Stroke Survivor Blog

After 6 weeks of external counter pulsation (ECP) therapy, Steve is feeling better and can walk farther as a result.  But he had several issues going on during the treatments that seemed to hinder him from receiving the full benefit sooner than he did. One was severe edema which made his breathing more labored. The [...]

We got some good news a few days ago when Steve’s cardiologist approved him for another round of external counter pulsation (ECP) therapy treatments. This therapy is designed and Medicare-approved to treat patients with angina and congestive heart failure (CHF), and is not really meant to treat stroke survivors. So it just a side benefit [...]

Recovering from a stroke is hard enough without the complications of congestive heart failure. Just when we thought Steve’s heart condition was under control, he started having problems with CHF again. The symptoms he’s having are: severe swelling in his legs water retention weight gain shortness of breath cough bloating in the upper stomach area, [...]

Increasing blood circulation is important for anyone suffering from stroke, heart disease, P.A.D., diabetes, and a host of other infirmities. The normal way to get your blood circulating better is through exercise, even if it’s just walking while shopping or climbing the stairs at home. However, with a physically disabled person, exercise is almost impossible [...]

Last week at this time, Steve was recovering from an angioplasty with 5 implanted stents that opened up two blocked arteries. Since then, he’s been feeling much better. All chest pain is gone and he has much more energy. He doesn’t sleep as much as he did before, which was on and off about 18-20 [...]

Steve’s heart catherization and angioplasty was a success. He was scheduled for the heart cath on Thursday, but on Wednesday morning his chest pain was so severe that he asked me to take him to the hospital.  The angina pain would let up after taking nitroglycerin tablets, but then after any mild exertion like walking [...]

Steve is scheduled to have a coronary angiogram because he’s been having severe episodes of angina (chest pain) for the last two weeks. He’s feeling weaker, more fatigued and out of breath, and his heart races more often. These episodes started when we were on vacation a few weeks ago and have become more frequent [...]