd Malcolm’s “Map to Triathlon” Podcast (October 2023)

My interview with Todd was an opportunity for us to look back over our long relationship, which has revolved around our mutual interest in amateur sports. Todd is a highly accomplished triathlete, and has been a respected triathlon coach in Calgary for almost as long as I’ve been a runner. That’s a long time!

Todd and I talked about my memoir, and the events surrounding my hospitalization in 2017 for a number of vertebral artery strokes. I shared my hopes and fears arising from that difficult period of my life. As you can probably tell from the title of my book, I consider myself fortunate to have come through that ordeal as well as I did, and to still have running in my life.

At the time of our interview, Todd was recovering from a serious bike crash, so we shared our thoughts about the importance of overcoming adversity and keeping a positive attitude. In fact, I want to remind my readers of the endorsement that Todd kindly wrote for the cover of Stroke of Luck. It seems very appropriate:

Once I started reading Steve’s book I couldn’t stop. His story really resonated with me. This book encourages an active lifestyle and is a reminder that when you find your passion, find ways to keep doing it.

Todd Malcolm

While you’re on Todd’s No Limits Triathlon website, I encourage you to check out all of his coaching services, and the many other great podcast episodes he has assembled. In a recent podcast (Episode 151) he looks at the question, “Why do you train for triathlons?” Coincidentally, I have been preparing a blog piece on the same question (“Find Your Why”). Look for that piece soon.

Thanks, Todd, for taking the time to chat. Thanks too for everything you do to support amateur athletes in Calgary!

Stroke Symptoms, Part 2 – BE FAST

Time is running out! Get your copy of Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics on Amazon in the next few days at a marathon-inspired 26.2% discount…

I recently wrote a piece about the common symptoms of stroke, and how public awareness campaigns, as effective as they are, can leave a gap in the number of strokes they help to detect.

I’ve been doing more reading on this subject, and turning up some interesting results.

For years, the mnemonic F-A-S-T has been used to trigger us to recognize when someone may be having a stroke. Using this word, we should check the Face (is it drooping?), Arms (can you raise both?), and Speech (is it slurred?). “T” is for Time, as in don’t waste any before getting help.

Sounds good. But is it?

I mentioned in my previous piece that there’s more to the story. Why? Because F-A-S-T refers to ischemic strokes that occur in the carotid arteries. (There are two types of stroke: ischemic strokes, which occur when blood clots block flow in the arteries; and hemorrhagic strokes, which are associated with a rupture in a blood vessel.)

As a reminder, the carotids are the large arteries at the front of the neck. They account for about 80 percent of the total blood flow to the brain. In neurological terms, the carotids are the workhorses. And these are the arteries that, if they get blocked or damaged, can result in the symptoms noted above.

The balance of the blood flow to the brain is delivered in the vertebral/basilar artery system at the back of the neck. These arteries are smaller and they deliver blood to different parts of the brain. Not surprisingly, blockages in this network of arteries produce different symptoms. When vertebral blood flow is restricted, problems with balance and coordination of the eyes and the limbs can occur.

It has been recognized that a modified mnemonic would help detect strokes that occur in the vertebral arteries. BE FAST is already being recommended by some healthcare agencies as a more comprehensive trigger. Here, “B” is for Balance, and “E” is for Eyes (or ears). That makes sense to me, especially as I was having precisely those symptoms for weeks before I acted on it.

A study done by the University of Kentucky Stroke Center suggested that 14 percent of stroke patients were not identified using FAST. When BE FAST was applied, the proportion of identified strokes that were missed dropped to 4 percent.

In other words, more strokes could be caught if a wider screen were in use. Coincidentally, but maybe not, the number of strokes missed by FAST more or less matches the proportion of blood flow to the brain that originates in the smaller, but still important, vertebral arteries.

Another article I read recently on CNN Health addressed the different presentation of strokes between men and women. Interestingly, women may experience other stroke symptoms, beyond the parameters of even the broader, BE FAST, mnemonic.

Research summarized in the CNN article has shown that women may present with atypical stroke symptoms or symptoms that are more subtle and vague. In some cases, symptoms such as severe headache, generalized weakness, generalized fatigue, shortness of breath and chest pains, nausea and vomiting, brain fog, and even hiccups, may occur instead of or in addition to the symptoms noted above.

As to the reason why men and women experience stroke differently, scientists have come up with different theories. First, it’s about hormones. Age is another factor. There are other possible explanations too. I recommend reading the article to get the whole story.

It goes without saying that any symptoms that suggest a neurological problem should be acted upon immediately. No one ever needs to apologize for flagging a problem that may turn out to be nothing. It really is a case of being better safe than sorry.

