Dame Prue Leith rushed to hospital amid stroke fear
Dame Prue Leith was rushed to hospital after her jumbled speech led her husband John Playfair to think she'd had a stroke.
Dame Prue Leith's husband rushed her to hospital after her jumbled speech led him to think she'd had a stroke.
The former Great British Bake Off judge was awayin Yorkshire with John Playfair when she suffered a debilitating migraine attack which, as well as affecting her vision, also turned her speech into an “incomprehensible jumble of disconnected words”, prompting her spouse to call 999 for an ambulance because she was unable to communicate the problem to him.
Writing in her Prue's News column in the upcoming issue of The Oldie magazine, Prue revealed: “A few weeks ago, staying in Yorkshire, I had a migraine attack.
“It followed a familiar path. First, I can see only half of whatever I’m looking at.
“This is speedily followed by a bright circle of flickering, coloured lights in the upper right field of vision.
“If I don’t swiftly swallow one of my migraine ‘bombs’ (three pills: paracetamol, ibuprofen and sumatriptan), a crashing headache will follow.
“This time, my incomprehensible jumble of disconnected words convinced John I was having a stroke.
“I tried to tell him it was just a migraine, but I couldn’t string two words together.
“He rang our doctor, who asked me, could I raise my arms? Yes. Make a fist? Yes. Did anything hurt? No. Was the side of my face drooping? No.
“In spite of my answers, she ordered an ambulance to take me to Harrogate Hospital.
“The ambulance man asked me the same questions, as did a nurse on arrival at A+E, and so, after a six-hour wait, did the doctor."
Because so much time had passed before Prue saw a doctor, the 86-year-old star was able to better express herself, but she still underwent tests as a precaution.
She added: “In spite of my assuring him (I’d recovered coherent speech by then) that it was a migraine, he decided on a CT scan. Two hours later, I had one, waited another hour for the results, and was released at 2am...
“The NHS personnel are all cheerful, sympathetic, polite, helpful and professional. You may have to wait forever, but when it is your turn, you are treated as if you were the only patient in A+E.
“The nurse who took my blood had been on duty for 10 hours — her replacement had rung in sick — but she was bright as a daisy. Said she loved her job.
“And the doctor took the trouble to access my NHS records. He explained why he wanted to refer me for a brain scan, just to be sure (people of my age, 86, are prone to mini-strokes).
“And when, after eight hours, I said I was hungry, a nursing assistant went foraging for a sandwich. It was white bread with a skinny slice of processed ham.
“Not the healthiest supper for nurses on night shift, but John and I wolfed it down.
“I wonder what my 10 hours in A1=E cost the nation?"
Prue noted her age meant medical staff were determined to be "safe not sorry".
She concluded: “I knew all along that all I had was a migraine. But since the speech problem is a classic symptom of a stroke, and my extreme old age being a time when mini-strokes are common, everyone was determined to be safe not sorry.”
