7 ms·

What a beautiful article. My girlfriend had three strokes, in succession, two years ago (when she was 22). The night before these strokes occurred, she had a t

by ohquu 12y ago

What a beautiful article. My girlfriend had three strokes, in succession, two years ago (when she was 22). The night before these strokes occurred, she had a transient ischemic attack (TIA). She began speaking gibberish to her friends. She texted me later that night explaining what happened. Her friends had laughed about it because they thought she was just acting like a goofball. I had no idea these were signs of a TIA, but I told her that if it happened again she needed to go to the doctor immediately. The next day, the right side of her body went numb. This time, she was around people who noticed something was wrong, and she was immediately rushed to the emergency room. By the next day, I had flown a thousand miles (from the location of my new job) to be with her. She couldn't remember many words. She couldn't read a clock. She did not know the answer to 3 + 0. It turned out that, similar to the author of this article, clots had traveled through the hole in her heart and up to her brain. Luckily, she recovered fully and was back to her old self within about a month. She had surgery to fix the PFO a couple months later. The neurologist told her that nine times out of ten, the clot travels a different path, and the victim is left dead or braindead. I am so lucky. Writing about this has me in big tears. I am going to stop writing and go hug her now.

quintin 12y ago
Thanks for this. Are you in the US? If so, how much did the ordeal cost?
- ryanSrich 12y ago
  This is my question as well. I'm not only afraid of something like this happening but that I'd be ruined financially if it did (and it really doesn't have to be something this big. Simply going to the emergency room would cost me thousands).
  - offbrand 12y ago
    Is health insurance not an option?
    - ryanSrich 12y ago
      I do have health insurance but it only covers around 47% of my medical costs (at least when I go for a primary care visit, I suspect they might even cover less for a more expensive procedure). I understand that my coverage is not all that common, although most providers do an 80/20 split. So for a procedure costing $100k (an ambulance ride and a few nights in the hospital would easily run this high) you'd have to pay $20k out of pocket.
      - pcl 12y ago
        Many health insurance plans have a yearly cap on how much you pay out of pocket. So you might pay 20% up to a few thousand dollars, and then get 100% coverage after that.
        refurb 12y ago
        Actually, with the passage of the ACA, the limit is a requirement for all health insurance plans (a few were grandfathered in, but they will disappear over the next few years). It goes up each year (adjusted for inflation), but as an individual, your maximum out of pocket (includes everything: deductible, co-pays, co-insurance, etc) is ~$6,750.
        zaroth 12y ago
        See: https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-limit/ https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-li...
        justanother 12y ago
        I'll never forget the year I had laproscopic surgery to remove my gallbladder, not because of the experience (although being asked for $3000, in cash, before they'd let me into the OR, was interesting, but welcome to America), but because I ended up hitting my $5000 or so out-of-pocket maximum, between that and co-pays for a few other visits. For the remaining 6 months of the year, I joked that I was living it up Canadian style, and actually visited the doctor to get regular exams and to get medicated for influenza, you know, the things everyone should do, but a large double-digit percentage of Americans can't. Ahh, the good life...
- ohquu 12y ago
