Judy Ingels' Stroke Survivor Story
Judy Ingels' Stroke Survivor Story
Neil Ingels remembers the day he found his wife Judy sitting in a chair at their Fayetteville home with her eyes closed. Not sure whether Judy was asleep, Neil spoke to her and, getting no response, gently shook her. Again, there was no response. Growing concerned, Neil asked Judy if she could open her eyes.
“Her eyes opened just barely,” Neil recalls, “so I said, ‘Smile. Can you smile for me?’”
Judy managed a smile, but Neil saw that one side of her mouth was drooping. “I immediately called 911 and simply said the word ‘stroke.’ Then I said, ‘My wife is having a stroke.’”
An ambulance arrived and took Judy directly to Washington Regional Medical Center, the region’s only Comprehensive Stroke Center. The Comprehensive Stroke Center designation identifies hospitals that have capabilities to treat even the most complex stroke cases. By providing the highest level of stroke care in Northwest Arkansas, Washington Regional offered Judy the best chance for a positive outcome.
Meanwhile, Neil’s 911 call had alerted Washington Regional’s specialized stroke care team to be ready to take Judy directly to the CT room for a scan of her brain. “They knew exactly what to do and when to do it,” Neil says of the care team, who confirmed Judy’s stroke and outlined to Neil her treatment options.
Then, using specialized imaging guidance, one of Washington Regional’s interventional neuroradiologists performed a thrombectomy to remove the blood clot from Judy’s brain. In this minimally invasive procedure, a catheter placed in the patient’s femoral artery delivers a stent to the blocked artery in the brain. The stent then opens and grasps the clot, sometimes assisted by special suction tubes.
Within 30 minutes, Neil says, the doctor came back to tell him that the procedure had alleviated Judy’s stroke symptoms. For her, no open surgery would be needed.
Judy recalls waking up after the thrombectomy. “I knew I had had a stroke; they told me. When I heard them, I remember feeling relieved because that meant I could still think. And from that moment on, we have been amazed.”
With stroke specialists available 24/7, Washington Regional is able to provide appropriate and timely stroke care — which is crucial, because a patient can lose nearly 2 million brain cells every minute a stroke goes untreated. “By jumping on it this fast, with this smooth a system, Judy didn’t lose any function,” Neil says.
Judy spent part of her recovery in Washington Regional’s Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit, the region’s first nursing unit dedicated to patients with neurological injury, illness or brain event such as stroke. She is thankful that her husband acted quickly when he recognized her stroke symptoms and that Washington Regional’s comprehensive stroke center provided advanced care that saved her life and restored her abilities.
Today, Judy and Neil are back to enjoying life. “I can still walk up and down stairs and do almost anything for myself,” Judy says.
“The trick is to treat stroke as quickly as possible,” Neil says. “And recognize the signs.”