WARNING SIGNS OF STROKE

S = SPEECH, or any problems with language

T = TINGLING, or any numbers in the body

R = REMEMBER,  or any problems with memory

O = OFF BALANCE, problems with coordination

K = KILLER HEADACHE

E = EYES, or any problems with vision

CDC Stroke Statistics

 

Stroke Fact Sheet

Source: Interactive Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke

  •   Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States, killing more than 130,000 Americans each year —that’s 1 of every 20 deaths.1
  •   A stroke, sometimes called a brain attack, occurs when a clot blocks the blood supply to the brain or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts.
  •   Someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds. Every four minutes, someone dies of stroke.2
  •   Every year, about 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke. About 610,000 of these are first or newstrokes; 185,000 are recurrent strokes.2
  •   Stroke is an important cause of disability. Stroke reduces mobility in more than half of stroke survivors age 65 and over.2
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FIRST 24 HOURS

On October 26th, 2015, my wife and I sat down to watch our favorite show, “Blindspot,” at 10:00 pm.  It had been a pretty regular day, I had just got up from doing a little work on my laptop, I am a Physical Therapist by trade.  In the next 30 minutes my life would change drastically.  Over the years, I have been exposed to the worst medical trauma that life can send your way and one of my worst fears was happening, as a blood clot had dislodged from my heart, rapidly running up to my brain.  It happened so fast that the last thing I remembered, (several months later) was the loss of vision in my right eye.  I had just had a Cerebrovascular incident, better known as a stroke. I was just 49 years old at the time.
Continue reading “FIRST 24 HOURS”