Strokecast

In Episode 035 back in October, I talk with Dr. Nirav Shah about the general state of stem cell therapy for stroke survivors. Afterwards, Nirav connected me with the lead researcher on the University of Miami's stem cell research team, Dr. Dileep Yavagal so I could talk to him about his research. That brings us to today's episode. Dr. Yavagal specializes in vascular neurosurgery. That includes procedures like thrombectomy, where a doctor inserts a catheter into a blood vessel in the groin to go up into the brain a pull out the clot. Mechanical thrombectomy can be done up to 24 hours after stroke symptoms begin, and it can have a tremendous impact on minimizing the damage from an ischemic stroke. What it doesn't do today is help patients recover from stroke. It means fewer brain cells die, but the dead and damaged ones don't get any help. When we say time is tissue or time is brain, this is why. Every minute that a clot blocks a vessel, more brain dies. To recover functionality today, we rely on neuroplastic

The Holiday season can be awesome. Or it can be stressful. Or it can be both. This week, I have 10 Holiday Tips for Stroke Survivors Travel Tips: Ship luggage on ahead Request wheelchair assistance at the airport Travel with prescriptions in their original bottle -- especially if you're travelling internationally. Kitchen Tips: Mise en place -- prep everything in advance and have everything in its place Use adaptive gear like one-handed can openers and under the counter jar openers Use paper based checklists for complex items and procedures Friends, Family, and Social Tips Be careful with alcohol -- drinking can make stroke deficits more prominent Communicate your limits Use gift wrapping services from Amazon or other retailers when you do your shopping Finally, the big tip is: Know your own limits. When fatigue hits, take a nap. When a crowd gets overwhelming, step away to a quiet place. Be good to yourself so you can enjoy the season. And, of course, don't get best...get better.

As stroke survivors, Emergency Room physicians play an important part in our survival and rapid treatment, but we often don't think about them. We build ongoing clinical relationships with our neurologists, physiatrists, OTs, PTs, Speech Therapists. Rehab nurses, CNAs, and more, but not the ER docs. When they see us, our brains are in full crisis/panic mode, our loved ones are terrified, and the doctors are busy making rapid assessments, decisions, and referrals. By the time we get a chance to calm down and assess our new landscape, they are long gone and have transitioned off our care team. That's one reason I enjoyed talking with Dr. Kimberly Brown. It was a chance to get some insight into a field I knew little about.  Among the things I found interesting was how she talk about the impact of technology in medical education -- listening to a heart murmur on the computer during school work and later tying that into the real world in listening on an actual patient. We also talk about the role of ER Pharmacists

This week, Dr. Nirav Shah and I talk about antidepressants -- SSRIs specifically -- in Stroke Recovery. The FLAME study demonstrated the benefits to motor recovery. SSRI stands for Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor. Basically, the way data gets sent from one nerve cell to another is through the use of chemicals, like serotonin. The body produce serotonin and the collects it when done, taking it out of the system. An SSRI slows down the collection process -- it inhibits the re-uptake. That leaves more serotonin floating around the brain. Having more serotonin floating around the brain can help reduce, manage, or eliminate depression and other conditions. That's why SSRIs are some of the most common anti-depressants on the market. The FLAME study looked at how Fluoxetine (AKA Prozac) behaves in folks who recently had a stroke. Fluoxetine is an old school antidepressant and SSRI. The study appeared to show that the extra serotonin in the brain may help promote neuroplasticity and recovery of motor skills

I first met Maggie Whittum a couple months ago, thanks to the episode I did with the folks at The Slow Road to Better. We connected to record this episode and I enjoyed the chat. Maggie has a nice deliberate way of speaking. You can hear the emotion in her voice as she talks. Like Whitney last week, Maggie's story is a frightening reminder that even if you do everything right, stroke can happen to anyone at any age. That doesn't mean you should ignore risk factors. Just keep in mind that a healthy lifestyle only reduces risk of stroke. It doesn't eliminate it entirely, On the other hand, a healthy pre-stroke life helps make rehab easier. Maggie was 33 years old when a cavernous angioma failed and she had a hemorrhagic stroke in her brain stem. At the time, stroke was the furthest thing from her mind. She was a healthy, athletic, driven non-smoking actor in the best physical condition of her life. After spending several years acting, producing, and directing [projects around the world she moved to the Washingt

