Week 1.27.14

HMP Interview with Mr. Scheman (Human A&P Teacher)

(His answers in white, my reflection/responses in green)

1. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear about someone having a stroke? (word, phrase, feeling, etc.)

    Scary, death, paralysis, burden, costly...

    I think many people would think this... Strokes are very serious.

2. Has anyone you know ever had a stroke? (yourself, family, friends, etc.)

    No one in family had a stroke but father in law had an aneurism which almost killed him 

    back then it was a 50/50 survival through the surgery.

    I'll have to ask him more details about this when he has time. I wonder what year this 

    happened and how the chance of survival through surgeries like that have changed since 

    then.

3. If so, what went through your head when you found out? If not, how do you think you would react? 

    Thought for sure the family would be fatherless, very scary prospect for a family with 4 

    kids all under age of 16

    That is extremely scary to think about. I would like to ask him more about the man's 

    diet/lifestyle to see what might've caused a stroke. If it was genetic, I wonder how old 

    those 4 kids are now and whether they've had a stroke yet or are at a higher risk for one.

4. What causes strokes to occur? 

    Build up a junk in the arteries of the brain, hardening of those same arteries….

    I read that he blockage stops blood flow to the brain which, in turn, stops the flow of 

    oxygen to the brain. Scary stuff...

5. How does a stroke affect a person? What are some symptoms?

    Death to brain cells and brain tissues effects very specific bodily functions like gross motor skills or speech

    I'm very interested in this part of strokes... Like how the location of the stroke depends on

    which side of the body it affects, or how severe the affects may be.

6. What are the different types of strokes? 

    You have ones that leak and ones that burst!

    I did some more research and found that the "leaking" ones are called hemorrhagic 

    strokes and the "bursting" ones are called ischemic strokes. [Cool website- 

    http://www.strokeassociation.org/STROKEORG/AboutStroke/TypesofStroke/Types-of-Stroke_UCM_308531_SubHomePage.jsp  ]

7. Is it a long recovery process if someone has a stroke? 

    Long term care needed because it takes a long time to rewire the brain as it regains its 

    ability to function. It has to make new neural connections in order to perform those 

    specific bodily functions once again..

    "New neural connections" sounds really cool! I guess that's why repetition is key in stroke recovery.

8. What are some ways people recover from strokes?

   Long term care physical therapy, repetitive motions, speech therapy….

   This is what I want to focus on for my final project!

9. Do you have an original or creative therapy exercise for stroke recovery 

     patients? (doesn’t have to be “tested” or “proven”, just any thoughts)

    We might've discussed mirror therapy once before... seemed like a new/cool idea to me. 

    Using mirrors to help patient with the side of body that was affected by stroke...

    We did talk about this! I used a source about mirror therapy in my annotated bibliography a while back.

10. Are there any ways to prevent strokes that you know of?

    Face- is it drooping on one side?

    Arms- does one drift downward when both are raised?

    Speech- are they slurring words?

    Time- if you see these signs, call 9-1-1, fast.

    This should be on posters in places like grocery stores or somewhere older people go... It 

    could raise awareness.