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Episode 107: PERSPECTIVES - Dr Pravin George & Sidney Landis

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Episode 107: PERSPECTIVES - Dr Pravin George & Sidney Landis

Contributors

  • Lauren Koffman DO, MS

    Assistant Professor, Clinical Neurology, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University

  1. 00:00:20
    Hi and welcome back to the Ansi Us
  2. 00:00:22
    Podcast perspective Series, This is
  3. 00:00:24
    Lauren Kaufman and I'm a neuro
  4. 00:00:25
    intensivist at Temple University in
  5. 00:00:27
    Philadelphia today. I'd like to welcome
  6. 00:00:29
    onto the podcast authors from her
  7. 00:00:31
    current story of hope that was published
  8. 00:00:33
    in July twenty twenty three, as a bit
  9. 00:00:35
    of background, Ncs, current features
  10. 00:00:37
    the stories quarterly, and share
  11. 00:00:38
    stories of people that have a challenge.
  12. 00:00:40
    He stays in the array. See you today.
  13. 00:00:42
    I would like to welcome Dr. Pravin
  14. 00:00:44
    George and her attentive listener Nova
  15. 00:00:46
    in Fairfax, Virginia, and Sydney land
  16. 00:00:48
    us so welcome both of you to the podcast.
  17. 00:00:51
    Thanks for joining the for evidence,
  18. 00:00:55
    Though Sydney. Why don't I start with
  19. 00:00:57
    you before we kind of talk about how you
  20. 00:00:59
    ended up in the hospital and tell us
  21. 00:01:02
    what your life was like up until that
  22. 00:01:04
    moment. I think you twenty years old.
  23. 00:01:05
    You're a college student. Like Tell us
  24. 00:01:08
    how how life was before all this started
  25. 00:01:11
    before it all started. I was a typical
  26. 00:01:13
    college student. I was a sophomore in
  27. 00:01:15
    college, majoring in hospitality
  28. 00:01:17
    management and just. One to classes
  29. 00:01:19
    hanging out in my room mates. You don't
  30. 00:01:21
    make friends at a job. I was involved
  31. 00:01:23
    in different extracurriculars. I was in
  32. 00:01:25
    a sorority. I was in a sport management
  33. 00:01:27
    club Like different things like that. I
  34. 00:01:29
    was living basically a typical college
  35. 00:01:31
    life like lack of sleep. Lots of
  36. 00:01:33
    homework. Like just having fun and
  37. 00:01:35
    getting an education, and when you
  38. 00:01:38
    started having symptoms, What was it
  39. 00:01:40
    like? I think you are you a story?
  40. 00:01:41
    Talk about going to a clinic to get
  41. 00:01:43
    checked out Because you didn't think
  42. 00:01:44
    much of it is that. Right, Yeah, so I
  43. 00:01:47
    was everything was normal for a while.
  44. 00:01:49
    Then I started getting some really bad
  45. 00:01:50
    headaches, but I kind of just like like
  46. 00:01:52
    put off to stress dehydration. And lack
  47. 00:01:55
    of sleep things like that cause I was
  48. 00:01:56
    getting close to the end of us the
  49. 00:01:58
    spring term, so it was kind of like
  50. 00:02:00
    everything was piling up and stuff like
  51. 00:02:01
    that, so I didn't think anything of the
  52. 00:02:03
    headaches outside of anything crazily
  53. 00:02:06
    and then I had a couple headaches in a
  54. 00:02:08
    row for a couple of days, and then I
  55. 00:02:10
    had a good day where I felt nothing. I
  56. 00:02:11
    was great back to normal One about my
  57. 00:02:13
    life is all had been, and then the next
  58. 00:02:16
    day I woke up and I had thrown up that
  59. 00:02:17
    morning. So I called my mom, even
  60. 00:02:20
    though as a culture and I still call my
  61. 00:02:21
    mom and I asked her I was like. Hey.
  62. 00:02:23
    Like what do you think I should do like?
  63. 00:02:24
    I know I'm supposed to come home like
  64. 00:02:26
    tomorrow, But like do you think I
  65. 00:02:27
    should do anything and she recommended
  66. 00:02:29
    that I go to the health center at school.
