storytelling~the healing path: take this pop quiz

This is a pop quiz. It won't take long, and it shouldn't be hard. It's just one question, and the answer is multiple choice:

Q: What should you do if you think you could be having a stroke?

This issue came to mind one day last week when a friend called me in the middle of the afternoon, and this is exactly what she said to me: "I think I had a small stroke." She said it as calmly as if she had said, "I think I'll bake up some cookies."

She went on to tell me that when she woke up that morning, the side of her face was a tiny bit droopy and she had a hard time speaking clearly. Her left arm and leg felt weak...but not bad. Because she has a "pre-existing condition" that can cause neurological symptoms, she didn't think much of it...until her husband got home and immediately noticed her facial weakness. I told her she needed to go to the emergency room immediately for evaluation. In fact, she should have gone hours earlier, as soon as the word "stroke" crossed her mind because time is critical when it comes to a stroke. If you go right away, you may be a candidate for treatments that can reverse the symptoms completely, or at least, prevent them from getting worse.

So, the question is, what should she have done?

Answer (select one):

1. She should have gotten into the car immediately and had her husband

take her straight to the nearest hospital.

2. She should have packed a bag (in case they made her stay overnight)

and grabbed a bite to eat on the way to the hospital

because the drive takes almost an hour.

3.She should have called 911.

To my surprise and dismay, I learned later on that my friend opted for #2. She packed up some toiletries, her slippers, and a robe just in case they wanted to keep her overnight. On the way to the hospital, they stopped in at MacDonald's for lunch. When they got to the hospital, they parked the car, found their way to the emergency entrance, and waited in line at the reception desk to register.

Wrong choice! The correct answer, of course, is #3. She should have dialed 911 and taken an ambulance straight to the ER, no matter how trivial her symptoms seemed to her. They'd have been ready for her arrival, meaning they would have had a doctor there waiting to assess her, and she'd have been rushed in for a stat CT scan of her brain. What if her stroke worsened on the way to the hospital and she slumped over, unresponsive, in the seat next to her husband? What could he have done, except to panic?

The point is that the earlier a stroke patient can be evaluated and treated, the better the outlook for recovery. Even if the symptoms are minor, you should seek immediate care. You don't know if you're going to get better or worse in the time it takes to get to the ER. If you're lucky, the symptoms may resolve completely on the way to the hospital, in which case you'll feel like an idiot when you get there...but, trust me, you won't feel as stupid as you'd feel if you couldn't pronounce your own name...or remember your age.

My friend's story is not unusual. Too often people who are experiencing the onset of a mild stroke hesitate to seek care. They say they couldn't be sure it was a stroke so they didn't want to make a big deal of it. Or the symptoms were mild so it wasn't bad enough to require treatment. Or they were waiting to see if it went away by itself...all of them risking a major stroke that might leave them forever paralyzed on one side or unable to ever speak again.

This is what you need to know: