STROKE SURVIVAL: ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE FOR GOD

 

STROKE SURVIVAL: ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE FOR GOD

All things are possible for God. "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26).' The statement is spoken by Jesus in response to his disciples' question about who can be saved after He explains how difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Not because they were rich but because they put their money to solve all their problems, The love of money is the root of all evil. It highlights God's omnipotence, meaning His power is limitless and not bound by human capabilities or understanding. Matthew 19:26 emphasizes that human limitations are surpassed by God's power, serving as a source of hope that He can work through even the most difficult or seemingly impossible situations. This is not meant to imply that God will fulfill every human desire, but rather that He can provide the strength and means to accomplish what He calls people to do. Many wonder why I write so much and annoy them with the email attachments. "Another email, I'll just delete it." Do so at your peril! I am an exclamation mark. My writing is a speed bump. I am a reminder of God's Grace and Mercy. Let Him speak into your life. Let Him speak to your condition. No matter that Evil meant to steal, kill, and destroy. God means for good. The concept is most famously illustrated in Genesis 50:20, where Joseph says to his brothers, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good". Every praise is to our God. My writing is to give Him glory. My mother says God has one more great thing for me to do. Let it be to encourage you. 

I will stand again. I lay in this bed and write. I believe God for the healing, I prefer God's weakness over man's strength. On December 20, 2023, I gave my wife, Francine, her best anniversary in our 25 year marriage at that time: I suffered a stroke. Much better than the diamond tierra, I gave one anniversary. A stroke, also known as a "brain attack," occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, causing brain cells to die. Ischemic stroke (87% of cases): Occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery in the brain. I suffered that. In fact. I suffered five (5) overall. I remembered that my neighbor Paul, fellow patient at Cherrydale Health and Rehabilitation in Arlington, VA, had seven (7) which was leading to his blindness.. Shirley Luther, Texas GOP legislator and COVID controversy heroine, had an aneurysm and several strokes. Per AI: "Yes, stroke is very much an individualistic disease, as every person's experience, from the effects of the stroke to the path of recovery, is unique. While strokes share common characteristics, the specific outcome is determined by a variety of personal factors. Though our brains have a standard structure, the connections and networks within each person's brain are uniquely wired. A stroke in a specific area can therefore cause slightly different effects in two different people. The type and severity of a person's symptoms are determined by which area of the brain was damaged and the amount of brain tissue affected. A stroke in the left hemisphere, for example, typically affects speech and the right side of the body, but the exact symptoms will vary. " 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports: 

• In the United States in 2022, 1 in 6 deaths (17.5%) from cardiovascular disease was due to stroke.
• Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke.
• Every 3 minutes and 14 seconds, someone dies of stroke
• Stroke-related costs in the United States came to nearly $56.2 billion between 2019 and 2020. Costs include the cost of health care services, medicines to treat stroke, and missed days of work
• Stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability.
• Stroke reduces mobility in more than half of stroke survivors age 65 and older

Strokes are deadly serious. Celebrities who have died from a stroke include actors Luke Perry, John Singleton, and Bill Paxton; actresses Debbie Reynolds and Betty White; and former US presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. These figures, from various fields like entertainment and politics, highlight that strokes can affect people of all ages and backgrounds. 

• Actors and directors: Grace Kelly and Della Reese.
• Musicians: LeAnn Rimes, Eddie Van Halen, Charlie Daniels, Christine McVie, Wayne Osmond, Mick Ralphs, and B.B. King. 
• Politicians: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill.
• Other notable figures: Joe Williams and Josef Stalin.

Vladimir Lenin died of a stroke. He suffered three debilitating strokes between 1922 and 1923, with the final, massive stroke occurring on January 21, 1924, from which he died within hours. The cause of his premature cerebrovascular disease was likely a combination of a genetic predisposition to atherosclerosis, extreme stress, and possibly other factors. No matter how rich you are, famous or influential, brain attacks can strike. 

