Conversations with StrokeLine – Setten Stephenson Episode one to four

StrokeLine’s Physiotherapist, Kath Yong, talks with Setten Stephenson.

In this episode they cover topics including: Setten’s stroke, exercise, and rehab.

Episode one:

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Episode two:

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Episode three:

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Episode Four:

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Transcript for episode one

Setten Stephenson:
I'm born in Sydney, bred Sydney. I have five kids... I'm sorry five kids, so I have a family of five, three kids. So, I was pretty energetic, working, keeping household. I was really into my, as I say, water sports. Fishing, boating, skiing, anything to do with that. Big diver, loved my scuba diving. With the kids, came camping and hiking and scouting and all the rest of it. I kind of worked in insurance from pretty much all my life but then love building stuff. So, I really wish I was a tradie, but a different course.

Setten Stephenson:
So, yeah all of a sudden, I guess 2016 came along and I guess a little bit behind, well a prelude to that, I went out with my mates. We went to a big diving exhibition and had a few drinks, few pizzas. We thought it would be a great idea to go diving the next day.

Setten Stephenson:
Probably shouldn't have but whatever. Rock climbed down a cliff face to get there because it was quite a weird spot. I went for a dive, got home, jogged back to the playing field when my son was playing AFL and then the next day I rode to work, rode back and then I collapsed. So, yeah it was a bit of a weird feeling. I guess the room just did a 360 and I went down to the ground. And being a bloke, agh it's nothing. I probably needed to hydrate. And so anyway, I sat there and I thought not right. So, I thought "Oh, okay, I'll get to the shower." And I don't know why I thought it was unusual but doing backstroke on the floor probably isn't normal. I got to the shower, had a shower, crawled into bed and that's where my wife found me and she thought, "Oh, you're just exhausted" and let me sleep. And the next day I was still in bed, she goes, "Oh, I'm going to work".

Setten Stephenson:
By about two o'clock, that's when she said, "no, that's not right." That's pretty much 24 hours after I had the stroke. And that's when she took me to the doctor and the doctor basically called the ambulance. From that point on, I can't remember. So, I guess I was in ICU for about three months. That obviously established that I'd had a stroke and then that's when all the fun began. Like I had the tube in the throat, breathing tube in the guts I guess and pretty much bedridden. I guess from there I went to Royal Ryde Rehab where I started the rehab process. So, getting up, doing the physio and I joined well I guess the cycling group on the recovery, three Wheeler.

Kathrine Young:
I saw that blog. Yes.

Setten Stephenson:
Yeah, well that's where it all began. Because I'm a big cyclist and another thing that I love doing, which is mountain biking, I wanted to get into something to normalize themselves. So, I guess what three months in rehab, my wife, Christine wanted me back home because obviously the home is more well it's more me. So, it got me out of the hospital situation and around the people that are alive, etc , etc. And that was a big fundamental change in the way I was going. The only thing was I thought I was Superman and decided I could walk and then I fell and broke my hip. Yeah. That kind of set me back about a year and a half and I guess to all the viewers out there, don't break your hip because it doesn't tickle. But what it did, it reinforced the idea that I'm not Superman and really good to take things easier. There's educated risks and I guess to any stroke person you want to get better, but you've got all this new others and take your time.

Setten Stephenson:
I think one other thing I've learned is that every stroke is different. What I see from the Stroke Foundation is that you guys are big on the F.A.S.T. So, get there, get there quick, get you out because the quicker you get it, the better the recovery. So, I guess this is four years on now and I'm thinking, well could have, would have, should have. It would have been nice but this is the challenge now. So, I guess after I did all the hip thing, got back into the cycling to get movement, it's good now. And I take a lot less risks but I've moved from the wheelchair, I've now progressed to a walker and then on the walking stick. So, you can see little I guess changes, see developments. It's exciting for me because it's like, well it's one step closer to normalisation, however long that's going to be. I'd like to think that it's a 10 year fix. Don't know.

Setten Stephenson:
So, I guess the people that are helping me, I mean obviously I've got the wife and kids that do everything around the house to keep me sane. We just got a new puppy, just asleep at the moment and stopped eating my feet. He's got very sharp teeth. So again, that's all part of normalisation. And then I do obviously the stretch goal because my wife is out there working and trying to feed us I guess, I have to do all the housework, all the cooking, all the good stuff. And that for me I guess a rehab point of view is brilliant. So, I think you saw him blogs hanging out washing, cooking. Well, mixed results. Good and bad. I'm not a chef, so. But again, chopping and delivering a food like a meal every night, it's really good and enjoyable. So in between that, I guess I've got rehab. So, I do physio on Monday in the afternoon, I've got a great care that comes around and takes me to these places.

Setten Stephenson:
He just happens to be a personal trainer and a martial arts expert and a bouncer in his day. And anyway, he does not let me sit still. So, he takes me out on Tuesday and we do a body hack. So that means, weightlifting, and a lot of stand up, sit down, crunches, everything. So, I'll probably post a few more about that on my blogs just about the physical training. I think there's some of that there. And I think what I've learned is that you have to get better with pain. So, the more workout you do, you feel the chest, the heaving and the muscles burning, it's actually progressing. It's things that you really don't want to do it, but you have to. And I think it is too easy just to sit down and now I guess I'm used to pain because in my bike races, it's like for a mountain bike at 115 kilometers, you have to go through a lot of pain to get to the end. Being the boy I don't want to fail. So, I'm kind of doing my best. I'm kinda of used to that.

Setten Stephenson:
So, that is actually getting me better. And then back to physio, all I've got to watch is that I don't exhaust myself. So, a lot of the physios kind of look at me and go "no, you got to stop." And that's just to let the muscles regroup and not fatigue but that's kind of what I'm learning. So, that's Tuesday. Where to stay physio. Thursday is another body hack session. And Friday I've got exercise physiology. And the girl that takes me, takes me to hydro and there's deep tissue massage. There's a whole thing called dry needling, which is acupuncture mild. She did that and she goes "yeah, well you could look like a porcupine if you want, but I don't know if it's doing anything." But yeah. So, and then Saturday and Sunday, I just do everything else. It's mainly about the kids, catch up with a housewife, Christine doesn't work during the weekends. So, its yeah.

Kathrine Young:
Yeah, sure.