Stroke

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a  bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S  *Ask the individual to SMILE.

T  *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE  (Coherently)

(i.e. It is sunny out today.)

R  *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE:  Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

Melanie wrote: Yes, but as in my case and several others, none of these were a problem, but the loss of sight was/is also a sign. Also, if you ask the person to stick out their tongue, it will go to oneside or other, or they won't be able to stick it out at all. 

Sorry...it says that in the message...I guess I didn't read it thoroughly enough.

Melanie

Charlotte Smith Freeman: Several years back I was leaving a restaurant with 3 girlfriends.  As we crossed the parking lot my right arm started to tingle and it was like someone put a buzzing tuning fork on the top of my head.  I made it to our car and dropped my to-go box.  I thought, "Darn, I hope I didn't spill my sauce".  As I bent over to pick it up I tried to hold on to the underside of the carfender next to me.  I couldn't seem to grasp it or stand up.  My cousin, the driver, saw three people croxxing the parking lot and called to them.  One just happened to be a nurse.  She askedme to smile and then my name and I told her, but I could tell it sounded like Kirk Douglas after his stroke.  She asked me to stick out my tongue and I guess it went out somewhere..."Get her to the ER immediately;  she's having a stroke."  In ten minutes I was on a guerney and given a CAT scan and administered that shot to reverse the stroke and symptoms.   To this day I am grateful to those who helped me.  My speech, now, is beginning to show the signs and my eyesight as well.  Other than that, I pray I never have another one.   So...enough of that!  How are you and Tim and your families?  Charlotte

Myrna wrote: Oddly enough, I sent this out and then got word that my youngest sister's husband, 56, just had a major stroke. He was not as fortunate as you. He was at work and was working on a diesel when it happened so he laid there for approximately one hour before he was discovered. I just hope he makes it. He was airlifted from Price, his home, to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. We went up to see him this a.m. He lost his speech.

Amy Gordon About The Perimenopause Article

Amy G wrote:

Thanks for sending this Myrna! (The article, "Perimenopause weight gain — causes and solutions.") So much of this info is so true.  I never realized what was going on with my danged weight gain (about 15 pounds) in the past few years (which I knew had something to do with my age, 39, or perimenopause, but didn't know how to change it) until I joined Kirsten's health challenge last fall.  I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted and I hardly ever exercised.  Not anymore, lol!  When I finally got off my behind and exercised (really broke a good sweat) regularly, ate more natural foods and less highly processed foods did I start to notice a difference in how I felt and looked.  Diets don't work for me, plain and simple.  I needed to change how I lived and what I was putting into my body.  We really never ate out all that much, but we did have plenty of snacks around the house to compensate.  :)  When I started making sure that over 90% of what I ate was either in their natural state (fruits, salads, protein) or homemade (breads, meals and the occasional cookie or cake) without all the processed junk and preservatives I felt SO much better!  I actually do not like fast food anymore.  I avoid the drive thru if at all possible because when I do eat that stuff, I feel like crap (pardon the word) afterwards.  I finally realized that I CAN do something about how I feel.  It's not easy and takes more work than any diet out there, but it's been so much better for me in the long run.  I haven't lost a ton, only about 8 pounds, but at least I feel great and know that I'm eating and my family's eating better and exercising more.  I actually crave exercise, water and vegetation now!  So in a nutshell, thank you Kirsten for giving me the opportunity and the excuse to make better choices and quit complaining!  Not that any of you are....I was.  :)

Thanks again for sending this Myrna, if you can't tell, it really hit home for me and helped me understand why I had needed to step it up, and now keep it up.

Love ya all,

Amy

Myrna wrote: THANK YOU, Amy!

Michael's School Musical

BIG-TIME MUSICAL
Central Ohio students among first amateurs to take on 'Phantom'
Saturday, March 12, 2011  02:54 AM
BY AMY SAUNDERS
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


TESSA BARGAINNIER | DISPATCH PHOTOS
The Phantom (Evan Rings, 17) is reflected in a mirror during a dress rehearsal at Johnstown-Monroe High School.

 Spoiled prima donna Carlotta (Kaitlyn Sapp, 17) strikes a pose.

Phil Schell of Johnstown works on the all-important chandelier onstage at Johnstown-Monroe High School. Schell, who has a child in the play, is in charge of the lighting.

Before a dress rehearsal, Evan Rings, left, has makeup applied by Eric Stephens of Northridge.

In the most famous moment, the chandelier doesn't necessarily plummet to the stage in a terrifying fashion so much as it gradually wobbles down near the performers.

Yet this is The Phantom of the Opera as performed by Johnstown-Monroe High School, with an enrollment of 477. And the chandelier is made from two-by-fours.

Students at the Licking County school are staging the ambitious musical twice today and Sunday, having dedicated six months to the production instead of their typical 10 weeks.

