Michelle Randalls left hand shook as Glens Falls Hospital physical therapist Casey Clark put her through her paces: threading a washer on a screw, taking a small plastic bead and dropping it in a pill bottle, turning over a playing card, standing a wooden block on end and, finally, answering a text message her husband left for her.
The exercise left the 50-year-old Queensbury stroke patient physically drained.
Its like it takes every muscle in my body to make that happen, things I never thought about before. How crazy is that? Randall said.
Recovering from a stroke requires teamwork, and Randall is grateful to have her assembled squad at Glens Falls Hospital, especially her stroke support group.
The former dental assistant suffered an ischemic stroke while undergoing surgery Oct. 1. She was evaluated by a neuropsychologist and found to have apraxia, which Clark said is a difficulty in planning a movement.
You might not even realize Randall had a stroke because outwardly only her left hand is affected, but most of the damage has occurred in her brain. She was fortunate because with her type of stroke she doesnt have paralysis.
People expect to find weakness or slurring of her speech or major balance problems or listing to the left, Clark said. The main thing we find is apraxia, and its in the higher level cognitive things, like multitasking.
Initially, Randall spent time at Sunnyview Rehabilitation Center in Schenectady, then moved on to Kessler Rehabilitation Center in New Jersey and Burke Rehabilitation Center in New York. She felt splintered in her treatment plan but feels it has all come together at Glens Falls Hospital, because there is communication in the neurorehabilitation program that integrates the exercise physiologists in the Wellness Center with occupational, speech and physical therapies.
Just as crucial to Randalls recovery, however, has been a little-known hospital service that has existed since the 1980s.
Sharon Luckenbaugh, executive director of rehabilitation services at the hospital, said the stroke support group was founded by a patient who felt she needed the social component that went along with all of the other therapies she was receiving.
Here is the original post:
Stroke victims find unexpected support