Teresa Brown-Fields vaguely recalls being at her mother’s house on May 18, 2017. The pair planned to go on a shopping trip when, suddenly, things got hazy.
Instead of heading to the store, Teresa found herself in an ambulance bound for JPS Health Network.
“I remember my mother was talking on the phone and I got up to ask her who she was talking to,” Brown-Fields said, trying to piece the events of the day together. “The next thing I remember, I went back to the living room and there were a bunch of people in there. I asked her who all those people were and what they were doing. She told me they were paramedics who needed to take me to the hospital in an ambulance.”
The hospital? An ambulance? Brown-Fields couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Despite the fact that she previously suffered a stroke three years ago in Wichita, Kan. that left her with weakness in her left arm and leg, Brown-Fields insisted she was fine. In fact, she thought it was so odd that an ambulance crew would be sent for her when there was seemingly nothing wrong that she became suspicious the paramedics were really kidnappers sent to abduct her.
“I know it seems crazy now,” Brown-Fields said. “But I wasn’t thinking straight at the time.”
Despite the protests, her mother, Rosie Taylor, wouldn’t give in. Finally, Teresa agreed to go to the hospital. But, upon arrival, she still insisted to anyone she came across that there was nothing wrong with her. She just wanted to go home.
It wasn’t until doctors at JPS, a Comprehensive Level I Stroke Center designated by the State of Texas, showed Brown-Fields a scan of her head that she had the sobering realization her mother’s fears were justified. She could see the clot that was causing a stroke with her own eyes.
Taylor may very well have saved her daughter’s life – but it’s certain she saved her a lot of brain cells for her, according to JPS Health Network Stroke Program Clinical Nurse Specialist Lauri Speirs. Research has found stroke victims lose an average of 1.9 million brain cells a minute until they receive care.
Ischemic strokes — those caused by a blood clot in the brain like what Brown-Fields experienced — account for about 85 percent of stroke cases. When they strike, a clot-busting drug called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) can put the brakes on damage done by a clot, preventing or limiting permanent brain injury. For it to work, the drug must be given intravenously within the first 4.5 hours after symptoms appear. After that, it’s likely too much damage has been done to expect a full recovery. Only about 10 percent of people who suffer strokes make it to the hospital within the 4.5 hour window.
In addition to a dose of tPA, doctors told Brown-Fields she required surgery.
“I told them if they needed to do it, let’s go ahead and get it over with,” Brown-Fields said, suddenly on-board with her care plan.
Doctors put a cardiac catheter in her groin in a procedure similar to one used to clean out arteries near the heart that are filled with plaque. Instead of stopping at the heart, in this case the catheter kept going all the way to the brain where it was used to remove the dangerous clot.
When Brown-Fields woke from her operation, the gravity of the situation hit her. The patient’s demeanor switched from defiant to grateful.
“I couldn’t remember what happened very well, so the first thing I wanted to know if I was mean to people,” Teresa said. “I told them I was sorry for anything I did because I wasn’t in my right mind. I’m so grateful they didn’t listen to me when I told them I didn’t need help so they were able to save me.”
Speirs assured the patient she was perfectly pleasant – and that it’s not unusual for stroke victims to be unwilling to accept or unable to understand what is happening to them.
Strokes often come without head pain, a symptom people expect from a problem inside their brain. Instead, Speirs said, symptoms to be concerned about include balance issues, trouble with eyesight including blurry or double vision, facial muscle problems including drooping at one side of the mouth, weakness or numbness in arms and slurred speech. If you or a loved one have one or more of those indicators, it’s time to call for an ambulance.
Although her mother passed away a short time after helping to save her life, Brown-Fields said Taylor’s motherly advice lives on. Last year she had numbness in her arm that wouldn’t go away. She learned her lesson and had the symptoms checked out by professionals instead of assuming it would work itself out. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. But she was glad to have the peace of mind that came from being examined.
“I’m not going to make that mistake again,” Brown-Fields said. “I’m just thankful I got a second chance.”