  67. 00:02:31
    Just like to give it something like
  68. 00:02:32
    maybe the flu is going around or
  69. 00:02:33
    something like that, and so I went to
  70. 00:02:36
    the center the health center and they
  71. 00:02:37
    said like it's by a flu or some other
  72. 00:02:40
    viral infection of swords, so they sent
  73. 00:02:43
    me home with like an anti, nausea and a
  74. 00:02:45
    headache medicine, and nothing crazy,
  75. 00:02:46
    just thought it was something normal
  76. 00:02:48
    like a normal college sickness, so and
  77. 00:02:51
    then after that point what do you
  78. 00:02:53
    remember? I mean, I assume you don't
  79. 00:02:54
    remember ending up like. Do you
  80. 00:02:56
    remember the seizure? That is what kind
  81. 00:02:58
    of let up to everything or is it just
  82. 00:03:00
    kind of nothing, So my mom that day I
  83. 00:03:04
    took a nap after to the health center
  84. 00:03:05
    and I call my mom was like I don't
  85. 00:03:06
    really feel comfortable driving home
  86. 00:03:08
    Because it's right before Easter break,
  87. 00:03:09
    so I was. I called her. I said. Hey.
  88. 00:03:11
    Will you come get me and she said sure
  89. 00:03:13
    I'll come get you, so it's only an hour
  90. 00:03:15
    from my parents' house where I was going
  91. 00:03:16
    to school. You came and picked me up
  92. 00:03:18
    and took me home, and then that night I
  93. 00:03:20
    had started throwing up again, so had
  94. 00:03:22
    thrown up all night long, and I
  95. 00:03:23
    remember that like but some parts of
  96. 00:03:24
    that and like falling asleep on the
  97. 00:03:25
    bathroom floor and the next day my
  98. 00:03:28
    parents had to go to work because they
  99. 00:03:29
    weren't off that day and then my sister
  100. 00:03:31
    went to school because she was still in
  101. 00:03:32
    high school, so they will check them
  102. 00:03:34
    before they left for their day, and I
  103. 00:03:35
    remember them coming in and saying like
  104. 00:03:37
    hey, like call you anything. We're
  105. 00:03:38
    just minutes away from home. Low
  106. 00:03:40
    -income Get you or whatever into two.
  107. 00:03:42
    So what do all my life? I felt fine. I
  108. 00:03:44
    felt like asleep, and then the next
  109. 00:03:46
    thing I remember, I don't remember
  110. 00:03:47
    seizing, but the next that's the last
  111. 00:03:48
    thing I remember is throwing up and then
  112. 00:03:50
    my parents checking on me the next
  113. 00:03:51
    morning before they went to work, and
  114. 00:03:52
    before my sister went to school, and
  115. 00:03:54
    that's the last thing I remember until
  116. 00:03:56
    the end of the story. Okay, Wow, so I
  117. 00:03:59
    guess we will have hadn't come in, so
  118. 00:04:01
    this has gotten twenty seventeen year
  119. 00:04:02
    working at Cleveland Clinic. You're
  120. 00:04:04
    part of an array your team, So like
  121. 00:04:06
    what role did you play and taking care
  122. 00:04:07
    of Sydney the the night regarding City's
  123. 00:04:13
    care, I mean. It was actually from one
  124. 00:04:16
    of our residents who was that seeing the
  125. 00:04:21
    case unfold and he said You know. I
  126. 00:04:23
    think she may really benefit from being
  127. 00:04:27
    taken over to the Cleveland Clinic arm.
