BASSETERRE, ST. Kitts, Oct 26, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew says the stroke he had suffered in August requiring urgent medical treatment in the United States came after he had several massages while on vacation that month.
Drew, a medical practitioner, who returns to his office building officially on Monday, spoke of the stroke that was caused by a dissection of the vertebral artery, a tear in one of the arteries at the back of the brain.
Prime Minister Drew, who returned to twin island Federation last Saturday, attended a National Thanksgiving Service at National Heroes Park on Sunday, indicating that he felt something was wrong with him when “the dizziness was longer” and that he also had a “problem with my balance”.
The 49-year old prime minister said he immediately got in touch with medical doctor friends, including a neurosurgeon, explaning “my symptoms”.
He said that he had informed one of his doctors that while he had a “stressful job… i’m not stressed out.
“So when he checked my blood pressure, my blood pressure was 110 over 70, Prime Minister Drew said, adding that anyone who knows him well, “ you know how I live, I exercise and I eat well” and that he does not suffer from hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol.
Prime Minister Drew said he had heard “all sorts of things” and had promised to “ speak at the right time.
“In the back of your brain, you have two arteries called the vertebral arteries. So they run up to the back of your brain and …when I was on vacation just the week before I went for a number of massages and they massage my neck and move my neck too much and it tore the left vertebral artery.
“There’s an artery that goes up into the brain and give the brain blood. So that is where the stroke came from, the stroke is not the regular stroke you hear about ,” he said reiterating that his illness had noting to do with his blood pressure of sugar levels.
“This one was because of the massage and my neck and they went too deep and twist my neck a bit and it nipped the artery called the vertebral artery and so that artery reacted and the blood from the artery was cut
“And so this side of my back of my brain was not getting any blood from it However, there are two of them…and I had this I think I was born with it narrower than the right one So since I was born the right one was supplying the blood to the left side
“So even when the left side got affected the right side over my whole lifetime was already supplying blood to the left side. So that helped significantly So that is what happened.
“ Now this is not it is an accident, and so I did not even tell the people who massaged me it was because you know things happen in life and when that happened I went for all the scans.
“We found out what it was. Then I went back home. Then I went to the hospital ….I never lost consciousness or anything never went away from myself at that moment, Prime Minister Drew said, adding “I knew what it was and I know how serious it could be”.
Prior to his arrival in Basseterre, Prime Minister Drew said he had been given a clean bill of health and been discharged from the United States hospital where he was treated.
“From the depths of my soul, thank you. Thank you for every prayer whispered in the quiet of the night. Thank you for every message, every call, every kind word. I felt your love and care. I felt your faith. And I believe, I truly believe, that it helped to carry me through,” Drew said then.
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