Archive for the ‘Surviving after a stroke,’ Category

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall,
she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) …..she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.
kingston flash drive
They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of
food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital – (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don’t die, they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this…

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke…totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the
’3′ steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke .

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE
(Coherently) i.e. It is sunny out today)
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks,
call  911immediatelyand describe the
symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke——-Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another ‘sign’ of a stroke is this: Ask the person to ‘stick’ out his tongue.. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this
e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that
at least one life will be saved.

A stroke, effects you emotionally as well as physically.  One day you’re going along just fine thinking and doing in accomplishing things in your life.  And suddenly you have a stroke.  Now you probably had indications that something was wrong before you actually had the stroke.  However, you probably didn’t pay attention to that and kept on doing your business.  I know that for me I was hell-bent to make a living so it didn’t pay any attention to my body signaling me some thing was wrong.  I hate to say this, but men are notorious for doing this.

Yes, we men are taught from an early age to cover up our     emotions.  And yes, we let our anger and other silly things hang out, but we truly guard our emotions.  We have much to learn.  As I think about my stroke  I realize that I had been bottling up my emotions for years.  Now those that live around me might not agree with that comment, but it’s true.  One thing I’ve learned after my stroke was to stop bottling everything up inside. In the bible  Philippians chapter 4 tells us  not to be anxious for anything.  This is easier said than done.

Learning to tap into my emotions was difficult   it was something that I had practice.

When I first had my stroke  I found myself crying a lot. My emotions would just boil over, and I was so upset at my predicament that I was found myself crying for no reason.

My   way of handling this was to  immerse  myself in my physical therapy.  I chose to do this.  So every day in the convalescent home I would have speach, and physical therapy.  So I immersed myself into this figuring I could beat it. I am a type A personality.  So this did help me a great deal.

Over time, my emotions have settled down.

So, things can improve for you if you do decide to do it.  It is now almost 4 years since my stroke, and I do have to say.  I’m getting better.

Mentally  [2 of 5]

Now, I never liked hospitals, so I wasn’t happy to be there at all.  No privacy, they keep track of every thing you do, and I couldn’t walk to the bathroom so I had to use a urinal… ugh!  Now remember, before the stroke I was getting around quite well by myself.  I’m kind of a self-sufficient guy, and I really didn’t like the idea of not being able to do things on my own.  You see, I was thinking that this is just a short-term thing.  duh.  As I look back on this experience from 2008 I seem really foolish!

They kept me in the hospital for about a week.  Then they transferred me to a convalescent hospital.  They said it would be good for me to begin therapy.  I was still thinking that this would be a short term problem.  So I threw myself into therapy with gusto, figuring I’d be all done and ready to go home in a month.  Well, walking was extremely difficult and I would get so angry with myself for not being able to walk.  Now this particular stroke hit me on the right side of my body… I’m a right-handed person, so it really affected me.

So you see that mentally you must shift gears.

This was no picnic for me, like I said I thought I would be out of there by a month, but the harder I worked on it the harder it became.     When I first had my stroke my mind was foggy.  I could not remember things I should have known.  This was very frustrating.

My stroke affected my speech also.  I could not talk clearly, and this was very frustrating.  I spent hours with a speech therapist .  She was very good.  As I write this today.  I am using a speech program on the computer that transfers, what I say into typing.  It’s called Dragon nine.

It was hard to keep from being angry all the time.  So… I set out to find out more about a stroke.  The more I found out, the more depressed I became.  I didn’t want to be this way, so I made my mind up that I would be determined to get   better. I firmly believe in God, and I believe that he helped me get through this very scary  time.

Statistics tell us that there are approximately 1-2 million wheelchair users in the USA and approximately 1-2 million wheelchair users in Europe. This means that approximately 1 in every 200 people in Western countries are in wheelchairs. That number may seem high to you. Where are they?

Walk along any street, any shopping area, any recreational area and look around. When you see 200 people, do you see 1 wheelchair? Almost certainly the answer is NO. And it is more likely to be NO in some states than others and in some countries than in others.

Why? It is hard to be in a wheelchair, and the reason for this is not due to the wheelchair. In fact, wheelchairs, wheelchair ramps, wheelchair lifts and other wheelchair accessories have been improving remarkably over the past two decades. As will be discussed below wheelchairs are lighter, faster and easier to use than just 20 years ago. But unfortunately society has not been advancing at the same rate. The reason you do not see so many wheelchairs has to do with accessibility and culture.

Accessibility

In some places, buildings, public transport, streets and sidewalks are slowly becoming more accessible to wheelchair users as wheelchair ramps are becoming more common. But in many places, if you are in a wheelchair you will not be able to move. Steps, curbs, broken sidewalks and inadequate public transportation provide barriers to wheelchair users. Wheelchair users are simply excluded.

Culture

There is discrimination against wheelchair users just like there is discrimination against people of different races. Maybe it is not openly discussed or recognized, but it is true everywhere and this discrimination is stronger in some societies than in others. At the minimum, wheelchair users are stared at and made to feel different and uncomfortable. In some cultures families feel shame and denial and wheelchair users are all but locked away.

The problems of accessibility and culture make it very hard for wheelchair users. It is difficult enough just to be in a wheelchair. But add to that the problems of accessibility and culture and it is easy to understand why wheelchair users often give up and stay at home. And it is easy to understand why you can not find 1 wheelchair for every 200 people you see.