I had a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) or as people know it, Brain Stroke on August 9. After 2 months of recovery, I’m back to normal and I feel great :) It seems it had to do with an issue with my blood coagulation and my heart health…

It disturbed my vision and motricity… but I’m ok now. Needless to say, it was a very scary experience.

I got a bit depressed and sometimes anxious when I was recovering, but I stuck with a strict diet and exercise regime which helped enormously and helped with the mood changes. Now that I’m much better, I’m here reflecting the on how the last 2 months of my life have passed.

I went from being in intensive care at the hospital for a bit over a week to not be able to speak or move normally to fully recovered. So to say that I’ve experienced a rollercoaster of emotions, would be an understatement.

I felt like someone or something pressed a reset button on my brain. At some point while I was going to the ER, I was very frightened, specially when doctors and other professionals spoke to me in ways I’ve never been spoken to… I felt very estranged at some point.

So I did what I know best to do: I forced myself to remain positive throughout any interaction or event. This definitely made things easier and faster for everyone. I can almost guarantee it’s an universal advice for everyone.

A funny thing to note is that this happened to me in Brussels, while on time off, so Doctors and Nurses spoke French to me… My French is not very good so you can imagine how extreme was my immersive linguistic experience.

During this period where I had time to reflect, I learned to appreciate and respect modern medicine. Machines and processes are so advanced and from my perspective, more lives are being saved than before thanks in majority to the hard work of the health sector workforce, but also thanks to the technological advances applied there.

Once in London, I started the painful recovery process which consisted of attempting to go back to my normal routine. Because I couldn’t move or speak as fast as before, I discovered myself living and applying an advice I used to give people. “To go fast, you must go slow”. Since I had no other choice than to move slowly, I found that things like cooking or cleaning where more satisfactory to me and I could do them better if I was slower and more meticulous.

So I decided to apply that into my reintroduction to programming. It’s safe to say that it was a great advice for myself. I’m taking the time to understand, read, and plan before executing. This quote came to my mind at the time.

“If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I would spend 6 of those hours sharpening my axe” Abraham Lincoln

Throughout this whole process, next to me, has been my dearest wife, to whom I’m eternally grateful. She’s been instrumental and I’d like to dedicate this words to her.

I would say, that in overall terms, this experience, although scary, has had many positive outcomes for me. So yeah… I’m back !