Baby Strokes

One of our favorite guilty pleasures is the tv show House because the program is about the unusual rather usual diseases. If House is your doctor he'll get to your problem and will save your life when all other doctor's will leave you for dead because it's not medical protocol. Dr. Gregory House looks for zebras when all the other doctors only look for horses, to paraphrase the old joke - when you hear hoof beats think horses not zebras! When we're sick we want a doctor who will find the answer regardless of standard medical protocol.

Number one (1) cause of death to children under the age of fifteen (15) in the nation from 2006 data is accidents. The number is four (4) times greater and any other causes. The number two (2) cause of death is assault (homicide) followed by heart diseases in the number three (3) position. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. Rebecca N. Ichord, director of the pediatric stroke program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who continues to be deeply involved in Jared’s care, said that while conditions like migraines and poisoning could cause similar symptoms, “front-line providers need to have stroke on their radar screen as a possible cause of sudden neurologic illness in children. Dr. Heather J. Fullerton, a leading pediatric stroke researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, was even more emphatic. “When a child comes into an emergency room with strokelike symptoms,” Dr. Fullerton said, “it should be considered a stroke unless proven otherwise.” (New York Times)

Every hospital isn't highly rated in healing strokes of any kind. We suggest a HOUSE type of hospital with a unit designed specifically to care of a patient suffering from a stroke.  In the District of Columbia if you're a resident or visitor you'll want to be take or have someone take you to one of the three hospitals that offers the best care available for you or your loved one. They are in no order of importance: Georgetown University Hospital, The George Washington University Hospital and/or Washington Hospital Center.

These all received the Joint Commission the Gold Seal of Approval. Their are a choice of seventeen (17) hospitals and medical centers for Maryland. Their are a choice of nineteen (19) hospitals and medical centers for North Carolina.  Their are a choice of eighteen (18) hospitals and medical centers for Virginia.

We know the warning signs. Unfortunately they seem so normal that unless you've experienced some major discomfort the signs are too easy to ignore. Hospitals often ignore the signs as well unless you're unlucky enough or rather lucky enough to suffer a stroke while on a monitor - to many times the indicators are missed.

Stroke Warning Signs
If you notice one or more of these signs, don't wait. Stroke is a medical emergency. Call 9-1-1 or your emergency medical services. Get to a hospital right away!
* Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
* Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
* Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
* Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
* Sudden, severe headache with no known cause (American Heart Association AHA)

One other thing the time you choose to go to the hospital could save your life.

"In two separate studies, one in the United States and the other in Australia, investigators found possible significant delays when doctors’ offices were called first. Calling an emergency number or an ambulance is the quickest way to reach a hospital within the three-hour window of opportunity for acute stroke treatment that can potentially avert serious post-stroke disability."(AHA)

While you're on your way to the hospital, and because you're reading this now instead of after the fact, keep some wild blueberry juice in your refrigerator. Not grape juice but the expensive variety of wild blueberry juice frozen if you've got it. Wild blueberries are available only from Maine or Canada. In animal trials since 2002 with rats wild blueberries appear to have health benefits being verified by research that now include human subjects. Yes, the studies have been small but consistent. As we always say - It couldn't hurt!