Stroke left her with some 'snazzy neck jewelry'

Sybil Jones knows it's hard to say goodbye. As the wife of a supply corps officer in the U.S. 在过去的20年里，琼斯收拾行装搬到了几个城市和国家.

Before her husband, Marcus Jones, relocated to a new duty station, the couple gathered with their friends at a brewery in Arlington, Virginia, to say goodbye. During the farewell party, as Sybil sipped libations, chatted with friends and posed for photos, the scene started to shift.

The sounds of merrymaking faded, and faces became blurred. Sybil thought she had too much to drink, 但她的朋友知道情况更严重，赶紧去找马库斯.
“我走过去，立刻就能看出她中风了，”马库斯说. "My great-grandmother had a stroke (when I was 11) and she had the exact same look; it looked like the left side of her body had completely shut down."

当马库斯拨打911并告诉调度员他43岁的妻子中风时，他保持冷静. 这些信息使医院能够在她来的路上制定相应的协议. Then, he called home to tell his daughters, then ages 16, 14 and 12, 他们的妈妈被紧急送往医院，一个同事正赶去陪他们.

An MRI showed a clot deep in the right side of Sybil's brain. 她接受了抗凝血药物治疗，但未能溶解血栓. Sybil needed a thrombectomy, 在这个过程中，医生可以使用导管进入大脑并拔出血栓. However, this hospital didn't offer that.

她被救护车转移到附近一家有综合中风中心的医院. Before the procedure, Marcus recalls a doctor saying, "If this is successful, it'll be like she never had a stroke. But, if we do nothing, this will be her new normal."

医生还说，有可能出现致命的并发症.

"Go ahead," Marcus said. Then he said a prayer.

Sybil remembers waking up from anesthesia, 听到声音，感觉腹股沟有强烈的压力，腹股沟是导管切口的位置. She called it her "worst nightmare." But the challenges were just beginning.

After a week in the intensive care unit, doctors determined that the stroke was caused by a carotid web, a rare vascular disease that Sybil didn't know she had. It causes a strand of tissue to form in the artery, which then causes the artery to narrow, all of which increases the risk of blood clots.

In May 2021, a few weeks after her stroke, 医生在她的右颈动脉内放置了一个支架，以去除网状物并保持动脉畅通. Sybil calls it her "snazzy neck jewelry."

西比尔在医院住了一个星期，医生努力控制她的血压. Instead of boarding a plane for their new home in San Diego, Marcus took a 60-day leave from work to focus on helping his wife recover; family and friends helped with caring for their children.

The stroke left Sybil weak on her left side, lacking a hot-cold sensation and with a slight slur of speech. 她和一个由语言、职业和物理治疗师组成的团队一起克服了这些障碍.

She found therapy "humbling.她在重新学习驾驶等基本技能的过程中挣扎着, grocery shopping and using a knife to prepare lunch for her kids. During her first trip to the grocery store after her stroke, Sybil got to the cash register and couldn't remember how to pay.

"I don't know if it was the anxiety or what, but I stood there and stared at the cashier and I told her, 'I had a stroke. Please be patient with me,'" Sybil said. "I wasn't just relearning; I was relearning with a left side deficit."

Sybil still struggles to focus, 特别是当涉及到多任务处理或在干扰中集中注意力时. She also has had to overcome depression and anxiety.

同时感谢家人和朋友给她的支持, 西比尔渴望与那些了解中风康复过程的人建立联系. 她特别渴望与非裔美国人社区的其他人建立联系, who have a disproportionately higher risk of stroke. She recently launched Stroke Talks, 一个提高中风意识并为中风勇士举办虚拟聚会的网站.

She'll soon be connecting with stroke survivors from overseas. After two years in San Diego, 马库斯接受了派驻中东国家巴林的新任务. Before boarding the plane, 西比尔研究了从食物、文化到医疗系统的一切. And she's grateful the farewell party was a lot less memorable.

Stories From the Heart 记录心脏病和中风幸存者、护理人员和倡导者的鼓舞人心的旅程.