  Yes, we are in the US. Her situation was unique in many respects. She was on her father's health insurance plan (Blue Cross and Blue Shield) and also had secondary health insurance from being a student athlete at our university. (The first of the three strokes occurred during a meet! The other two occurred within a day after being transported to the hospital.) Everything would have cost well over $100,000 had she not had insurance, but thankfully all visits/procedures were completely paid for. I'm unsure how much it would have cost (uninsured) had it been a more straightforward path toward treatment. However, I left many details out of the story. Doctors were unsure if the stroke was simply caused by a PFO; they thought she may have had a more serious heart defect. Thus, she was airlifted to a better hospital for a more thorough diagnosis and later ended up having robotically-assisted heart surgery (i.e., not the simple, cheaper PFO closure procedure described in this article). Another thing: her father was very persistent with the insurance companies throughout this entire ordeal. Had he not paid attention to the way things were being billed (i.e., between primary and secondary insurance), some costs may have been pushed onto her family.
  - omegaworks 12y ago
    >Had he not paid attention to the way things were being billed (i.e., between primary and secondary insurance), some costs may have been pushed onto her family. How does one pay attention to this in a time of crisis? Is there a good guide to navigating it somewhere? Last summer I woke up with a monster headache and suddenly stopped being able to put words to thoughts. Tried calling a taxi, couldn't say where I wanted to go, so he called 911. On the way to the hospital in the ambulance I was just praying I was making the right decisions. The paramedics couldn't understand me and that frustrated them. They asked me what hospital, being an intern and totally new to the city I wouldn't know what to tell them even if I could. I was worried they'd treat me like I was on some kind of drug. Turns out I had contracted a meningitis. The ambulance ride was $1000.
    - dredmorbius 12y ago
      There are services which offer medical bill review for patients, usually via nurses or others with clinical and medical billing knowledge. I know of these largely through news coverage, and cannot speak to how effective they are (or what the costs are). The stories I've heard, though, of the absolute complete and total nightmare that is the US healthcare scam, are heartbreaking. I'm looking for online references but cannot find any at the moment, maybe others here have more information.
xtinehlee 12y ago
I'm the writer of the story--thank you so much for reading. I'm glad to know that my experience helps people gain further understanding of strokes/brain injuries. I hope your girlfriend is in a better place, now.
- skierscott 12y ago
  > I'm glad to know that my experience helps people gain further understanding of strokes/brain injuries. After my severe traumatic brain injury, I'm trying to do the same thing. Brain injuries are so broad and so complex and dangerously invisible. I would guess this is the one unifying thread between us. This is a solid A-level piece. Good job on both the writing and content.
  - muraiki 12y ago
    I've only had a mild traumatic brain injury, but it's been about 1 3/4 years and I still have some symptoms. I could emphasize with a lot of what was written in the article. You're right in saying that these injures are complex and invisible... and I would say that that is true as much for the people around you as it is for the person experiencing the injury. Even for someone who understands the symptoms conceptually, it's a completely different matter to actually experience what it's like to be unable to speak the name of a person that you see constantly, or to experience real pain from light, or to be around people and then be utterly exhausted afterwards. It took time for my family and friends to grasp the extent of my injury, especially since it didn't occur in any dramatic or obviously horrible way. If you are like me, you'll have moments in which you feel completely frustrated and hopeless. Be patient and merciful with yourself. Last year I wondered if I'd ever be able to have a job that required serious mental thought -- but this year I've successfully switched careers to become a full time programmer. I apologize if this is unsolicited advice, but I guess I'm saying what I wish I would have known when I first got my concussion. And for others who read this: if you get a concussion, see and listen to your doctor -- and if your doctor doesn't take you seriously, find someone who does (especially if you have a clinic nearby that specializes in concussion / brain injury). I can't know for sure, but I think my life over the past two years would have been a lot different had I simply _rested_ in the period afterwards, instead of staying up late studying.

