Monday Morning Musing: Stroke Symptoms

 Instead of my usual “musing” I’m offering some important information. Last week, my friend author Elizabeth Meyette posted life-saving advice on her blog, Are You Prepared For A Medical Emergency?

Her post reminded me of what happened to my husband and what I learned from it. Elizabeth’s husband survived a heart attack thanks to her quick thinking. Mine had a stroke, twice. I wrote about the first time on the Paranormal Romantics blog. At that time, I used the acronym FAST to recognize the symptoms. Before I commented on Elizabeth’s post, I googled FAST to make sure I had the explanation correct. To my surprise, I found Beaumont Hospital’s From FAST to FASTER. That new acronym is so much better and would’ve helped me recognize the symptom for Hubs' second stroke.

 

F – Face

A – Arms

S – Stability

T – Talking

E – Eyes

R – React

With Hubs’ first stroke, he began speaking strangely. His words were clear, not slurred, but they made no sense. After asking what he meant, his response again made no sense. I remembered FAST (then the "S" meant Speech) and drove him to the ER.

Mistake #1. In an emergency, and that was one, I should have called 911. A lot could’ve happened in the 15 minute drive to the hospital. The EMTs are better equipped to handle any emergency en route.

A stroke happens when a blot clot blocks oxygen to the brain. I was able to get Hubs' to the ER in time for medicine that dissolves the blot clot in the brain to prevent worse damage.

The second stroke didn’t present the symptoms listed in FAST but did in FASTER. His left leg gave out. He couldn’t put any weight on it. He’d been weak and had fallen before. STABILITY. Had I known FASTER, I would’ve called 911 immediately. I didn’t even take him to Emergency until the next day. Big mistake.

Hubs was fortunate not to experience long-lasting effects from either stroke. Now, I know what to look for. Here’s a further explanation of FASTER.

FACE: drooping or numbness on one side. Ask the person to smile. That will make the droop more evident.

 

ARMS: one arm is weaker. Ask the person to raise their arms and hold for the count of ten. If one falls or begins to drop, that could be the sign of a stroke.

 

STABILITY: lack of balance, falling, inability to walk without help, lack of coordination.

 

TALKING: garbled or slurred speech, nonsensical words, inability to understand or respond properly. Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like “The sky is blue.”

 

EYES: visual changes, loss of vision in one eye, double vision, partial or complete loss of vision in one or both eyes.

 

REACT: This is the reminder to call 911. IMMEDIATELY. Time is of the essence. Call even if the symptoms go away. Remember (write down) the time the symptoms started.

 

Don’t be afraid to call 911. Call even if the person tells you not to. Or they don’t want to bother the emergency people. Call. Don’t worry that you’ll forget your address. Your smart cell phone identifies your location.

 

I hope this post will help anyone in similar situations.

 

Listen to Your Body

This probably sounds like an odd topic. Maybe a better title would have been Listen to Your Instincts. At baby showers, when the participants are asked to give the new mom one piece of advice, I always say, listen to your instincts. You know your baby. You know when something is wrong. Act on it.

As mothers, we listen to our instincts when it comes to our children. But do we do the same with our own bodies? Or do we hesitate getting medical help? Why? Because of the following (stupid) reason: What if I go to the ER and it’s nothing? I’ll be so embarrassed.

Case in point. Several years ago, I woke up in pain. Top of my belly then between my shoulder blades. Weird. I paced the kitchen, trying to figure out what was going on. (I am not a doctor so why do I try to self-diagnose?) We’d been on a dinner cruise and the food on the buffet was lukewarm. This was probably food poisoning? I was nauseous but not vomiting. Sort of ruled out food poisoning. Heart attack. Back pain, right? Women’s symptoms are different from men’s. What if it isn’t? What if the symptoms go away? What if I get to the hospital and it’s nothing. I’ll feel foolish. Turned out it was serious—gallstones and they wanted to do surgery immediately.

Within the past two months I’ve had two life-threatening incidents where I should have listened more closely to my body. In February, my husband and I ate dinner at a restaurant then hit the grocery store. Within ten to fifteen minutes, I started itching. By the time I got to the checkout, I was hot (heat—not anger at the price of food). It was winter. I was wearing my heavy parka. Seemed like a reasonable explanation. But then my face felt flushed, my lips and ears swelled. Hubs, who’d run back for some forgotten item, came up and said you don’t look good, go sit down. Later, he said my skin above my shirt looked blotchy. As I waited for him, my hands swelled. When we got outside, the cold February air felt good. Not good enough. My first thought was to go home and look at my body to see what was going on. Thank goodness, Urgent Care was between the store and home. We stopped there first. Like a “good girl” I followed the rules, signed in, and sat in the waiting area. A nurse told me later, I should have pounded on the window and gotten someone’s attention. I was having an anaphylactic reaction.

I suppose if my throat had swelled, I would have been more insistent. I knew something was very wrong. Yet, I didn’t scream and holler “help me.” I don’t make scenes. Too embarrassing. I know better now. Before they let me go home, the doctor said something strange. He looked at my husband and said “If she has another reaction, don’t drive her to the Emergency Room.” Say what? Then he said, “Call 911.” The EMTs can administer drugs to stop the reaction.

Earlier this month, I woke up to pain along the right side of my chest. It hurt to take a deep breath. I got out of bed so as not to wake my husband. My shoulder hurt, so did my right arm. Again, I’m thinking heart attack. There’s nothing worse than waking a sleeping spouse and saying we need to go to emergency. Talk about a rude wake up call. Poor guy. What a way to check out the hospital in our new town. We weren’t even sure where the Emergency entrance was.

The triage questions surprised me. Here I’m still thinking heart attack and they’re asking questions like: have you been on a long car ride? airplane trip? Hang on. They’re thinking blood clots. I know what a pulmonary embolism feels like—panting, shortness of breath, comes on suddenly. Had a PE after knee surgery. The symptoms were different. This wasn’t it. Wrong. A CT scan showed lots of little blood clots that had migrated to the side of my lung and were irritating the lining. Hence, the pain. Scary. More scary is that I didn’t recognize the symptoms and waited instead of immediately getting medical help.

I was very fortunate that I got good medical care after each incident. Only because I knew something was wrong with my body and acted on it., even if a little late. Waiting is probably the worst thing you can do. Listen to your body. Act on your instincts. Don’t hesitate because you’re afraid you’ll feel embarrassed.

Ask yourself what would you do if your spouse or child were having the same symptoms? Would you wait?