Given the demanding operatic music, the complicated special effects and the dialogue that is more often sung than spoken, musical director Jeff Rings previously thought that no high school could manage it.

"I still sort of feel that way," he said. "It has been a very huge stretch for high schoolers."

Until this spring-musical season, Phantom hadn't been performed by teenagers - or any theatrical groups other than professionals.

Rights to musicals aren't typically released to amateur groups until the show has finished its Broadway run. ButPhantom was made available in the fall, even as it continues to play New York - as it has since 1988 - and Las Vegas.

The production has been seen by 100million people worldwide.

Johnstown-Monroe and Delaware Hayes High School are among the 20 Ohio schools that secured the rights to perform the production, said Bert Fink, spokesman for the licensing agency R&H Theatricals.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is "a great believer in music education, and letting schools do Phantom is a remarkable learning opportunity for them," Fink said.

"It was rather groundbreaking to make the work available while it was running on Broadway, but it came with certain restrictions."

The rights to a musical often come with stipulations: Only schools, not community troupes, can perform Phantom - although the situation is sometimes reversed.

Chicago is available to older actors, but Pickerington North High School was denied the rights two years in a row, with the licensing agency citing the show's adult themes.

"Just because we want to do a show doesn't mean we're going to get the rights," said Margaret Lawson, the school's theater director. " Mamma Mia! would be my No.1 choice, but it's going to be awhile, I think. It's still packing them in in New York."

National tours can also derail plans for school musicals: Dublin Jerome High School couldn't perform Les Miserables this year because, next week, Broadway Across America will present the show in the Ohio Theatre.

Instead, the school last month performed Les Miserables: School Edition, a shortened version that apparently didn't interfere with performances of the touring group, said Jerome theater director Patty Scott.

"They (organizers) fear they could lose their audience," she said, "although, with Les Mizcoming in, ... they probably gained audience because all my kids were so excited to see the professional version."

The cost of a show can also be an inhibiting factor: For Phantom, Johnstown-Monroe paid $2,800 for royalties and for the rental of music and scripts - based on the size of its auditorium and planned ticket prices.

Overall, the production is almost twice as expensive as the school's previous shows. To offset much of the $20,000 cost, boosters hosted a dinner and silent auction in the fall.

At the same time, students and parents began building the set: elevating the stage to insert trapdoors and creating the mechanics of the chandelier and of the boat that sails through the Phantom's underground lair.

Rings began working with the students on the difficult, sometimes-

discordant music, selecting understudies for each lead actor because the roles require so much singing.

"It's extremely challenging to get that operatic sound from these immature voices," said 17-year-old senior Kaitlyn Sapp, who started voice lessons - and watched aria performances on YouTube - to prepare for the role of the opera diva, Carlotta.

"But we have a strange amount of talent. The fact that we can double-cast is pretty extraordinary."

Preparation for Phantom is under way for the April28-30 performances at Delaware Hayes.

Students at first thought the announcement of the show was a joke, musical director Michelle Howes said.

"We wanted the 'wow,'" she said. "The student body is more excited for this show than any show since I've been here."

The Johnstown students, many of whom saw Phantom on Broadway last year, are confident that their production is a good representation of a work that much of the audience will have seen onstage or in the 2004 movie adaptation.

"The music is beyond what you've seen in a high school, and we have to rise to that level," said 17-year-old senior Casey Miller, who plays Raoul, the love interest of the main character, Christine.

"It's not something a high school should ... do or ... be able to do. But we pulled it off because of hundreds, thousands of hours."

asaunders@dispatch.com

News of Mike

AnnMarie wrote: 

What did you hear from your sister?  I didn't have time to call you before your temple session.
Was Eric able to go?  

Myrna wrote: LHT and I went up to see Mike and Cydney at Utah Valley this a.m. Mike is in a regular room and can have visitors. He is in room 266. You can talk to Cyd by calling the hospital number and asking for the room. They will dial in for you. Either that or you can ask for the nurses station and the nurse will dial in for you.

He can't talk because, at this point, he has lost his speech. Cyd was quite encouraged because he was able to swallow some baby food. 

Mike has already had some rehabilitation. His damage is permanent and the stroke did a lot of damage to the left side of his brain. He cannot move his right side at all and cannot hear on that side. His month droops down but he does know people. He grips your hand and looks right at you but he cannot say much. He did say OK a couple of times. 

Cyd said the doctors told her rehab helps the brain to reorganize itself. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel bringing oxygen and nutrients to the brain bursts or is clogged by a blood clot. Serious complications may still arise. An estimated one out of five stroke patients dies during his hospital stay.

He has brain swelling and some minor seizures. The big concern trying to keep him from having another stroke, which is common in the first few days after a stroke. In fact, a second stroke usually results in death one out of every five times. 

Mike had really high blood pressure but was getting treated for it. He is so young, also, at 56.