Thursday, May 19, 2016
As a registered nurse for the past 23 years, Alicia Reed has spent her career caring for others. On January 3, the 47-year-old Allen Park resident became the patient.
“I didn’t sleep the night before,” she said. “I wasn’t feeling right and didn’t know what was wrong.”
Her husband, Mike, also works in health care as an MRI technician. That morning, he knew something was wrong with his wife.
“I felt her shaking. She was trying to get up, but kept rolling over. I picked her up and moved her back to the bed, but she rolled back,” he recalled. “At first I thought she was having a seizure and then I noticed she was mumbling incoherently and her right side wasn’t working at all. That was the point when I knew she was having a stroke. Then I noticed her drooping face, so I called 911 right away.”
Alicia and Mike’s niece and nephew were also living in the home and they rushed to help until paramedics arrived. They came upstairs with their 1-year-old baby, nicknamed Goose, hoping the baby would help her focus and stop shaking.
“I was talking to Goose and remember saying: ‘Hi Goose, it’s OK Goose, stuff like that.’ Apparently, I knew what I was saying but nobody else did. I didn’t know it was coming out garbled. Goose thought it was hilarious,” Alicia said.
Alicia barely remembers the ambulance ride or the Beaumont, Dearborn emergency room, but she does remember Sandra Narayanan, M.D., coming in to talk to her.
“I remember my brain saying to my feet: ‘move,’ and it seemed to me that they would – but they didn’t. I knew what was going on, but I couldn’t tell anyone what was going on.”
Dr. Narayanan was the interventional neurologist and surgeon working in the emergency room that day. She immediately noticed Alicia was completely without the ability to produce speech or understand and follow meaningful speech. She also observed Reed’s right facial droop and that she was very weak and could not see well on the right side of her body – all signs of an ischemic stroke.
According to the National Stroke Association, the most common type of stroke is an ischemic stroke. It occurs when an artery in the brain is blocked and blood flow is disrupted. The brain cells and tissues begin to die within minutes from lack of oxygen and nutrients.
Alicia's blood clot affected blood flow to the left frontal lobe, which is the dominant speech and language center for most people.
Mike shows an an image of Alicia's blood clot on his cell phone.
Dr. Narayanan first tried the standard IV tPA procedure, or tissue plasminogen activator, a modified blood thinner designed to break a blood clot and reverse the effects of a stroke.
“tPA works in up to 30 percent of patients, but was not effective for Alicia because of the large type of vessel blockage she had,” said Dr. Narayanan.
To grasp the clot and remove it from a blocked main artery, Dr. Narayanan instead performed a mechanical thrombectomy. This is a minimally invasive procedure in which a thin plastic tube is inserted through a small incision, threaded through the arteries of the neck and directly into the artery in the head that has the blockage.
In many cases, a stent-like, hollow metal tube with the ability to expand like a balloon is placed within the clot to temporarily block blood flow and reduce other risks.
“It was very successful early on. We were able to restore blood flow to the left side of Alicia’s brain.”
The American Nurses Association reports that nursing remains one of the most trusted professions in the United States. But, they say long hours, fatigue and stress at work often make it difficult for nurses to care properly for their own health.
In four months, Alicia said she has improved her health significantly. She’s lost more than 42 pounds, has a healthier and more nutritious diet and exercises regularly.
“My lifestyle has changed quite a bit. I don’t eat processed foods anymore and my husband and I walk together for exercise,” she said. “The recovery process wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I still have some residual effects but not too much, and they don’t stop me from doing anything.”
During a recent follow-up visit, Amy Kodrik, D.O., Alicia’s regular neurologist, stressed the importance of knowing the risk factors of stroke, regardless of age.
“The key message is to know your risk factors, get regular check-ups and if you have symptoms, get to the emergency room as fast as possible,” said Dr. Kodrik.
Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and more than 6.8 million Americans are living with the effects. These statistics are why Beaumont clinicians are helping people to recognize signs and symptoms of stroke by using the acronym FASTER, and calling 911 immediately.
“We should all be aware of it. You don’t tend to see patients with stroke under 50, but it happens. We need to educate patients on the preventive end. Don’t smoke at a young age, avoid over consumption of alcohol and incorporate healthy diet and exercise into your daily routine,” said Dr. Kodrik. “We also need to promote regular physicals with primary care physicians to identify those risk factors for stroke early on because often, unfortunately, we see patients in the hospital who are newly diagnosed with diabetes and hypertension because they haven’t been properly managed by a doctor. They weren’t aware of their stroke risk factors because they hadn’t been seeing a physician regularly.”
Added Alicia, “That’s what I want people to know. No matter how old you are, you need to take care of these symptoms and side effects. The most important thing is to know your medical condition, and then you need to take care of it and not wait for a stroke.”
Learn more about Beaumont’s stroke services, including FASTER and our Primary Stroke Centers.