What of survivors? Are we all destined for permanent disability? Great minds shelled in broken bodies?With people thinking and saying, "He must have done something to get like that"? People never hear about stroke survival. Stroke survival in the U.S. is approximately 73% at the one-year mark, with survival rates decreasing over time, but they vary significantly based on age and stroke type. Younger individuals generally have higher survival rates, while those with hemorrhagic strokes have lower survival rates compared to ischemic strokes. Approximately 10% of stroke patients make a near-complete recovery, while 15% die shortly after the event. Gender and age are essential factors. According to Flint Rehab:

• Women tend to have a slightly higher stroke mortality rate compared to men. According to a study by the American Heart Association, they also tend to have poorer functional recoveries and lower quality of life post-stroke..
• Men have a higher risk of experiencing a stroke at a younger age, but they generally have better survival rates after a stroke compared to women

• Under Age 65: 93.7% survival rate after ischemic stroke, 73.8% after hemorrhagic stroke
• Ages 65-80: 86% survival rate after ischemic stroke, 60.1% after hemorrhagic stroke
• Ages 80-85: 78.8% survival rate after ischemic stroke, 47% after hemorrhagic stroke
• Over 85: 64% survival rate after ischemic stroke, 40.3% after hemorrhagic stroke

Survival isn't talked about much in the hospital. You are greeted by the "Pity Patrol", O, poor Baby! You had a stroke. We're going to do everything we can to keep you alive. Would you like a laxative?" No! One more thing. There is the "one-year myth" about stroke rehab. The "one-year myth" refers to the outdated belief that stroke recovery stops or plateaus after the first year. While the fastest and most spontaneous recovery typically happens in the first few months, modern science and rehabilitative medicine have proven that continued progress is possible for many years after a stroke. This misconception was so pervasive that it could discourage clinicians from continuing therapy for patients in the chronic phase. However, ongoing research and clinical experience have debunked this idea, emphasizing the brain's lifelong ability to adapt through a process called neuroplasticity. I remember a conversation I had with a Cherrydale occupational therapist;

    Therapist: Su how many strokes did you have?

    SickandShutIn: I had:five.

    Therapist: O, Wow! God must really not like you! Remember the one-year rule.

    SickandShutIn: What's the one-year rule?

    Therapist: Get all your rehab in the first year! After one-year healing stops and you won't get any                             better.

Imagine the stress I felt 6 months away from my one-year anniversary. She was in a Rehab Hospital. The same hospital that allegedly gave me insulin that I didn't need causing substantial loss of weight and body mass.

"Cope or Cure? What is a man to pursue?

O, my goodness, I used a curse word to the gods of science and medicine. Why do doctors not use the term "cure"? Doctors often avoid the term "cure" because diseases can be complex, and some conditions, especially chronic ones, have no definitive cure, and even in cases where a cure is possible, it's impossible to be 100% certain that the disease won't return. Instead of using the absolute term "cure," doctors prefer words like "treatment" or "remission," which acknowledge that while a condition may be controlled or appear to be gone, there is always a chance for recurrence. Cure (v.)

is late 14c., "to restore to health or a sound state," from Old French curer and directly from Latin curare "take care of," hence, in medical language, "treat medically, cure" (see cure (n.1)). In reference to fish, pork, etc., "prepare for preservation by drying, salting, etc.," attested by 1743. Related: Cured; curing.Most words for "cure, heal" in European languages originally applied to the person being treated but now can be used with reference to the disease. Relatively few show an ancient connection to words for "physician;" typically they are connected instead to words for "make whole" or "tend to" or even "conjurer." French guérir (with Italian guarir, Old Spanish guarir) is from a Germanic verb stem also found in in Gothic warjan, Old English wearian "ward off, prevent, defend" (see warrant (n.)).  "The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. (Psalm 41:3)" From the onset of my disease, I was taught to cope. "Cope" can mean to deal with or manage a difficult situation, to contend with something,.Coping involves a set of conscious, purposeful strategies used to manage emotional or physical distress. Healthy coping methods include problem-focused strategies, such as creating a plan to address an issue, and emotion-focused strategies, such as practicing relaxation techniques or talking to a supportive friend. It is also important to engage in self-care activities like getting enough sleep and exercise, while avoiding unhelpful behaviors like isolating oneself.  "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.(Philippians 4:6-7)" The Miracle is that God is with me in the cope and the cure and knows I prefer the cure.