  128. 00:04:29
    I think her eyes if he is high, and I
  129. 00:04:32
    think that she actually has a treatable
  130. 00:04:33
    condition. It looks like she has a
  131. 00:04:36
    sinus venous thrombosis. I didn't have
  132. 00:04:39
    access to the images or anything, but
  133. 00:04:41
    give him the story that he gave in. We
  134. 00:04:44
    brought her over right away and we
  135. 00:04:46
    brought a writer away overlay, and by
  136. 00:04:50
    the morning it'll be noticed that she
  137. 00:04:52
    was in her shoes and a complete comatose
  138. 00:04:54
    state or Paris read the bedside, and
  139. 00:04:57
    you know they were. They were kind of
  140. 00:04:58
    devastated that momentum in seeing her
  141. 00:05:01
    breathing tube in, and just you know
  142. 00:05:03
    not looking so good, and I remember
  143. 00:05:06
    that night, calling R and a vascular
  144. 00:05:09
    team in and and the The evaluated the
  145. 00:05:12
    cave, and then. As early as I believe,
  146. 00:05:16
    eight and the next morning, and you
  147. 00:05:19
    know, they took her down for the
  148. 00:05:21
    endovascular procedure, trying to
  149. 00:05:23
    figure out all all of what was blocked
  150. 00:05:26
    off in her brain and they found does
  151. 00:05:29
    some very important veins that were just
  152. 00:05:32
    have obliterated by this clot, so they
  153. 00:05:36
    went to work right that morning, and
  154. 00:05:38
    and I, you know they, they were able
  155. 00:05:40
    to actually form a pathway through all
  156. 00:05:43
    of the veins, and they opened up the
  157. 00:05:45
    entire Ah sinus area that was clouded
  158. 00:05:50
    off, and at that point it was just
  159. 00:05:53
    giving her time, and she spent a lotta
  160. 00:05:56
    time in her eyes. You retain you lazing
  161. 00:05:59
    a lot of those vessels, getting a lot
  162. 00:06:01
    of our blood thinner medication, and
  163. 00:06:03
    I'm just having her parents and her her
  164. 00:06:07
    sister at bedside, and you know we got
  165. 00:06:09
    to know each other a lot just cramp or
  166. 00:06:12
    outright. With the underlying causes
  167. 00:06:14
    for this, Yeah, so we we did. We did
  168. 00:06:17
    a hypercar get work up, and you know
  169. 00:06:20
    has, as city knows that it seems like
  170. 00:06:23
    she has a a genetic factor that
  171. 00:06:26
    predisposed her to causing a clot a
  172. 00:06:29
    little bit there, so home we ended up
  173. 00:06:32
    having to start crying the long -term of
  174. 00:06:34
    blood thinning regimen, but you know
  175. 00:06:38
    she, she seemed to
  176. 00:06:40
    hold up to that side of the treatment
  177. 00:06:44
    plan.
  178. 00:06:46
    Her Her mind. Do you remember any of
  179. 00:06:48
    that current, or is it different than
  180. 00:06:50
    not? I don't. It's very weird. I
  181. 00:06:53
    don't remember much of it, but there
  182. 00:06:55
    are certain things that are strange that
  183. 00:06:56
    come to me like I remember certain songs
  184. 00:06:58
    playing like they trigger something like
  185. 00:07:00
    I remember a certain Harry another song
  186. 00:07:02
    after I left the like after I was
  187. 00:07:04
    healing about it. I was more like in
  188. 00:07:06
    tune with what's happening in the world.
  189. 00:07:08
    I remember hearing songs I'd like I'd
  190. 00:07:10
    asked the number. Was the song playing
  191. 00:07:12
    when I was in the? I see you are like?
  192. 00:07:13
    Why is the song giving like this weird
  193. 00:07:15
    like memory to me like that was
  194. 00:07:17
    happening, and then one of the nurses
  195. 00:07:20
    that I think was in the step down unit,
  196. 00:07:22
    Not the C you and I remember her and I
  197. 00:07:25
    asked her about her. I was like hey,
  198. 00:07:27
    Because she's actually from my hometown.
  199. 00:07:29
    I was like Hey was so and so's daughter
  200. 00:07:31
    my nurse, and she was like. Why do you
  201. 00:07:33
    remember that portion of the whole
  202. 00:07:34
    tenure? You're there use remove certain
  203. 00:07:35
    little random things, but I truly don't
  204. 00:07:37
    remember much else from that trip from
  205. 00:07:40
    that. Stay in the icy you stream. To
  206. 00:07:43
    be honest. It's probably your time.
  207. 00:07:44
    Your looks good. You don't remember
  208. 00:07:45
    that, and I guess I'm interested
  209. 00:07:47
    program. You know she isn't super long
  210. 00:07:49
    time. I think you guys ended up
  211. 00:07:52
    recommending a moving forward with a
  212. 00:07:53
    tray and peg placement Art. You know
  213. 00:07:55
    these difficult cases. Sometimes the
  214. 00:07:57
    team thinks you know what are we doing.
  215. 00:08:00
    Do We need to reconsider what we're
  216. 00:08:01
    doing. I know Sydney, Super young.
  217. 00:08:03
    Did you guys ever lose hope or was it
  218. 00:08:05
    always just you know, Push forward.