For World Stroke Day on October 29, 2018, the American Heart Association asked me to share my story with the WA News Service, an organization that distributes content to radio stations all over WA state. This bonus episode is the story they produced. You can also read the article here: https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2018-10-29/health-issues/a-washington-survivor-ways-to-recover-after-a-stroke/a64451-1

  World Stroke Day World Stroke day is October 29th. Are you planning to do something for it? Make sure everyone talk with knows how important it is to BE FAST.   Meet Whitney Morean Whitney Morean was a healthy, athletic 28 year-old in the summer of 2016. She voluntarily ran 5 miles a day. A bright student, she was excited to start graduate school that fall in clinical psychology. Then on August 23, 2016, she had a mysterious, hemorrhagic stroke in her right, parietal lobe that would stump neurologists. Grad school would have to wait. I met Whitney through the Seattle Young Adult Stroke Survivors group. Now, Whitney is back in grad school, pursuing a Masters in Rehab Psychology, to help other survivors get even more comprehensive care. We met up a few week's ago in Seattle's Wayward Coffeehouse. You can reach Whitney here. We covered quite a bit in this episode including some new-ish vocabulary. Whitney spent time in both acute and sub-acute facilities. Acute is an inpatient hospital setting. A sub-acute

  This week, I got to chat with stroke survivor Dan Oosterhous, former pilot, current US Air Force Academy Tennis Coach, and 2-time stroke survivor. Dan's story is one of seeing a problem and trying to fix it. During his rehab, he worked closely with the therapists, always pushing for more. He asked questions, asked for additional resources to learn more about anatomy and physiology, and generally focused on what was going on with his body and how he could get better. [bctt tweet="'I got on the internet on my tablet and just typed in some of the symptoms I was having and the first thing that came up was stroke. And it took me 6 hours to realize that's what was going on.' -- @DOosterhous #stroke" username="CurrentlyBill"] Aside from it being an important element of his recovery, I found that when I am more engaged in my recovery and ask a lot of questions, my therapists are more engaged, too. What I hear when I listen back to this week's episode is how much Dan's problem-solving drive helped him get to where h

News and Updates This week, I was featured on KING5's Take 5 program talking about stroke in young people, this podcast, and the Puget Sound Heart and Stroke Walk. Check out the video below or visit http://strokecast.com/take5 The Puget Sound Heart and Stroke Walk is Saturday, October 13, 2018, at the Seattle Center. Click here for more details. Check out more videos and updates on The Strokecast Facebook page and "like" it to see more. You can also contribute to my American Heart Association Fundraiser there. Visit http://facebook.com/strokecast Finally, I have a new personal website for assorted projects. Check out Currently Speaking at http://currentlyspeaking.com   Stem Cell Therapy for Stroke Recovery Ever since the news came out about the recent Stanford study that involves drilling into a patient's skull and inserting stem cells, more and more folks can't wait to try it out. While the results are promising, it's still a little early in the research process to say this is safe and effective on a lar

Puget Sound Heart and Stroke Walk I'm participating in the Puget Sound Heart and Stroke Walk on October 13. If you'd like to contribute to the fundraiser, please visit Strokecast.com/Facebook. Chatting with Ted Baxter Over the summer, I heard about Ted W Baxter's new book Relentless: How a massive stroke changed my Life for the Better. His team sent me a copy of the book and arranged an interview. In 20015, Ted had a massive stroke. The hemiparesis was one thing to deal with, but Ted was more concerned with the Global Aphasia he developed. What followed was months and years of intense therapy -- most of it traditional, some of it less so, as Ted worked not to get his life back but to build a new life. This book is Ted's story of that journey. Ted and I talked about the book, of course, but we also covered a lot of other ground as we talked about life as survivors and the broader stroke survivor community We have an interesting discussion about English as a Second Language. The idea of of treating your nativ

