Deans' stroke musings: 78-Year-Old Stroke Survivor Shares Secret to Regaining Independence

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

78-Year-Old Stroke Survivor Shares Secret to Regaining Independence

Wrong, wrong, wrong. She was damned lucky she had a small stroke and her spontaneous recovery was excellent. She is one of the 10% that get to full recovery. A one-off and they gush over her recovery, not acknowledging the 90% that don't fully recover.
http://www.pahomepage.com/news/78-year-old-stroke-survivor-shares-secret-to-regaining-independence/706927355
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) -- May Is National Stroke Awareness. Besides knowing the risk factors, it's also important to understand the rehabilitation options that help many stroke survivors enjoy long-term recovery. A New York City woman is proof that receiving the right aftercare can help you regain your independence.
Traveling alone to visit family in Scranton is nothing new for 78-year-old Erika Smeraldi of New York City. But just three years ago, this native of Switzerland who speaks several languages suffered a serious blow to her independence. One day, she suddenly struggled to speak or even read. She had suffered a stroke. She reached out to her son, Dr. Alessandro Smeraldi MD, who lives in Scranton with his wife and two children. Ms. Smeraldi said, "I couldn't come out the name of the children and that's why I cried. I started to cry."
About a week after her condition became stable, Erika's son wanted his mom close to him. "I was able to call people that I knew and say could we get her to where I know she will get good care and get taken care of," said Dr. Smeraldi. Erika was transferred to Allied Services Rehab Hospital in Scranton and began speech therapy.
She worked with therapists like Allied Services Director of Speech Pathology Marie Monahan. Soon transferred to Allied Terrace Assisted Living, Erika put in months of speech and mobility rehabilitation. Allied Services Rehabilitation Hospital Medical Director & Stroke Rehab Program Physician Program Manager Dr. Michael Wolk, MD said, "She also had balance difficulties. There was also a little bit of impulsivity where she didn't really realize some of the deficits and she would just go and that would be a safety concern."
Erika worked with sophisticated tools like the Bioness Integrated Therapy System, or BITS for short. "I wanted to get better. I did everything possible to learn, to write." Less than a year after her stroke, Erika returned to the life she loves in New York City. Dr. Smeraldi said, "I am very happy that she is happy and that she is back to doing everything she wants to do."
For someone who knows multiple languages, Erika shares this one word for fellow stroke survivors on regaining their lives. "Practice, practice, practice. That's the best to do it."