  219. 00:08:08
    Yeah, so certain points, you know. In
  220. 00:08:12
    a sitting there with her dad and her mom,
  221. 00:08:14
    it was it was you know a lot of those
  222. 00:08:16
    discussions, you know to be continued
  223. 00:08:18
    pressure. Because as we started getting
  224. 00:08:20
    to that three week point are a lot of
  225. 00:08:23
    people were saying you know, Should we
  226. 00:08:26
    consider the train and peg, I mean, at
  227. 00:08:28
    some point you know she's going to have
  228. 00:08:30
    to continue with from therapies and
  229. 00:08:32
    stuff like that, and that's when we
  230. 00:08:35
    didn't make the decision late, albeit
  231. 00:08:38
    to kind of go for a tracheostomy and I
  232. 00:08:43
    laugh at this because the day after she
  233. 00:08:46
    got the tracheostomy was the, she woke
  234. 00:08:48
    up, and you know she, she opened her
  235. 00:08:51
    eyes and then she was wide awake and
  236. 00:08:53
    she's like what's going on and and you
  237. 00:08:58
    know is so that it was a Quaker and go
  238. 00:09:01
    with the trick and I think she ended up
  239. 00:09:03
    going to the the acute rehab or the long
  240. 00:09:08
    -term acute care. And while she was
  241. 00:09:10
    there because she was so awake, I
  242. 00:09:11
    believe she pulled out her trick
  243. 00:09:13
    yesterday. Ah, but then she's like I
  244. 00:09:15
    don't need this anymore. Remember the
  245. 00:09:19
    last I remember not wholly, but like my
  246. 00:09:22
    dad. It's funny story because my dad
  247. 00:09:24
    was on duty that day because my parents
  248. 00:09:26
    would take chefs, because my sister was
  249. 00:09:27
    a senior in high school, so they also
  250. 00:09:29
    like to be a part of her life, too and
  251. 00:09:31
    not just worry about me, even though
  252. 00:09:33
    mine was a little more serious than hers
  253. 00:09:35
    at that point, but he was on duty that
  254. 00:09:37
    day and he turned around to grab a
  255. 00:09:40
    coloring book or something for me to do
  256. 00:09:41
    with him and I just turned back on. I
  257. 00:09:43
    had it in my hand and he was like. Oh
  258. 00:09:45
    God, this is not good, so we like
  259. 00:09:46
    scrambled to go get the nurse, and then
  260. 00:09:48
    she came in and tried to open the new
  261. 00:09:50
    trick and that's flew all over the place
  262. 00:09:52
    and it's just a story that my dad died
  263. 00:09:54
    laugh at to this day, but at that time
  264. 00:09:56
    it probably wasn't funny, but I still
  265. 00:09:58
    think it's funny, but
  266. 00:10:01
    I have some sense of humor about these
  267. 00:10:03
    things. Yeah, what do you think was
  268. 00:10:05
    the most challenging part of your
  269. 00:10:06
    recovery?
  270. 00:10:09
    That's a great question. I think, just
  271. 00:10:12
    the not being able to do everything I
  272. 00:10:14
    could do before I think it was like the
  273. 00:10:16
    mental adjustment like I could do
  274. 00:10:17
    everything on my own, and at that point
  275. 00:10:19
    I couldn't do everything on my own. So
  276. 00:10:21
    was the hardest part for me to be like I
  277. 00:10:23
    can't do this on my own, but it also
  278. 00:10:25
    haunt me realize like I have to dedicate
  279. 00:10:27
    my energies to therapy like physical
  280. 00:10:30
    speech. All of the things I had to do
  281. 00:10:31
    to get back to normal if I wanted to be
  282. 00:10:33
    back to normal again because it was such
  283. 00:10:35
    a challenge for me to be like I was a
  284. 00:10:37
    college kid. I was out on my own. I
  285. 00:10:39
    was out of my parents Also was living my
  286. 00:10:40
    life. Making my own decisions. Are my
  287. 00:10:41
    own thing on my own time, and at that
  288. 00:10:43
    point I couldn't like I couldn't
  289. 00:10:45
    physically do the things I was still
  290. 00:10:46
    doing, and mentally I was like still
  291. 00:10:49
    not one hundred percent there either,
  292. 00:10:50
    so it's kind of like I would say things
  293. 00:10:52
    I was like I dunno what you're saying
  294. 00:10:54
    and things like that so like frustrating,
  295. 00:10:55
    too for me, because I couldn't always
  296. 00:10:58
    articulate what I was trying to say Like
  297. 00:11:00
    On the first try, At least I would say
  298. 00:11:02
    something almost like. Do you mean this
  299. 00:11:04
    like Yeah. That's what I said Like No,
  300. 00:11:05
    you said this so just an adjustment
  301. 00:11:08
    period for me like physically and.