Upcoming Events This fall, the American Heart Association is running fundraisers around the country in the form of local Heart & Stroke Walks. To learn more or find an event in your area, visit HeartWalk.org. If your local one has already passed, you can start planning for 2019! Monday, October 29, 2018, is World Stroke Day. What are you doing to recognize the event? I'd love to hear. Post a message on the Strokecast Facebook Page, send me an email,  or reach out to me on Twitter. Today's Guest I met Lauren Sheehan through Olivia, the awesome OT who co-starred with me in an ad for Swedish. Swedish had recently acquired a Rapael Smart Glove to work with patients and wanted to get my thoughts. I met Lauren a few weeks later to talk more about her work and the possibilities of Neofect's tool. Neofect did send me a unit to try out and provide feedback on. So far, it's promising. I'll provide a more thorough review once I really put it through its paces. This week, I interview Lauren. We talk about why she g

I had an interesting chat with Entrepreneur and stroke survivor Tom Hannon. Tom had his stroke about two years ago due to a vertebral artery dissection and has made a remarkable recovery. His background as a triathlete certainly helped from both a physical and a mental perspective. He lives on Cape Cod, outside of Boston in the US. One of the first things you'll notice is that he has a New England accent. Of course that also brings out my New York accent. It's funny out that comes out when I talk with some else who speak with a similar accent.   Tom Hannon is a serial entrepreneur who has started, bought and sold 12+ businesses during his 30+ career. Most of those businesses focused on magazines, advertising and magazine distribution.   He also helps entrepreneurs learn to effectively sell their businesses when the time is right. You can visit Win Your Exit for more details on that program. He is also a sales and marketing educator who with his wife Linda has now launched a financial educate class called, 6 S

Dr. Brandon Smith and I had an interesting discussion about his experience as a physical therapist. Though Brandon's background is mostly in orthopedic manual therapy and therapeutic exercise at the elite levels, it also consist of public health, strength and nutrition certifications, time spent in Surgical ICU wound care, Cardiac ICU, Neurological ICU, Critical Care ICU, and has recently led him into geriatrics (all affiliated settings) and home care. He uses his eclectic background to provide a comprehensive and tailored approach to each patient/client. Whether that's in the home, telehealth, or remote performance and nutrition coaching. What's really interesting is that he got into PT to work with high-performance athletes and then discovered the work wasn't fulfilling enough. He made the switch to neuro patients and found the work much more rewarding. To help teach more people outside the PT world about things happening within the PT world, he partnered with colleague and former class mate Yong Kim to lau

  Catie Harris has the unique distinction of being the first guest to appear on both Strokecast and 2-Minute Talk Tips. Actually this is the third episode we recorded, since I lost the first one through a silly mistake that I made. I'm glad we could make this happen. We talk about how she got into neuro care and how she now runs her own business and helps other nurses make the transition from hospital work to the next phase of their careers.   Catie Harris, PhD, MBA, and Registered Nurse is the NursePreneur Mentor who has empowered hundreds of nurses to monetize their knowledge and skills in business, while inspiring them to change the way healthcare is perceived and delivered. She strives to undo the perception that nursing care is limited to the hospital setting.  Through her intensive mentorship program, Catie shows nurses how their nursing knowledge can transcend the hospital system into a profitable business. Catie mentors through one-on-one coaching, live events and her signature yearlong mentoring pro

  Richard Kaufman has had a fascinating life. At various points he has been... An addict Homeless In the Army Wounded in a Humvee A retail salesperson A survivor of an ocular stroke Podcaster   He talks about these assorted adventures this week as he shares lessons he's learned from life. An ocular stroke is similar to the brain stroke we are all too familiar with. Basically a clot cuts off the blood supply to the retina or optic nerve and cells die. Partial blindness is often the result. Things we can do to reduce the risk of an ocular stroke are the same things we do to reduce our risk of a brain stroke.   Control cholesterol and blood pressure. Manage blood sugar. Live a heart healthy lifestyle. And get checked for glaucoma.     Links Richard's Hashtag #supplementguynj Richard's Website https://supplementguynj.wordpress.com/ Richard on Twitter https://twitter.com/Rickkaufman07 #Supplementguynj on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Supplementguynj-910300085804341/ #supplementguy

