My stroke: What I saw in Italy.

After the stroke, living in Italy, it seems to me that something isn't working. I haven't quite figured out what yet, but I notice a certain lack of empathy from many healthcare professionals.
Among ordinary people, however, I see a lot of ignorance: the same ignorance I had before being affected.

When I talk to someone about it, the first thing they tell me is: "You were lucky".
I ask why, and the answer is: "Because our acquaintances who had the same thing ended up on a couch peeing on themselves".

I respond that I believe it's due to those who took me to the hospital two hours after the stroke: they treated me immediately and the brain wasn't completely ruined. I also say that often at home people wait too long: if you don't intervene within 6-8 hours, the damage becomes severe. It also depends on where it hits, the right or left side of the brain.

Maybe the person is elderly, a bit confused, and the symptoms aren't noticed. Instead of taking them to the hospital, they are treated poorly, thinking they're just getting worse in character. It happens.

Talking with healthcare professionals

With doctors, I've learned to ask them to respond in writing. Because maybe for the next 30 seconds I remember and answer well, but a moment of distraction is enough for me to forget the details.

I've spoken with many specialists, both in Belarus and in Italy.
The difference?

• In Belarus they tried to understand.

• In Italy, they often have the confidence of someone who thinks they already know everything, and whoever speaks to them becomes an idiot because "they had a stroke".

But it's not like that. Yes, we forget details, that's true in 90% of cases. But we know well what happened to us. The important things, if they really are important to us, remain fixed.

The problem is another: we are no longer quick in our speech. We have to think about it first. Our responses come slower, because we are not as reactive as before.

The Belarusian documentation

In Italy, I'm redoing all the check-ups, because with the Belarusian documentation, no one understands anything. The parameters are different and, if the doctor doesn't apply himself, he can't interpret them.

More than once, in front of Italian specialists, I brought my translated documents in good Italian. But with condescension, I received answers like: "I don't understand anything from these documents, I don't know what to do".

I would start getting annoyed and more than once I would collect the documents and say I would leave, because we were wasting time in two and it was useless for me to be there.

For some reason, in those cases, the doctor would calm down, take the papers back and... understand them. Not because the language had changed, but because he hadn't really read them before. Maybe it was the formatting that created confusion: in Italian reports, they find what they're looking for immediately, in mine not. But in the end, when they start reading them, those documents tell the same story.

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⚠️ Attention
This is my personal experience. It's not a medical judgment. Everyone experiences the relationship with healthcare professionals differently. But those who have had a stroke need especially time, patience, and empathy.