  302. 00:11:10
    Mentally to like dip pass that into a
  303. 00:11:13
    state where I could be on my own again
  304. 00:11:14
    and do things like I had been doing
  305. 00:11:15
    before, but it was a long journey, But
  306. 00:11:18
    for that journey, what is it that kept
  307. 00:11:20
    you motivated by country going, and you
  308. 00:11:23
    know kept pushing? Yeah, I think it
  309. 00:11:25
    was like the support system I had with
  310. 00:11:28
    like Dr. George and the nurses and the
  311. 00:11:29
    other doctors that were there, and then
  312. 00:11:30
    like my family being there all the way
  313. 00:11:32
    through and then all the other visitors
  314. 00:11:34
    I had from like my friends and other
  315. 00:11:35
    people in my life, just having them
  316. 00:11:37
    come in and like being so worried about
  317. 00:11:39
    me in a time that I don't remember any
  318. 00:11:41
    of it and then than just being like
  319. 00:11:43
    sober, leave to see me awake and like
  320. 00:11:45
    functioning and things like that that.
  321. 00:11:46
    It was like they went through this hard
  322. 00:11:48
    thing like I did to physically, but I
  323. 00:11:49
    don't remember any of it. They have to
  324. 00:11:51
    deal with all the memory of it, so I
  325. 00:11:52
    think for them I had to for myself, and
  326. 00:11:56
    for them I had to recover and get back
  327. 00:11:57
    to normal and let them see that I'm back
  328. 00:12:00
    to the Sydney I was before, and things
  329. 00:12:01
    like that, and what would you have any
  330. 00:12:05
    advice for other people that are kind of
  331. 00:12:06
    going through similar experiences,
  332. 00:12:08
    whether? If the people dealing with it
  333. 00:12:10
    or their family members and caregivers
  334. 00:12:13
    and the people dealing with it, I think
  335. 00:12:15
    it's as horrors of is to say to do after
  336. 00:12:19
    saying or what am I trying to say? It's
  337. 00:12:22
    easier to say than is her said than done,
  338. 00:12:24
    so I think you just have to find
  339. 00:12:27
    something whatever it is whether it be
  340. 00:12:28
    the people in your life. The career.
  341. 00:12:30
    You want to have the like you want to
  342. 00:12:31
    write a book like whatever you have to
  343. 00:12:32
    do to get you through. You have to
  344. 00:12:33
    target on something when you can narrow
  345. 00:12:35
    your focus that drives you to get up
  346. 00:12:37
    everyday and give therapy or give
  347. 00:12:39
    whatever your full one hundred per cent
  348. 00:12:41
    because I think that was what for me is
  349. 00:12:42
    like I am as a sophomore in college,
  350. 00:12:44
    Like I want to get a degree. I want to
  351. 00:12:46
    have a job. I went to a family. I want
  352. 00:12:47
    to live this life that I was always
  353. 00:12:49
    dreamed of my whole life. Like I have
  354. 00:12:50
    to get to that point. So I was like I'm
  355. 00:12:52
    not my life's an ending or stopping here.
  356. 00:12:54
    Like I have to push through to see the
  357. 00:12:57
    end of it like to see it through and
  358. 00:12:59
    then for the people that are surrounding
  359. 00:13:01
    the supporters and the surrounding folks
  360. 00:13:03
    in those people's lives just be patient.
  361. 00:13:08
    But also be strong willed, and the fact
  362. 00:13:11
    that your strength helps more than they
  363. 00:13:13
    realize, like everyone says that, but
  364. 00:13:15
    truthfully having people strong people
  365. 00:13:17
    around you to support you and love you,
  366. 00:13:19
    and just to be there to help you do the
  367. 00:13:21
    things that you used to do on your own
  368. 00:13:22
    that they can help you do things like
  369. 00:13:24
    eating going to the bathroom like
  370. 00:13:26
    reading your name things like that like
  371. 00:13:28
    it's better to have the support system
  372. 00:13:30
    and the support system goes a long way.