Shortly after my stroke, I wanted to learn more about just what was going on with my brain. Naturally, I turned to a combination of podcasts and book. There weren't a whole lot of podcasts, though. That's one reason I started this one, But there were a few. One of them was The Slow Road to Better. This podcast, from the Stroke Comeback Center in Vienna, VA, is about life with aphasia. But it's not just by aphasia researchers. The show is a panel discussion by folks living with aphasia and working to recover more and more of their language skills every day. This week I talk with the folks from The Slow Road to Better. We explore what they get out of doing the show, what the wish other folks knew about aphasia, and much more. Technical Notes Usually when I do a remote interview, I conduct it over Skype or Zoom. This time, it was a little different. We needed to accommodate 5 people in Virginia plus my connection and maximize the audio quality in the process. Since they are already podcasters, that meant we co

  Shortly after I started this show I began asking folks at Swedish about who I should speak with about this project. I got really lucky, and the team there connected me with Dr. Nirav H Shah. He's involved with research, clinical patient care, and development of new technologies.   What's really awesome is how his face lights up when he talks not only about his work, but the work other researchers are doing in this field to improve the quality of life of stroke survivors and to reduce the amount of strokes to begin with.   Bio Dr Nirav H Shah a fellowship trained neurologist and sub-specialist in cerebrovascular and stroke medicine with board certifications in t: neurology, stroke medicine, carotid neurosonology, transcranial doppler ultrasound, and neuroimaging. He is a practicing neurohospitalist and stroke medical director at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. Academically, he is interested in emergent and critical care neurology research and is an associate editor for The Neurohospitalist, a peer-reviewe

As Emilee said last week, no one plans to have a stroke. When it does happen it's scary and complicated. In addition to the medical stuff, there's also the bureaucracy around finances and family roles that get turned upside down.I see a lot of questions and topics coming up on online support groups on Facebook, Reddit, and other places. I want to talk about some of that stuff this week to provide some reassurance and a base of knowledge from which folks can then ask more specific questions. If anything I say, conflicts with the professional medical advice you receive, listen to your doctor -- not that guy on the internet. As a caregiver with a stroke survivor you have to remember to breathe and take care of yourself. Emilee talked about that last week, and Dr. Lorig talked about it the week before. After a stroke the brain is damaged. The only question is how damaged it is. Early treatment for a clot-based stroke can minimize the damage and speed up the recovery, as we saw with Anne Dailey in episode 14. In m

I met Kristen Dingman now lives northeast of Seattle in the small town of Arlington, WA. I  met Kristen back in the mid-90s when we opened CompUSA store 667 in Boise, ID. She had the unenviable task of keeping the front-end employees in line. Eventually our careers moved on, we lost touch, we reconnected on Facebook as you eventually do with all sorts of former colleagues. Then last summer, I had my stroke. And Kristen reached out to me to offer her support because she had had her own stroke the year before. And while our strokes are different, as all strokes are, there is a lot in common in our stories. Kristen's story is one of sleep apnea, high blood pressure, smoking cessation, anxiety, PTSD, a supportive husband (David), and a family that knows when to insist on medical assistance. One thing that we touch on here which does not get talked about enough is that the FAST signs of stroke (face, arms, speech, and time to call 911) indicate that someone is having a stroke, but the lack of these signs does not

  I met Reva back in October when I first joined the Young Adult Stroke Survivors group. She is a doctoral student at the University of Washington studying aphasia. She also coordinates the UW student volunteers who help make the YASS meetings function and ensure a pleasant experience for attendees, be they survivors, caregivers, or guest speakers. We met up last week at the Wayward Coffee House on a bright summer day. I secured a good parking spot on the street. Reva trekked over on her bike and we found some comfy seats in the back. We geeked out about language and the work Reva does while surrounded by Firefly, Star Trek, and Star Wars stuff. This might be my new favorite coffee shop to record at. Many stroke survivors live with aphasia and struggle to communicate. Speech Therapists, like Reva, help folks recover those language skills, but they also do so much more. They help with memory and cognition. They even help with fundamental human functions like swallowing and breathing. The field is incredibly co