Reprinted from the Health District's quarterly publication mailed to district residents (Summer 2007)
TOPIC: Stroke survival — Prevention, quick response save lives
 
by karin meyer

Five years ago, Russell Schieber was home getting ready to catch a flight to Phoenix to visit family. What followed, he’s been told, is something that would change life forever. “I was out for about 13 hours until they found me,” he says. Schieber was lying on the bedroom floor. He had suffered a brain hemorrhage, a type of stroke.

A friend, who had gotten a call from Schieber’s parents that he never arrived, broke down the door and called for help. His parents’ worry took some time to grow, Schieber says, because they thought he might have taken a later flight.

Schieber, 37, was taken to Poudre Valley Hospital, where he began his recovery. For the next 19 months, he received therapy across Lemay Avenue from the hospital at the Center for Neurorehabilitation Services. There, specialists using a variety of speech, physical and occupational therapies helped him and other stroke survivors rebuild.

Stroke, also known as a “brain attack,” is a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. Of the two types of stroke, ischemic (resulting from a clot that obstructs blood flow in the brain) accounts for 80 percent of cases. Hemorrhagic, the type of stroke Schieber had, is less common. It is caused by a blood vessel in the brain that breaks and bleeds into the brain.

Common signs and symptoms of stroke that come on suddenly include numbness, especially on one side of the body; severe headache; vision problems; difficulty speaking or understanding, and lack of balance.

One of the things that sets stroke apart from many other diseases is the essence of time in getting help. The sooner that medical care, including clot-busting or blood pressure stabilizing medications, can be given to the patient, the greater the chance of avoiding more serious bodily damage, says Dr. Timothy Allen, a Fort Collins neurologist.

Determining what caused a stroke is important both for immediate treatment and beyond. “It’s extremely important to look for the source of the stroke to prevent the next one,” he says.

While risk factors for stroke, like family history and age (risk increases at 55), are beyond control, it is estimated that half of all strokes are preventable through lifestyle changes, Dr. Allen says. Smoking, unhealthy diet, obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure all increase risk for stroke.

Depending on the area of the brain affected and the severity of the damage, stroke can cause a variety of disabilities involving speech, vision and physical mobility.

new group unites survivors, caregivers on road to health
At the Center for Neurorehabilitation Services where she works, Christy Dittmar saw the isolation that often followed a patient’s stroke.

Isolation brought on by fear, stress, and the obvious physical changes as well as the more subtle ones.

That all hit home last year when Dittmar’s 75-year-old mother, a “picture of health who walked up to 2 miles a day” suffered a stroke at home in Julesburg, 187 miles from Fort Collins.

“It became obvious to me that there wasn’t anything here for support to help stroke patients continue on their path,” she says. “We’re such a mobile society. So many people don’t have family around.”

Out of her motivation grew the Life After Stroke Support Group for stroke patients and their caregivers. The group, which is free and open to the public, meets monthly in Fort Collins.

“There also really wasn’t much for caregivers. They give up their own lives to be there for the stroke survivor,” she says.

Aside from the physical obstacles that a stroke presents, patients face emotional struggles, too.

“Some are kind of silent (struggles),” Dittmar says.

“People who’ve had a stroke often lose friendships.

“After a stroke, if a person can’t talk or has trouble organizing thoughts, others don’t always know how to deal with that.

“The stroke survivor gets the message that people are uncomfortable and then he or she doesn’t want to go out.”

With that, the cycle of isolation sets in.

Building a support network is the aim of the group, which features a mix of stroke survivors well into recovery and others needing more help, she says.

“It’s an ongoing place to go for people to know others have been through it,” she says.

life after stroke
“Life After Stroke” offers support and education about coping and recovering from stroke.

Stroke survivors, family and caregivers are welcome to attend.

The group is free, open to the public and meets 12:30 – 2 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month at First Baptist Church, 900 E. Prospect Road.

To sign up, call the Center for Neurorehabilitation Services at 493-6667, ext. 366.

“People are faced with their lives being turned upside-down,” says Christy Dittmar, program coordinator at the Center for Neurorehabilitation Services since 1990. “One day, they’re living well. Many don’t have signs or symptoms, and the next day they can’t walk or talk.”

For the past 5 years, Schieber’s life has been a series of adaptations, both physical and mental. As with many who have had a stroke, the damage affects one side of the body. In Schieber’s case, it’s the right side. He has learned to write left-handed.

Other adjustments require his constant, and sometimes painstaking, attention. Schieber thinks clearly but sometimes has trouble putting his thoughts into words. This impairment, known as expressive aphasia, is a result of damage to areas of the brain that control language skills. It’s these types of difficulties – often with what once were routine tasks – that frustrate people recovering from stroke.

“The hardest thing for me was not going to work,” Schieber says about his job as an electrical technician at General Electric in Loveland.

“It’s hard,” he says. “I have a disability for the rest of my life.”

His determination paired with support from friends and family, not to mention avid workouts at the gym, have kept Schieber strong.

“I figure it happened, and I’ll deal with it,” he says.

Amid the challenges and losses, Schieber also finds the positive.

He’s driving again. His brown 1990 Ford Bronco was refitted so that he can use his left hand and left leg to operate the controls. A knob added to the left side of the steering wheel and a gas pedal attached to the left side of the floorboard make it possible.

The vehicle gets him to his volunteer job at the rehab center where he does building maintenance and other work like cleaning the drums, guitar and other instruments used in patients’ music therapy.

“If I had to sit home because I didn’t have the truck, I’d be in a lot worse shape,” he says.