  373. 00:13:32
    So be that support system in whatever
  374. 00:13:34
    way works for the individual. Whether
  375. 00:13:37
    it be going to see them talking to them,
  376. 00:13:39
    treat them like normal. Like whatever
  377. 00:13:41
    it is like for me, I didn't want to be
  378. 00:13:42
    like the patient, and like everyone was
  379. 00:13:44
    focused on me and things like that like
  380. 00:13:47
    I just wanna live a normal life, but
  381. 00:13:48
    like recover, so it was kind of hard
  382. 00:13:50
    for everyone involved myself included
  383. 00:13:53
    like I don't need your help. I don't
  384. 00:13:54
    need this, but I did, but then my
  385. 00:13:56
    mom's side to urban parents and
  386. 00:13:57
    everyone's support side of it too was
  387. 00:13:59
    like we just want to help you buy, like
  388. 00:14:00
    you not wanting your help is frustrating,
  389. 00:14:02
    so like you to find that safe space and
  390. 00:14:05
    that ground that you guys can find
  391. 00:14:06
    together that works well for. Moving
  392. 00:14:09
    forward and is there anything you wish
  393. 00:14:11
    like the the care team like her dining,
  394. 00:14:15
    and it's probably talk, Cause you don't
  395. 00:14:16
    remember much, but I guess for us as
  396. 00:14:18
    like people that take care of patients.
  397. 00:14:20
    Like what can we do to like Help people
  398. 00:14:22
    get through this. I think it's just
  399. 00:14:25
    staying positive and I know it's hard
  400. 00:14:27
    cause like medical professionals want to
  401. 00:14:29
    stay the truth and things like that,
  402. 00:14:30
    but I think at some point there has to
  403. 00:14:32
    be a point where you can read the people
  404. 00:14:35
    that you're telling the news, too, and
  405. 00:14:36
    how to tell it to lead us. I think my
  406. 00:14:38
    mom from her experience like someone in
  407. 00:14:41
    there was like well. We don't know
  408. 00:14:42
    what's going to happen. Where like Dr.
  409. 00:14:44
    George would come in and say we have
  410. 00:14:45
    confidence Alex. She is. It's gonna
  411. 00:14:47
    work out like we're going to figure
  412. 00:14:48
    everything we can do to help her get to
  413. 00:14:49
    wherever she can get like saying in a
  414. 00:14:51
    positive and encouraging way without
  415. 00:14:53
    saying like she's gonna wake up.
  416. 00:14:54
    Everything's gonna be fine. But like
  417. 00:14:55
    we're doing everything we can do to get
  418. 00:14:57
    her to wherever she can get, rather
  419. 00:14:59
    than mean. Like we don't know she could
  420. 00:15:01
    be normal again. She could be back to
  421. 00:15:03
    like it, just having that positivity in
  422. 00:15:06
    the the new sharing and the. Also, I
  423. 00:15:09
    think for my dad personally, it was
  424. 00:15:11
    like having all the information 'cause
  425. 00:15:12
    he's definitely like a knowledge-based
  426. 00:15:14
    person where he wanted to know
  427. 00:15:15
    everything. So he would stay late at
  428. 00:15:17
    night with Dr. George and ask him, I'm
  429. 00:15:19
    sure way too many questions. So I'm
  430. 00:15:21
    gonna apologize in advance to my father
  431. 00:15:23
    for that, Dr. George. But he always
  432. 00:15:25
    wants to know everything from A to Z
  433. 00:15:26
    about everything. So I'm sure for him,
  434. 00:15:29
    like it's about reading the people
  435. 00:15:30
    'cause I nominated the positivity and my
  436. 00:15:32
    dad needed the questions answered. So
  437. 00:15:33
    it's kind of about finding that ground
  438. 00:15:35
    with the patient and the caregivers and
  439. 00:15:39
    the lovers and the family around them
  440. 00:15:40
    that you can kind of feel what works
  441. 00:15:42
    best for them and what's gonna help them
  442. 00:15:44
    along the journey. Yeah, I mean, that
  443. 00:15:46
    can be a hard balance to find where you,
  444. 00:15:48
    like, at least for me, I want to be
  445. 00:15:50
    honest and communicate what's going on,
  446. 00:15:52
    but you still do, you know, like you
  447. 00:15:54
    said, being positive, you know. Yeah.
