Uncle Floyd opens up about his stroke and recovery

When his friend David Bowie died, Uncle Floyd Vivino would speak to no one about it but New Jersey 101.5.

It was the same when his friend Robin Williams passed. Floyd played Eddie Kirk in the Williams classic "Good Morning Vietnam."

And again when he was diagnosed with COVID.

So, when Uncle Floyd was ready to talk about the stroke he suffered last year, he opened up to me about it. I was able to catch him for a short time between physical therapy sessions at the hospital.

When he's not taking therapy he's doing a podcast with Scott Gordon, who was with him when he suffered the stroke.

"I had two holes drilled in my head to relieve it" Floyd says, adding "And that usually cripples somebody, I came out of that okay. I've been doing okay with the nurses and things. I've been battling here. The worst part is not having any show to do. That's why I'm happy to do this today."

Gordon, who was doing a radio show with Uncle Floyd when he suffered the stroke, explained what happened, when it happened:

"On Tuesday night, June 13, 2023, Uncle Floyd and I had just finished the third live segment of our streaming show, 'This WAS The Uncle Floyd Show.' We're into the fourth segment of old Uncle Floyd Show segments. This left us with one more live and pre-record to go for the night.

 

While holding his singe-ear headphones, Floyd looked at me, pointed at his monitor, and said, 'Scott, why is this going so slow?' I told him it was fine, and he dropped his headphones. Floyd then asked, 'Where’s my speaker?'

 

I told him that he had dropped it. Floyd bent to his left to retrieve it and fell off the chair.

 

I immediately ran around the console to see what happened. I noticed that his left leg was extended out straight, his left arm was flailing, and he had a droop in the left corner of his mouth. I said, 'Floyd, you’re having a stroke.'

 

He said, 'No, I’m not! I JUST CAN’T GET UP! FINISH THE SHOW!,' and he was getting quite red in the face.

"As I had had some Red Cross First Aid training, I realized he was getting upset and raising his blood pressure, so, I complied to keep him calm," Gordon continued.

"I completed the last live segment and started the last (closing) pre-record within 3 minutes.

 

I returned to Floyd and said to him, 'Floyd, B***Sh**! You’re having a stroke. I’m calling 911. F*** you.'

He relaxed and calmly said, 'OK.'

 

Within 5 minutes, we had 2 cops. Three minutes later, we had 3 EMTs. Two minutes later, 2 Medics showed up.

 

The responders were incredible. Within 45 minutes of his stroke, they had stabilized Floyd’s movements, taken him up the 90% turn stairs out of the studio, out of the building and to the Emergency Room at the hospital."

When I asked him when he'd be able to go back on the road, knowing that it would be a while if at all, Uncle Floyd's sense of humor bubbled to the surface. "As soon as the road opened up, they're doing construction right now."

I asked Gordon about Uncle Floyd's recovery, so far.

"He is 100% mentally, with a few memory gaps, but I have those as well. He is regaining movement on his left side, where he had paralysis in both his arm and leg. It will still take time, but the docs say he can be back 95-100%."

Meanwhile they have launched a podcast — as Floyd says "Pods are not very popular anymore so we're trying to bring pods back. A pod is the uncle of a pea".

Uncle Floyd's podcast is available on all the platforms or directly at UncleFloyd.Podbean.com.

They also do a Tuesday night live-stream show at StageIt.com/SGE-Inc.

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