The Prostate Watch - Read This Before Your Next Physical

Stroke, avoid one if you can. If not...

A respected neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally.
He saidthe trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed and getting to the patient within 3 hours which is tough. Our own TWilly had a stroke several years ago now and was fortunate to have been in the company of two friends who quickly recognized what was happening and got him to the hospital and treated within this three hour window.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE - A true story. Susie is recouping at an incredible pace for someone with a massive stroke all because Sherry saw Susie stumble - - that is the key that isn't mentioned below -and then she asked Susie the 3 questions. So simple - - this literally saved Susie's life - - Some angel sent it to Suzie's friend and they did just what it said to do. Suzie failed all three so then 9-1-1 was called. Even though she had normal blood pressure readings and did not appear to be a stroke as she could converse to some extent with the Paramedics they took her to the hospital right away.

Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps. Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.
Unfortunately,the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

1. *Ask the individual to SMILE.(if their smile is "crooked" that's a sign)
2. *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS. (if they can't raise them to the same height, that's a sign)
3. *Ask the person to REPEAT A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (ie . "It is sunny out today") If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February. Widespread use of this test could result! in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage. A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people, you can bet that at least one life will be saved.


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A note to our readers:

Bob Kent and Bart Reitz encouraged us to explore the possibility of creating a health/medical web page for the class. The content under consideration includes: Medical information and links to highly regarded medical sources, (Click hear to see an example of what we mean.) Personal accounts of one’s decision making process in order to make a final health care choice, and, aspects of the problem or process which one feels would be of use or information to members of the class, . What kind of privacy would be needed? Many people may be reluctant to go into detail in a public forum, but would be willing to talk one on one with others who call them. How about a list of classmate’s names who have had a particular medical problem who would be willing to receive phone calls to pass on their advice in that more private way ? Published articles (professional or public press) which really do justice to a subject. The article about Andy Grove’s choices regarding prostate cancer published in Fortune in the 90’s seems an excellent example. Possibly something along the lines of http://www.thestatus.com/, a patient condition report (used by the Cleveland Clinic heart program) made known by the patient’s family to particular friends; they can ascertain an individual’s condition (over the web); that condition can be updated periodically by a loved one. The loved one and patient also can receive e-mail communications of encouragement from friends.
Could you please give some consideration to this? A group consisting of Joe Clevenger, Don Stevenson, Ted Jones, and Tom Dailey have offered to help try to put this together. We hope that all of you – physicians, nurses, physical therapists, dieticians -in the class will be interested in helping out with this and serving as advisors, pro tem, to our classmates. (Click here for an example of a "support matrix")

Certainly there are many aspects of this which need to be explored; we would appreciate any thoughts that any of you have with regard to how we might best go about this.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Ted Jones, M.D.
Bart Reitz
Tom (E.) Williams, M.D
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