  448. 00:15:56
    So I think it's something we all have
  449. 00:15:58
    room to work on. Yeah, and I think
  450. 00:16:00
    it's easier said than done too, 'cause
  451. 00:16:02
    like I'm not a medical professional, so
  452. 00:16:03
    I know sometimes you have to tell the
  453. 00:16:05
    hard truth and that's just how it is
  454. 00:16:07
    sometimes, so. Now, a more positive
  455. 00:16:12
    way to end the story is, I think you
  456. 00:16:14
    returned to college of less than a year
  457. 00:16:16
    after this all happened. Were you back
  458. 00:16:18
    to your normal self? Or like were you
  459. 00:16:20
    still kind of working on things?
  460. 00:16:23
    Both. So I went back to school, but I
  461. 00:16:27
    had signed through my outpatient therapy.
  462. 00:16:31
    We had talked about how I could go back
  463. 00:16:32
    to school and how things would work for
  464. 00:16:34
    me. So I had worked with the department
  465. 00:16:37
    at school that gave extended time and
  466. 00:16:39
    things like that. So I talked to them
  467. 00:16:40
    and I got extended time for the first
  468. 00:16:43
    semester back just to take tests and
  469. 00:16:45
    things like that 'cause we didn't know.
  470. 00:16:46
    Like I hadn't been in a class. Like I
  471. 00:16:48
    did great with speech therapy and things
  472. 00:16:49
    like that, but I hadn't been back in a
  473. 00:16:51
    classroom since pre-stroke. So we're
  474. 00:16:53
    like, they were like, We don't know
  475. 00:16:54
    how you're gonna absorb information,
  476. 00:16:56
    how you're gonna take tests and things
  477. 00:16:58
    like that. So they wrote me notes and
  478. 00:17:01
    things like that. So I got extended
  479. 00:17:02
    time and all my faculty knew about the
  480. 00:17:05
    story and everything like that 'cause I
  481. 00:17:06
    went to a smaller university And then
  482. 00:17:09
    there was just helpful to me to have
  483. 00:17:11
    that opportunity, but I really only use
  484. 00:17:13
    it. I think the fall semester when I
  485. 00:17:15
    went back, I might have used in the
  486. 00:17:17
    spring, too, But I'm not positive.
  487. 00:17:19
    And then what are you up to now? I mean
  488. 00:17:21
    there were several years later which are
  489. 00:17:22
    lifelike. I now live in Buffalo, New
  490. 00:17:25
    York, So I moved away from Ohio. I'm
  491. 00:17:28
    working at the University of Buffalo
  492. 00:17:30
    here and doing something a little
  493. 00:17:33
    different than where I thought maker
  494. 00:17:34
    would go, but still some parts of it
  495. 00:17:36
    are still there, and during a small bit
  496. 00:17:38
    of events, but I'm also doing more and
  497. 00:17:41
    higher Ed things now I dunno what I'm
  498. 00:17:44
    trying to say, But yeah, I live here
  499. 00:17:47
    for hours my parents, so it's been an
  500. 00:17:49
    adjustment there too Cause my mom still
  501. 00:17:51
    worries about me every day, so they
  502. 00:17:52
    call her and she's like. Oh you have a
  503. 00:17:54
    sniffle. Are you okay and I'm like just
  504. 00:17:56
    a cold. So are you sure you want me to
  505. 00:17:58
    come up there and like nope, I'm good.
  506. 00:18:00
    I'll call you if I need you and everyone
  507. 00:18:02
    in my life knows that too like my mom is
  508. 00:18:03
    very worrisome and she's still. I don't
  509. 00:18:06
    think she's Really fully process the
  510. 00:18:08
    whole thing yet still to this day, I
  511. 00:18:10
    don't know if she ever well truthfully,
  512. 00:18:12
    but like I joke about it and it's fun.
  513. 00:18:15
    It's not funny to me, but like I had to
  514. 00:18:16
    make joke of it in light of it now
  515. 00:18:18
    Because of like I'm doing, I'm living a
  516. 00:18:20
    life I always thought I would and I'm
  517. 00:18:21
    healthy and everything's going well in
  518. 00:18:23
    my life currently, so I just like you
  519. 00:18:26
    can spend life and always in the
  520. 00:18:28
    seriousness and everything like it
  521. 00:18:29
    happened. We're moving past that were
  522. 00:18:31
    good, but already, and when I really
  523. 00:18:35
    want to hear, as you know, this
  524. 00:18:36
    happened five years ago, and you, an
  525. 00:18:39
    province were able to reconnect or I
  526. 00:18:42
    think he reached out to you, cause I,
  527. 00:18:44
    you know I'm always asking my friends
  528. 00:18:45
    for stories of hall, and he's like I
  529. 00:18:48
    got one and it. He put us together. Ah,
  530. 00:18:51
    But you know years had passed, so how
  531. 00:18:53
    did you guys stay in touch?
