Grow through what you go through.
~Unknown
Last week, on our way to pick up our granddaughter from school, my husband’s driving became erratic.
We were approaching a busy intersection. The light was red. We would be turning left, but my husband failed to get into the turning lane and was not slowing down.
I pleaded for him to stop. He was drooling a little and appeared to be swallowing his tongue. He stopped briefly.
I walked out of the car to swap places with him. He wouldn’t open the car door and insisted I get in the passenger seat. He started to drive. I ran after him and jumped back into the slowly moving vehicle, placing my hand on the brake. His legs seemed stiff.
A young man came to help. I called 911. Very quickly, police and an ambulance showed up. When the paramedics took over, I called our daughter to have her husband pick up their child. I would follow the ambulance to the hospital, a very short distance from where we were.
At the hospital, my husband got immediate attention. A scan confirmed a clot in the right hemisphere of the brain. He had weakness in the left side of his body. After a failed attempt with a clot-busting medication, he underwent a mechanical thrombectomy, a new minimally invasive procedure to remove the clot from the brain.
To be near a hospital that specializes in this treatment and to get such prompt resolution to the problem were both blessings, as is the fact that no one got hurt. The emergency care we got was exceptional.
The clot had blocked much of the blood flow in the right hemisphere. But, after the intervention, perfusion of blood resumed. No apparent tissue damage after reassessment. No lingering symptoms. All of this happened within a couple of hours.
Fortunately, that morning, my husband had decided to come with me to the city. When the incident occurred, we were within minutes of the stroke specialty hospital. Had he stayed home alone, in a remote location, far from the nearest hospital, the outcome could have been devastating.
No apparent risk factors for stroke
Although I had become concerned about his memory over the previous couple of weeks, this health challenge was a shock. Other than having had cancer four years prior, with chemo that was hard on the heart, he had none of the risk factors for stroke.
He checks in with his doctor semi-annually, and his blood work has been exceptional. No medication required.
We rarely eat out and choose the highest quality ingredients for homemade meals. We eat dinner early and have a long fast between dinner and breakfast. We live in a serene natural setting, move well, and sleep well.
His blood pressure is generally below 120/80. His resting heart rate had been elite athlete-like. He recovers quickly from exertion. His blood sugar levels are perfect, and his cholesterol levels are normal.
He has never smoked and drinks little now. He is relatively lean. In fact, recently, at a celebration of life where we saw several old friends and former neighbours, many complimented him on how healthy he looks.
I post this story not to create fear that we are ticking time bombs but to share some thoughts that may be helpful.
Signs of stroke
If you see any of the following signs, please call an ambulance immediately. Click here for more information.
Do not drive the patient to the Emergency department yourself. You may end up waiting too long before being admitted.
F = Face Drooping – Does one side of the face droop, or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Is the person's smile uneven?
A = Arm Weakness – Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
S = Speech Difficulty – Is speech slurred?
T = Time to call 911 – Stroke is an emergency - every minute counts. Call 911 immediately. Note the time when any of the symptoms first appear.
Following the intervention to remove the clot, my husband seems sharper than prior to the procedure. We left the hospital within 24 hours.
He later explained that a few minutes before the symptoms were evident to me, he felt a strange flush through the face.
How could this have been prevented?
I couldn’t help but feel like a failure when this happened. I prioritize the health of our family. Yet, we have experienced several health challenges over the past five years.
To prevent disease, one has to understand the underlying cause.
The hospital said it was new-onset atrial fibrillation, a quivering or irregular heartbeat.
There is often collateral damage to the heart with the chemo for the stage 4 cancer my husband experienced in 2019.
A few weeks prior to the stroke, we went on a two-week trip to Europe to celebrate our 35th anniversary.
We had not been away longer than a week since the cancer. At home, we take great care to nurture the heart with superfoods (pomegranate, greens, fish, garlic, nuts, and seeds) and supplements like omega 3, vitamins C and niacin, magnesium and occasionally Nattokinase and CoQ10.
We travel light, leaving supplements behind. Like many others who relax their standards when traveling abroad, my husband indulged a little more, and we ate dinners later than is comfortable for us.
Several of the guests on our small river cruise got sick, as did he.
On the long flight home, he did not take care to prevent dehydration or wear compression socks. Immobility leads to clotting. A clot can travel and cause a heart attack, or a stroke if it lodges in the brain, deep vein thrombosis if in the legs and pulmonary embolism if in the lungs.
For me, a key take-away is how harmful lack of movement is. We need to move to stay healthy.
Hospitals are understaffed. Bedridden patients are at greater risk of clotting. We were fortunate to be discharged quickly to heal at home.
Restful sleep for brain recovery and reduced risk of acquiring a hospital infection helped prevent further harm.
My husband has been even more active and lucid than he was prior to the stroke. As the internist at the hospital said, he has now experienced two miraculous recoveries. For that we are grateful.
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