Retro-Squid

The way you describe it sounds very similar to how lots of the left side of my head and my left arm felt after I had a stroke in my 20's.

My recovery was relatively swift, but for the first few months, reaching into the fridge, the cold almost felt like it was burning. If somebody touched my hand, the roughness of their skin felt like sandpaper against mine. 🤷‍♂️

I don't have a question, man. Just reading appreciating your responses. Much love! 👍💜

Physical recovery is, say, 99%

I still don't like to be touched on my left side, but other than that. No complaints.

Cognitively, is a slightly different story. I basically feel like I have ADHD turned up to 11 and struggle with a lot of social situations. I can't hold a job down, but I think I'm a pretty good parent, so, could definitely be worse.

Other than a long list of concussions after 15 years of skateboard, BMXing and generally being silly, not that I was aware of.

While trying to find the cause, during an MRI, they discovered lots of healed lesions from previous strokes I may have just dismissed as a bad migraine. (I used to get migraines a lot, almost weekly. But in the almost 8 years since the stroke, I've maybe had two, and they felt different, less severe than the ones when I was in my teens)

It was also discovered that I have a couple of heart conditions. A PFO and a valve isn't quite as efficient as it should be. They believe my heart is the primary reason it happened. 🤷‍♂️

My mother was diagnosed as terminal when I was 15 and we were told that because of her anorexia, "she might only have a matter of weeks left"
She died when I was 20 of something completely unrelated to her cancer. Almost 17 years ago. I still have the same wishes as you, but also, I find myself very bitter that she got to see my sister's family. But she never got to meet my wife or my kids.