As a final point, I’ve been spreading the word about stroke symptom cues when I speak to my running friends. There’s something appropriate about advising runners to BE FAST. After all, this should be an easy phrase for them to remember… it’s what they’re trying to do already!

Stroke of Luck – Now Available!

I’m pleased to announce that my memoir, Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics, was recently published. The book is available now on Amazon (in either print or e-book format) or through independent bookstores. For those in Calgary, you can reach out to me directly for a copy. You’ll find details about the book on the dedicated page on this site. Click here.

Writing and publishing the book has been a personal journey of discovery. I hope you will enjoy reading about my lifelong connection with distance running, and the process of recovering from a number of strokes in 2017.

To my readers, and to those of you following me on the blog or on Instagram, I appreciate your interest and support. I look forward to sharing more stories and photographs with you.

Steve

Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics – order your copy today!

A Brief Introduction to an Amazing System

Two main sets of arteries feed blood to the human brain. At the front of the neck are the left and right common carotid arteries. The common carotids divide into the external and internal carotids. The carotid arteries are big, as far as arteries go, at about six millimetres in diameter for the average adult, and they account for about eighty percent of the total blood supply to our brains.

At the back of the neck, we find the left and right vertebral arteries—the verts. These major arteries run from a point behind the collarbones, up and through the vertebrae in our neck, and into the back of the brain. The verts originate from a junction with the subclavian arteries, another pair of large arteries that deliver blood into the arms. The verts are smaller than the subclavians, at about three millimetres in most adults.

As I’ve mentioned before, I look at medical subjects from a strictly layman’s perspective. One aspect of the arterial system feeding the brain that I find fascinating is the amount of redundancy that is built into it. In most people, the left and right vertebrals do the same job. The two separate arteries meet up in the back of the skull to form the larger basilar artery. It is the basilar artery that supplies the remainder of the blood to the brain, about twenty percent of the total.

Redundancy extends further than just between the left and right vertebrals. It also includes connectivity between the two sets of arteries feeding the brain, the carotids and the vertebrals. At the base of the brain, where the various arteries come together, there is a circle of connections between the carotid and vertebral arteries. This arrangement of communicating arteries is called the Circle of Willis, named for Thomas Willis, an English doctor who discovered it in the seventeenth century. Several other arteries meet up in the Circle of Willis and then take blood away to other parts of the brain.

The reason for the Circle of Willis is quite simple and elegant. If any of the main arteries is blocked, or occluded, then the parts of the brain that depend on the blocked artery can still get blood supply. In other words, blood can flow around the circle to get to its destination by another route.

Not the Circle of Willis

There can be differences in each person’s arterial connections, and many people have an arrangement other than a textbook Circle of Willis. This is what a neurologist would refer to as an “incomplete Circle of Willis”. It doesn’t seem that having an incomplete Circle of Willis is necessarily a problem. Besides, there is no option to fix it, given the complexities involved. In other words, an incomplete Circle of Willis is likely something that would only ever be discovered in an autopsy.

So, why am I even writing about this?

I know from personal experience that having an incomplete Circle of Willis can lead to higher risks of stroke or other neurological problems.

Even if that weren’t the case, I look at this system from a chemical engineer’s perspective. And when I do, I can’t help but be fascinated by the perfection of the design for this most essential system.

Mine just doesn’t happen to be perfect.

Stroke Symptoms: Think You Know Them All?

Thanks to effective public awareness campaigns, many of us are familiar with the common signs of stroke. Think of the television ads that show us what to look for if we think someone is having a stroke.  The mnemonic “F-A-S-T” reminds us to look at the Face (is it drooping?), Arms (can you raise both?), and Speech (is it slurred?), and to waste no Time in getting help.

This checklist is a potential lifesaver because when it comes to strokes time is of the essence. But there’s more to the story. That’s because there’s more to the anatomy of our brains than what can be incorporated into a simple memory jogger of stroke symptoms. I learned this the hard way.

I’ve written elsewhere about the fascinating system that feeds blood into the human brain. More on that very soon. (By the way, everything I write on medical matters is in layman’s terms.) In brief, there are two main sets of arteries, the carotids and the vertebrals. These arteries are found in the front and back of the neck, respectively.

The carotids are the workhorses, accounting for about 80 percent of the total blood flow to the brain. And these are the arteries that, if they get blocked or damaged, can result in the symptoms noted above.

In 2017, I began to experience symptoms that didn’t fall into the handy, F-A-S-T category. Over a period of two months, I had several episodes of vertigo. I saw strange artifacts in my field of vision. I had a sensation that my body had become disconnected from my brain.