  532. 00:18:56
    I just think that Dr. George played
  533. 00:18:58
    such a big part in our family's lives
  534. 00:18:59
    that we just continue to like chicken
  535. 00:19:01
    and we're friends on Facebook, and like
  536. 00:19:04
    I will to this till the day I die will
  537. 00:19:06
    always. Poor daughter, Georgia,
  538. 00:19:08
    whatever he does and will stand by him,
  539. 00:19:10
    and whatever like he'll be invited my
  540. 00:19:11
    wedding one day like everything about
  541. 00:19:13
    him because he is just such a great part
  542. 00:19:15
    of art. I don't even say. Like as a
  543. 00:19:17
    healthcare professional. I say I was
  544. 00:19:18
    like upon number of our family like he
  545. 00:19:20
    truly helped my parents so much through
  546. 00:19:22
    it, and then later after meeting him
  547. 00:19:24
    help me through it and then we've done a
  548. 00:19:26
    couple of things like this before where
  549. 00:19:28
    he's I'm always willing to do lists for
  550. 00:19:29
    him because it's the least I can do to
  551. 00:19:32
    share my story for others because I am
  552. 00:19:34
    one of the lucky ones I can sit here
  553. 00:19:35
    today in Germany, three of the healthy
  554. 00:19:37
    individual after the craziness that
  555. 00:19:39
    happened to me and I don't think it's I
  556. 00:19:42
    don't think it's my duty to keep it to
  557. 00:19:43
    myself. I think it's worth sharing. It
  558. 00:19:44
    should be shared. So I mean thank you
  559. 00:19:46
    so much for sharing proud of what you
  560. 00:19:47
    have to say about that.
  561. 00:19:50
    It's It's been an honor to be artists or
  562. 00:19:54
    their family or their family discussions
  563. 00:19:57
    throughout the entire, or saline,
  564. 00:19:59
    leading them right in the beginning,
  565. 00:20:02
    you know you could tell that there was a
  566. 00:20:03
    lot of love there and. seeing, you
  567. 00:20:08
    know, her mom at the bedside
  568. 00:20:11
    and she was looking for hope and her dad,
  569. 00:20:14
    like she was saying, was looking for
  570. 00:20:16
    more on, you know, what caused this,
  571. 00:20:18
    how did it happen, you know, what are
  572. 00:20:20
    the outcomes usually with this, it was
  573. 00:20:23
    very, and
  574. 00:20:25
    yeah, you really have to kind of
  575. 00:20:27
    understand what each one is looking for
  576. 00:20:30
    and,
  577. 00:20:32
    you know, if you can provide that to
  578. 00:20:33
    them and you can give it to them with,
  579. 00:20:35
    you know, as much honesty as possible,
  580. 00:20:38
    I think that's the most important thing
  581. 00:20:39
    here, but, you know, one thing led
  582. 00:20:43
    into another and Sydney is where she's
  583. 00:20:46
    at now and, you know, she's a powerful
  584. 00:20:49
    individual.
  585. 00:20:51
    Well, thank you both so much for
  586. 00:20:53
    joining. I would like to ask any final
  587. 00:20:56
    words or anything else you'd like to
  588. 00:20:58
    share with our listeners
  589. 00:21:01
    I have a goal to write a book one day,
  590. 00:21:02
    so when that happens, hopefully you all
  591. 00:21:05
    will maybe read that book. Absolutely.
  592. 00:21:08
    I love that. Well, thank you for
  593. 00:21:10
    joining. We'll include a link to the
  594. 00:21:11
    article in the show notes, but to check
  595. 00:21:13
    out this or other currents content,
  596. 00:21:15
    please go to
  597. 00:21:17
    currentsneurocriticalcareorg. I'd love
  598. 00:21:18
    to connect with anyone that I'd like to
  599. 00:21:19
    share their story of hope, so please
  600. 00:21:21
    reach out. As a reminder, NCS offers
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    free CME for listening to select
  602. 00:21:25
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    an episode.