One day, I saw large grey tufts in front of my eyes. At work, I decided something definitely happened to my handwriting. The letters became so very small, it was impossible for me to write them any larger. The following day, I stayed home and suffered a migraine. That evening my speech became slurred. My husband wanted to take me to a doctor. I said no. When our doctor's surgery opened in the morning, we were waiting. They asked: Was I born on the 28th or the 29th? I simply did not know. He then drove me to the hospital, where I waited an eternity. I took out my lipstick, but could only apply it to the left side of my mouth, the right side being impossible to reach. They performed a CT scan and later in the evening I was informed I had a stroke and that parts of the right side of my brain, close to the speech centre, were destroyed. Darkness closed in on me, but then came the light. A large blood vessel was completely blocked. The blood platelets piled up on top of each other, more and more and more. This was my brain close to the speech centre. Would my brain be totally destroyed? How much can a person take? Would I be able to speak again? Was this actually death that I was experiencing? It felt like I was free. Consciousness left my body. Ingrid Fredriksson is a Swedish author with an M.A. degree in public health education. She has written numerous books in English. Publisher's website: http: //sbprabooks.com/IngridFredriksson Author's website: http: //www.ingridfredriksson.com