Having a Stroke: I've posted this several times over the years, and people seemed to appreciate it. A friend of ours had a minor stroke, but she didn't realize it. As soon as my wife...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've posted this several times over the years, and people seemed to appreciate it. A friend of ours had a minor stroke, but she didn't realize it. As soon as my wife spoke to her, she knew her friend had a stroke. She made a full recovery.

Stroke: Remember the 1st Three Letters..... S. T. R.

Stroke Identification
During a BBQ, Jane stumbled and took a little fall. She assured everyone that she was fine and declined the offer of paramedics). She said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Jane's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital, and at 6:00 PM, she passed away. She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ, and that is why she fell. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within three hours, he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within three hours, which is tough.

Recognizing a Stroke
A bystander can identify a stroke by asking the person to do four simple things:

S - Ask the individual to smile.

T - Ask the person to talk and speak a simple, coherent sentence.

R- Ask him or her to raise both arms.
New one - Have the person stick out his tongue. If the tongue is crooked and cannot be held straight, that is a sign of a stroke.

If he or she has trouble with any one of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

Find the nearest hospital with a stroke center.
http://www.strokecenter.org/

http://www.stroke.org/site/PageNavigator/HOME

andesbill

You do not want to have a stroke where you are. O’Connor hospital is definitely not good enough. Albany is probably your closest hospital with a decent stroke unit, Westchester is probably better. Your EMTs and Paramedics are good, but it’s a long ambulance ride to the stroke units where you can get what you need. Copters are prohibitably expensive.
I was an Andes EMT, and I know how hard the EMTs work, and how good they all are. Forget Margaretville.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

andesbill wrote:

You do not want to have a stroke where you are. O’Connor hospital is definitely not good enough. Albany is probably your closest hospital with a decent stroke unit, Westchester is probably better. Your EMTs and Paramedics are good, but it’s a long ambulance ride to the stroke units where you can get what you need. Copters are prohibitably expensive.
I was an Andes EMT, and I know how hard the EMTs work, and how good they all are. Forget Margaretville.

Sad but true.

yorkiebyte Loc: Scottsdale, AZ/Bandon by the Sea, OR

jerryc41 wrote:

I've posted this several times over the years, and... (show quote)

THIS is great info, jerryc41!! Having had a TIA last May, my wife recognized the symptoms (I honestly did not know what the problem was) and got me to the hospital, pronto. Stroke is not a thing in my family - until me!
~ Fully recovered so that I can't get out of any chores..... Well, I still try though!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

yorkiebyte wrote:

THIS is great info, jerryc41!! Having had a TIA last May, my wife recognized the symptoms (I honestly did not know what the problem was) and got me to the hospital, pronto. Stroke is not a thing in my family - until me!
~ Fully recovered so that I can't get out of any chores..... Well, I still try though!

I'm glad you recovered.

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

jerryc41 wrote:

I've posted this several times over the years, and... (show quote)

Great article, Jerry. Thanks for sending.

Two years ago my sister was at her next-door neighbors house watching TV one afternoon. When she stood up to go home, she just stood there and froze. Her neighbor friend was a retired nurse, and immediately recognized that she was having a stroke. we live in a 55+ active adult community, and the paramedics were there in less than five minutes. 30 minutes later my sister was at the local hospital and was administered a Clot Buster medication that apparently can only be given in the first couple hours of having a stroke .

Anyway, the MRI showed that she had had in fact three strokes in the frontal temporal part of her brain. It’s the area that affects speech and decisions. She is 100% fully recovered after about six months of speech therapy. When I visited her in the hospital that first night she was awake, and I asked her if she knew what city she lived in. She looked at me and said, “of course I know what city I live in.” I asked her what was the name of the city and she said “February 27!”

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Fredrick wrote:

Great article, Jerry. Thanks for sending. br br T... (show quote)

That sounds like an ideal situation, except needing six months of speech therapy.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

jerryc41 wrote:

I've posted this several times over the years, and... (show quote)

I was in bed one night playing card games on my laptop. My right arm started feeling numb, and I thought I had just been laying on it the wrong way, so I tried to move it around to wake it back up. No luck, so I tried to swing out of bed. Also no luck, since my right leg would not function either. I recognized the symptom for what they were, and used my left hand to reach for my cell phone on the bedside table, punched in 911, and was in the hospital within an hour or so. Unlike aforementioned person, I have not fully recovered, and medical opinion is that I probably never will. Thankfully, the only problems are numbness in the thumb and first 2 fingers of my right hand, and unsteadiness when I try to make sudden move involving my right leg. Otherwise I'm almost normal. The important thing is to not panic when something like this happens. And the ever-present cell phone does have its uses.

carlberg

My wife passed away from a stroke a year ago. She had none of the usual A.S.T. signs and it took the ER docs two days to realize she had a stroke. The lesson is if someone shows any sudden, unusual signs and symptoms, such as blurred vision, headache or arm and leg tremor, which my wife showed, take them to the ER immediately and demand a CT scan.

frankco Loc: Colorado

Good info. Thanks

canonuser25 Loc: Cardiff (Wales NOT England)

In u.k. we have the acronym FAST. Face, Arms, Speech, Time. Does the Face slump. Can you raise the Arms. Is Speech slurred. Time is of the essence.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

cahale wrote:

Thankfully, the only problems are numbness in the thumb...

Funny you should mention your thumb. Seven years ago, I got a deep cut in my left thumb. They said that the feeling in it might not come back. It's been coming back gradually for seven years!

Yes, it's a good idea to have the cell phone handy at all times.

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

jerryc41 wrote:

I've posted this several times over the years, and... (show quote)

Thanks for posting Jerry, excellent discussion!
JimmyT Sends
Bravo Zulu

genocolo Loc: Vail and Gasparilla Island

Great reminder. Thanks.

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

A stroke is certainly an outcome of an underlying problem/condition. Some strokes can be reversed and others can't depending on cause. A trip to a "Stroke Center" in rapid fashion is the key to outcome.

My brother had a stroke and my young daughter (at the time) had a stroke. Each of them caused wholly by a different etiology. My brother's caused by high blood pressure (blood clot to brain), and daughter's by a hole in heart (air embolus to brain).

My wife and I witnessed my daughter's stroke as it happened and took immediate action. My daughter had the hole in heart repaired and is fully recovered. However, my brother didn't get immediate care but recovered with slight memory impairment.

Jerry thanks for posting. As a retired career paramedic from Los Angeles I can tell you that patient histories showed the number one cause of strokes is high blood pressure related to smoking/diet.

If you have high blood pressure get it treated and TAKE your medicine. You can't skip your meds and meds aren't the cure, they are the bandaid.

Prevention is everything.