Then, one morning in July 2017, I woke up feeling odd. The first things I did were look in the mirror (to see if my Face was drooping) and talk (to see if my Speech was slurred). They weren’t. I could move my arms and legs, although they felt strangely heavy and lethargic. Naturally, I concluded I wasn’t having a stroke.

The scans done later that day in the ER said otherwise.

It turns out I had developed a blockage in my left vertebral artery. These arteries, left and right, run from a point about the level of your collarbones at the back of the neck. They join up to form the basilar artery, which feeds blood to the back of the brain. The vertebrals account for about 20 percent of the blood flow to the brain, and when they are blocked, functions like balance and coordination, including visual and hearing coordination, are affected.

The blockage in my vertebral artery had probably been there for some time before it started to cause symptoms. Until my situation was eventually brought under control, after a lengthy stay in the Foothills Medical Centre stroke ward, I experienced a wide range of symptoms. I had my eyes and ears go out of sync, as if someone had gotten hold of the control knobs in my brain and started twisting them randomly. My tongue turned into a frozen lump. My arms went into jerky spasms. It was not pleasant.

The reason I’m explaining all this is to share what I’ve learned. While catchwords are helpful, they don’t tell the whole story. If you, or someone you care about, is having any of the above symptoms or a long list of others[1], get it checked out immediately. Symptoms that are caused by a blockage in the vertebral arteries can be deadly serious, just like those in the carotid arteries.

By the way, when I did some research into the F-A-S-T mnemonic, I found some recommendations that it be modified to BE FAST. Why? The B and E would include Balance and Eye trouble in the checklist of stroke symptoms. This version of the mnemonic certainly would have helped me.

[1] Other potential symptoms of “vertebral artery stenosis” include sudden falls, severe headaches, breathing problems, confusion, trouble understanding speech, incontinence, and more.

Running and Thermodynamics

In his book, “Running with the Pack”, philosopher Mark Rowlands makes some interesting observations about evolution. His essay, “The Serpent of Eden” starts by explaining the first and second laws of thermodynamics. While this immediately caught my attention as a chemical engineer, it may not resonate with everyone.

Basically, the preposition of the first law is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be converted from one form into another. The second law states that any closed system (like the universe, or like us as entities within it) tends towards maximum disorder.

So, what does this have to do with running?

Well, Rowlands makes a rather neat argument that can be paraphrased as follows: because we evolved as creatures in a world where our stores of energy rely on us converting it from another source, there is a predisposition for us, as conscious beings, to focus on the competitive forces that allow us to continue living. Human beings are highly complex, closed systems, and for us to survive (that is, to avoid maximum disorder) we must compete for energy. And to do that, we must get it from another source.

Said another way, we tend to focus on those things that affect our ability to continue the competition… to stay alive. This is nothing more than the natural result of our evolutionary makeup. (Of course, the end game is predetermined, but let’s put that aside for a minute.)

Think about this. When you are running, and things are going especially well, what do you notice? Are you conscious of your heart and lungs and legs all doing their job efficiently, just as they were designed to do? No, of course not. They just get on with their job, and you enjoy the intrinsic benefits without even thinking about it.

Instead, what we tend to notice, as conscious, competitive beings, are the things that aren’t going so well. That niggling pain in your knee, or the stitch in your side, or any number of other ailments is what gets your attention. You do notice these things because, as Rowlands suggests, our brains have evolved to notice when things aren’t going well.

Rowlands gives further depth to his argument, with reference to the work of the great philosopher, Schopenhauer. And frankly, some of his observations are a bit depressing. Schopenhauer observes that because we are so highly evolved, with cognitive abilities like memory and anticipation, abilities that other creatures don’t possess, we are especially sensitive to our place in the grand thermodynamic scheme of things.

If the universe is destined to end up with maximum disorder, we might rightly ask ourselves why we bother. After all, what’s the point if we will all end up as worm food?

That’s where the Rowlands piece shines. He points out that as human beings, we have evolved as social creatures precisely because that improves our odds in the unrelenting competition for energy. The bonds that keep us together… mutual recognition, affection, love… can be seen as small bits of defiance against overwhelming odds, in a universe where the rules of the game are stacked firmly against us.

My advice is that the next time you are out running, you should spare a thought for the amazing confluence of conditions that had to go well for you to even be out there at all. The very fact that you exist is in defiance of the laws of thermodynamics, at least for the time being.

And the next time you are out running with your gang, give some consideration to them, as what Schopenhauer referred to as, “my fellow sufferers”. Since we are all in this together, it is only right that we should have some tolerance and patience with each other. As Rowlands says, “Every act of kindness we show to someone or something is a defiance of the spirit of the laws that made us”. Defiance may be futile, but it is still valuable.