Andrew Berglund was at work on the night of Feb. 6 when a co-worker first noticed that part of his face was drooping.
“I started feeling kind of bad (earlier), but didn’t say anything,” Berglund said. “They took my blood pressure and it was really high. They tried to send me to the hospital, but I told them I wanted to finish my 12-hour shift first and I had 10 hours left. We kept arguing back and forth and they kept checking on me.
“I guess, what I was told, I kept staring at one of the computers with my finger on the keys and they said my tongue was hanging out of my mouth, left side of my face was drooping and I wasn’t even saying anything anymore.”
Berglund, 28, was suffering an ischemic stroke due to a blood clot in his heart.
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A co-worker called 911 and Berglund’s parents. An ambulance quickly brought him to Methodist Hospitals Southlake in Merrillville. Hospital personnel were told that it was a possible stroke.
Though Berglund remembers little of his first three days in the hospital, emergency room personnel quickly followed recommended protocols from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, including running a CAT scan on Berglund to see if he had a brain bleed, giving him a complete neurological physical, and then treating him with tPA, a tissue plasminogen activator, that clears blood clots. If given in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability.
Methodist’s treatment of Berglund and other stroke patients led them to receive the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll in June. The award honors hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive years and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures, while the honor roll requires hospitals to meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with tPA.
Dr. Sanjeev Maniar, Methodist’s Neuroscience Medical Director, said Methodist has been working to attain this designation since 2008, when it launched its stroke center. Maniar said following these best practices has helped to more quickly diagnose and treat stroke patients, as well as reducing the number of readmissions in the year following a stroke.
“Typically, in the first year about 20 (percent-30 percent of stroke patients are readmitted for strokes or other secondary medical issues, but we’ve cut that down to around 10 percent,” he said.
Sherry Mosier, Methodist’s Stroke Coordinator, said the doctor and other medical personnel speak with a patient’s family before they are released to discuss in detail the plan for recuperation as well as alert family members to the risk factors, in particular high blood pressure.
“We give them an education booklet and talk with family,” Mosier said. “If you have somebody in family who has had a stroke, you can be at risk as well.”
Diane Kemp, executive director of the Northwest Indiana chapter of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, said the organization has promoted the FAST acronym to help people identify a possible stroke. F stands for the face, mouth or eye drooping on one side, A stands for arm weakness, S stands for speech impairment and T is the most critical letter, Time.
“Patients have about a two- or three-hour window from first onset of stroke to maximum amount of damage body can sustain,” Kemp said.
A new lease on life
Berglund visited the hospital on Friday to thank some of the nurses and doctors who helped him during his stay — some of whom he doesn’t even remember, including ER nurse Brandi Allen.
“My parents talk about you all the time,” Berglund said. “I have no clue what happened. (My mom says) this young lady kept taking care of you and talked to you and i guess you kept holding my hand and never left my side. I was like I have no clue what happened.”
Though Berglund was young to be experiencing a stroke, he had several risk factors, including high blood pressure and weighing almost 400 pounds. He also suffered a series of mini strokes before he was taken to the hospital.
“I was diagnosed with high blood pressure two years prior, but me being a stubborn knucklehead I didn’t do anything about it,” Berglund said.
“And for last five months before I had three episodes that I know of where my whole left side went numb I couldn’t see very well, see stars and I’d get dizzy,” he said. “I would just close my eyes and 10-15 minutes later I would be fine. I was afraid to go to the doctor; I didn’t know what was going on.
I never thought that I could have a stroke.”
Since Berglund was hospitalized for his stroke, he’s encountered other health challenges, including brain and back surgery. But he’s been diligent about improving his health, including walking two miles a day and eating more healthy foods. He’s also taking less blood pressure medication and consulting with his doctor regularly.
“I’ve never eaten so many green vegetables in my life,” he joked.
Berglund is down to 336 pounds — from 380 in February — and he said that he has a lot more energy.
“I’m not as sluggish,” he said. “My goal is 220 pounds by next Christmas.”
Berglund is excited about his new lease on life.
“I just think that I’m getting second chance at life; it’s too short not to have fun.”
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Contact Christin Nance Lazerus at [email protected]