A couple weeks ago a friend of mine got up in the morning and had issues with keeping her balance and walking. Her husband immediately called 911 (even though she didn't want him to) and she was rushed to the hospital where a doctor specializing in stroke victims just happened to be on call. He immediately diagnosed the problem as a stroke. Charlene was immediately rushed into surgery. There is a new surgery out that if the patient is operated on within 4 hours of the stroke chances of a full recovery and/or survival are very high. Charlene's stroke happened on a Wednesday morning...10 days later she was back in church! It was amazing to see what God had done! Several years ago my best friend had a stroke at age 50, she laid in the hospital for 2 days and died on Mother's Day. When Charlene had this strokes my thoughts were on Judy...I am so glad that medically things have advanced that Charlene's life was saved...and Charlene thanks God for a husband that KNEW something was wrong!
Read below on how to identify a stroke:
STROKE: Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking these 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.
- S * Ask the person to stick out their tongue - if the tongue is ' crooked ' , if it goes to one side or the other.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 4 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 4 hours, which is tough.
RECOGNIZING A STROKE: 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 .
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