The Mayo Clinic says, "Most people who have had a stroke go to a rehabilitation program. Your healthcare professional can recommend the therapy program that is right for you. A program is recommended based on your age, overall health and degree of disability from the stroke. Your lifestyle, interests, priorities and whether you have help from family members or caregivers are considered." I wasn't. I was simply thrown out and left to my own devices. 

Here I MUST give honor where honor is due: Francine! My wife has been my everything. She gave up her teaching career to stay home and take care of me, 24 hours a day. She is more than my caregiver. She is my friend and caretaker. She is my morning joy, even though she drinks coffee. She says the coffee has saved her from putting a pillow over the face of a demanding husband. She has been a Holy Mother. She has been my prayer warrior and cheerleader. I enjoy her Praise reports. She has been my medical adviser. She has been my dietician and Head Nurse. She has been my friend and my confidant. I hit the jackpot when she agreed to sickness and health, richer and poorer. It's the only lottery worth winning. I love her, not because of what she does, but who she is.

Regarding my medical care, I feel as if I have been given a corporate respom rather than an individual answer. Hospitals filled with the advice and counsel of the pharmaceutical cartel and the rehabilitation cartel. A cartel is a group of independent corporations or other entities that join together to fix prices, rig bids, allocate markets, or conduct other similar illegal activities. Nursing is touch and go as well.

Pharmaceutical cartels exist to usher patients into that long good night through medication.Reports of a "pharmaceutical cartel" in US hospitals primarily refer to allegations of collusion, anticompetitive practices, and drug diversion that manipulate the healthcare system for profit. While not a single, organized criminal group, these actions can lead to inflated costs for consumers and illegal drug distribution. Regulatory bodies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), frequently investigate and prosecute these activities. I believe that a certain hospitals, of which one I was admitted, pressure patients to take black label Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drugs, like Metformin, to make hospitals more profitable. In August 2023, the US Department of Justice reported: "Sixth and Seventh Companies to Admit to Price-Fixing Charges Affecting Critical Generic Drugs; First Resolutions to Require Divesting Drug Product Lines; Teva USA to Pay $225 Million and Donate $50 Million in Drugs; Glenmark USA to Pay $30 Million " “The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, along with our other federal law enforcement partners, secured a victory with today’s settlement agreement in our fight against price-fixing and collusion,” said Executive Special Agent in Charge Kenneth Cleevely of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG). “The USPS-OIG will vigorously investigate those who would engage in harmful anticompetitive practices, and we continue to ask for the public’s assistance in identifying and reporting those engaged in this type of activity.”

Reports have documented various schemes that fit the description of a rehabilitation cartel in hospitals, including antitrust violations, patient brokering for substance abuse treatment, and organized crime infiltration. These practices involve collusive or fraudulent activities aimed at maximizing profits at the expense of competition and patient well-being. The  US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Inspector General reported in "ADVERSE EVENTS INREHABILITATION HOSPITALS:NATIONAL INCIDENCE AMONGMEDICARE BENEFICIARIES by Daniel R. Levinson Inspector General July 2016OEI-06-14-00110" that "an estimated 29 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse or temporary harm events during their rehab hospital stays, resulting in temporary harm; prolonged stays or transfers to other hospitals; permanent harm; life-sustaining intervention; or death. This harmrate is in line with what we found in hospitals (27 percent) and in SNFs (33 percent).Physician reviewers determined that 46 percent of these adverse and temporary harm events were clearly or likely preventable. Physicians attributed much of the preventable harm to substandard treatment, inadequate patient monitoring, and failure to provide needed treatment." While some make hospitals glorious recovery centers, others make them tortuous hell holes.

