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I Had a Stroke at 33

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Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#3

Remember this - You have FOUR HOURS to get a person with a stroke to the emergency. If you do, their chances of survival are dramatically higher.

As someone who had two grandparents have strokes absolutely this, prompt medical attention significantly reduced both the damage and the recovery/rehabilitation time.

If you think even remotely it's a stroke then straight to the hospital you go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXONEHmupy0 (UK National Health Service Advert about strokes)

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#5

Remember this - You have FOUR HOURS to get a person with a stroke to the emergency. If you do, their chances of survival are dramatically higher.

I think many people that haven't personally faced what a stroke is in one way or another don't realize how dangerous and life changing the disease is. Also, they don't understand how to detect it.

I have seen it several times. The first time it happened to my grandfather, nobody in the family realised what's wrong only that he seemingly was losing memory and repeating things he just said. Several hours passed until we thought we should perhaps call the medics - stroke was immediatelly recognized by the doctor and the emergency saved my grandfather only with very mild consequences afterwards. The second time my grandfather got a stroke, he started stuttering and had difficulty speaking. Again, we did not believe it could be stroke, because, you know, he might just be feeling bad. And again, the emergency saved him within a few hours. During the third and final stroke that we know of family was already aware and he was taken to the hospital early but he was released just a couple hours later with instructions to stay in bed and rest. Overall, about 6 to 8 hours passed until he got the required medical care. After that stroke he spent almost five years doing nothing, just existing - with almost completely blank mind. If only the doctors were professionals and we, the family, would have paid better attention, he would have been saved.

TL;DR: pay attention to the people you know. If something is slightly off and the person himself does not seem aware of it, this is definitely a strong signal that it might be a stroke.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#6
What a beautiful article.

My girlfriend had three strokes, in succession, two years ago (when she was 22). The night before these strokes occurred, she had a transient ischemic attack (TIA). She began speaking gibberish to her friends. She texted me later that night explaining what happened. Her friends had laughed about it because they thought she was just acting like a goofball. I had no idea these were signs of a TIA, but I told her that if it happened again she needed to go to the doctor immediately.

The next day, the right side of her body went numb. This time, she was around people who noticed something was wrong, and she was immediately rushed to the emergency room. By the next day, I had flown a thousand miles (from the location of my new job) to be with her. She couldn't remember many words. She couldn't read a clock. She did not know the answer to 3 + 0.

It turned out that, similar to the author of this article, clots had traveled through the hole in her heart and up to her brain. Luckily, she recovered fully and was back to her old self within about a month. She had surgery to fix the PFO a couple months later. The neurologist told her that nine times out of ten, the clot travels a different path, and the victim is left dead or braindead. I am so lucky. Writing about this has me in big tears.

I am going to stop writing and go hug her now.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#10
post #7

I wish Buzzfeed only had articles like this.

BuzzFeed is reportedly profitable and growing quickly...if it were to just publish massive, obviously-valuable stories...well, the first thing from a software development perspective, they would've never had the highly-refined production process and CMS they have now...which, among other things, allows them to efficiently distribute to many eyeballs stories big and small.

And of course, the second consequence of being only a "reputable" publisher...they would've never even had a known name. I wish I could name all the many other news/story startups that have promised "just the good stuff" but have failed (Byliner comes to mind)...except they all quit so quickly that it's hard to even remember them.

I appreciate BuzzFeed's strategy as a content-provider and a technology company. And when it comes to actually reading their site, I have an easy tip: The more boring the headline, the better the content.

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