by ohquu 12y ago

quintin 12y ago

Thanks for this. Are you in the US? If so, how much did the ordeal cost?

ryanSrich 12y ago
This is my question as well. I'm not only afraid of something like this happening but that I'd be ruined financially if it did (and it really doesn't have to be something this big. Simply going to the emergency room would cost me thousands).
- offbrand 12y ago
  Is health insurance not an option?
  - ryanSrich 12y ago
    I do have health insurance but it only covers around 47% of my medical costs (at least when I go for a primary care visit, I suspect they might even cover less for a more expensive procedure). I understand that my coverage is not all that common, although most providers do an 80/20 split. So for a procedure costing $100k (an ambulance ride and a few nights in the hospital would easily run this high) you'd have to pay $20k out of pocket.
    - pcl 12y ago
      Many health insurance plans have a yearly cap on how much you pay out of pocket. So you might pay 20% up to a few thousand dollars, and then get 100% coverage after that.
      - refurb 12y ago
        Actually, with the passage of the ACA, the limit is a requirement for all health insurance plans (a few were grandfathered in, but they will disappear over the next few years). It goes up each year (adjusted for inflation), but as an individual, your maximum out of pocket (includes everything: deductible, co-pays, co-insurance, etc) is ~$6,750.
        zaroth 12y ago
        See: https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-limit/ https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-li...
      - justanother 12y ago
        I'll never forget the year I had laproscopic surgery to remove my gallbladder, not because of the experience (although being asked for $3000, in cash, before they'd let me into the OR, was interesting, but welcome to America), but because I ended up hitting my $5000 or so out-of-pocket maximum, between that and co-pays for a few other visits. For the remaining 6 months of the year, I joked that I was living it up Canadian style, and actually visited the doctor to get regular exams and to get medicated for influenza, you know, the things everyone should do, but a large double-digit percentage of Americans can't. Ahh, the good life...
ohquu 12y ago
Yes, we are in the US. Her situation was unique in many respects. She was on her father's health insurance plan (Blue Cross and Blue Shield) and also had secondary health insurance from being a student athlete at our university. (The first of the three strokes occurred during a meet! The other two occurred within a day after being transported to the hospital.) Everything would have cost well over $100,000 had she not had insurance, but thankfully all visits/procedures were completely paid for. I'm unsure how much it would have cost (uninsured) had it been a more straightforward path toward treatment. However, I left many details out of the story. Doctors were unsure if the stroke was simply caused by a PFO; they thought she may have had a more serious heart defect. Thus, she was airlifted to a better hospital for a more thorough diagnosis and later ended up having robotically-assisted heart surgery (i.e., not the simple, cheaper PFO closure procedure described in this article). Another thing: her father was very persistent with the insurance companies throughout this entire ordeal. Had he not paid attention to the way things were being billed (i.e., between primary and secondary insurance), some costs may have been pushed onto her family.
- omegaworks 12y ago
  >Had he not paid attention to the way things were being billed (i.e., between primary and secondary insurance), some costs may have been pushed onto her family. How does one pay attention to this in a time of crisis? Is there a good guide to navigating it somewhere? Last summer I woke up with a monster headache and suddenly stopped being able to put words to thoughts. Tried calling a taxi, couldn't say where I wanted to go, so he called 911. On the way to the hospital in the ambulance I was just praying I was making the right decisions. The paramedics couldn't understand me and that frustrated them. They asked me what hospital, being an intern and totally new to the city I wouldn't know what to tell them even if I could. I was worried they'd treat me like I was on some kind of drug. Turns out I had contracted a meningitis. The ambulance ride was $1000.
  - dredmorbius 12y ago
    There are services which offer medical bill review for patients, usually via nurses or others with clinical and medical billing knowledge. I know of these largely through news coverage, and cannot speak to how effective they are (or what the costs are). The stories I've heard, though, of the absolute complete and total nightmare that is the US healthcare scam, are heartbreaking. I'm looking for online references but cannot find any at the moment, maybe others here have more information.

xtinehlee 12y ago

I'm the writer of the story--thank you so much for reading. I'm glad to know that my experience helps people gain further understanding of strokes/brain injuries. I hope your girlfriend is in a better place, now.

skierscott 12y ago
> I'm glad to know that my experience helps people gain further understanding of strokes/brain injuries. After my severe traumatic brain injury, I'm trying to do the same thing. Brain injuries are so broad and so complex and dangerously invisible. I would guess this is the one unifying thread between us. This is a solid A-level piece. Good job on both the writing and content.
- muraiki 12y ago
  I've only had a mild traumatic brain injury, but it's been about 1 3/4 years and I still have some symptoms. I could emphasize with a lot of what was written in the article. You're right in saying that these injures are complex and invisible... and I would say that that is true as much for the people around you as it is for the person experiencing the injury. Even for someone who understands the symptoms conceptually, it's a completely different matter to actually experience what it's like to be unable to speak the name of a person that you see constantly, or to experience real pain from light, or to be around people and then be utterly exhausted afterwards. It took time for my family and friends to grasp the extent of my injury, especially since it didn't occur in any dramatic or obviously horrible way. If you are like me, you'll have moments in which you feel completely frustrated and hopeless. Be patient and merciful with yourself. Last year I wondered if I'd ever be able to have a job that required serious mental thought -- but this year I've successfully switched careers to become a full time programmer. I apologize if this is unsolicited advice, but I guess I'm saying what I wish I would have known when I first got my concussion. And for others who read this: if you get a concussion, see and listen to your doctor -- and if your doctor doesn't take you seriously, find someone who does (especially if you have a clinic nearby that specializes in concussion / brain injury). I can't know for sure, but I think my life over the past two years would have been a lot different had I simply _rested_ in the period afterwards, instead of staying up late studying.