Abusive nursing is a major problem in US nursing. Thanks to abusive nursing I suffered my second stroke and became a deformed, bedridden hemiplegic who suffers from orthostatic hypotension. Hemiplegia is a symptom that involves one-sided paralysis. Orthostatic hypotension is a condition where blood pressure drops significantly upon standing up from a sitting or lying position. I remember the first MRI that I took after the incident, the doctor rushed in and announced, "this stroke is expanding and eventually debilitating. You will eventually lose your ability to walk and talk and we will need to check your blood pressure." Patient abuse by healthcare professionals is a serious and concerning issue that can have devastating consequences for patients and healthcare systems.  Fatima A. Alzyoud, RN; PhD, Mary K. McCurry, RN; PhD, and Susan M. Hunter Revell, RN; PhD, authors of "Patient Abuse in Healthcare: A Theoretical Synthesis" in the Sage Journals' Nursing Science Quarterly wrote, " A theory synthesis of the vicious violence triangle and the socioecological model provides a framework to investigate factors that influence nurses’ abusive behavior toward patients in hospitals. Concepts include direct violence, structural violence, cultural violence, and intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational factors. The patient abuse in healthcare theory supports empowerment and transformation of nursing and nursing science and offers a blueprint for research that promotes health equity." Jason Roy in "Misuse of power by healthcare professionals" writes, "In the realm of healthcare, professionals are entrusted with immense power and responsibility to provide the best care possible for their patients. However, as with any position of authority, there exists a potential for misuse and abuse. Instances of healthcare professionals exerting their power in unethical ways have come to light in recent years, shedding light on a deeply concerning issue within the industry."Due to severe underreporting and inconsistent data collection, comprehensive patient abuse statistics for 2025 are not available. While general abuse and harm rates are high, especially among vulnerable populations, official data capture only a fraction of incidents.  DHS in "Hospitals Did Not Capture Half of Patient Harm Events, Limiting Information Needed to Make Care Safer" reports,

• "Over nearly 20 years, OIG has identified high patient harm rates nationwide in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care settings.
• Key to improving patient safety is identifying, or capturing, patient harm events; investigating their cause; and making system-wide improvements to prevent future harm.
• For this report, we traced harm events identified in a 2022 report on the incidence of harm in hospitals to examine whether hospitals captured those events in their incident reporting or other surveillance systems and to understand what actions they took in response.

• Hospitals did not capture half of patient harm events that occurred among hospitalized Medicare patients. In many cases, staff did not consider these events to be harm or explained that it was not standard practice to capture them. This was often because hospitals applied narrow definitions of harm.
• Of the patient harm events that hospitals captured, few were investigated, and even fewer led to hospitals making improvements for patient safety. Some of the improvement actions hospitals took in response to the harm events included training staff and enhancing monitoring for similar events."

People wonder, "Ken, have you forgiven the nurse and technicians for the assault committed to you? If so, why don't you let this go? It happened a while ago. You are angry and bitter." I have forgiven but the nurse and technicians need to be held accountable. Or else they will do it to another and it may be you. Forgiveness is for the assaulted. Accountability, in this life and the next, is for the assaulter. Forgiveness is the internal process of letting go of resentment, while reconciliation is the external, mutual process of rebuilding a relationship. You can forgive someone without reconciling, as forgiveness is a choice you make for yourself to find inner peace, whereas reconciliation requires both parties to work together, communicate, and restore trust,

Having coped with a debilitating stroke for two(2 )years, I advance towards a cure. Since a stroke is about blood flow, I wonder why these options were not availed to me? Surgical responses to stroke include emergency procedures for ischemic strokes (blood clots) like mechanical thrombectomy, which removes the clot, and endovascular options like stenting or angioplasty to open narrowed arteries.

• The researchers found that a drug called DDL-920, developed in the UCLA lab of Varghese John, produced significant recovery in movement

• Cranial bypass surgery, also known as cerebrovascular bypass surgery, is a surgical procedure that improves blood flow to the brain by creating a new pathway around a narrowed or blocked artery. 

• Stem cell therapy is a promising treatment option for stroke patients, aiming to repair damaged brain tissue and improve functional outcomes

• Perispinal etanercept injection appears beneficial for most patients, even more than three years after a stroke. Treatment with etanercept for stroke recovery is off-label, which means its use has not been approved by the FDA,

Cure is for what I seek. I imagine a nation no longer spending $56 Billion on stroke treatment and recovery, A cure would be better than a cope.

Though my trust has been broken in medicine and science, I have a great confidence in God. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)." "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35)" All things are possible for me in God.