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Stroke Survivor of the Month - May/June 2005

Maria Rivera
Bronx, NY

She was a woman who thought she was totally in control of herself and her life. Then the unthinkable happened. Suddenly, she was completely dependent on the care of others. She has fought her way from depression to determination and in the process found belief in someone greater than any human being and a community that cares more than she ever imagined.

Maria says:

"Yo realiso que es un processo que coge de mucho tiempo. Pero poco a poco yo veo que estoy mejorando. Los terapistas de EL GOLPE DE LA ESPERANZA me han dado mucha inspiracion y motivacion.

I was born in Puerto Rico but moved to New York when I was 9 years old so essentially I'm a New Yorker since childhood. I was a registered nurse (I still have my license) and worked at hospitals in the New York area until I retired about 12 years ago. My last job was at the Veteran's Administration in Manhattan. I was married, I'm now divorced. I have two adult children and two grandchildren. My previous medical history includes hypertension, diabetes, hypothyroid and osteo-arthritis in addition to being overweight, but I was ambulatory and independent.

On July 4, 2004 I had a stroke. I had been watching the fireworks on TV and was sitting in my rocking chair and dozed off. When I got up to go to the bathroom my whole left side gave out on me and I fell on the floor. Previous to the stroke I had been feeling weakness in my left leg when I walked but I assumed it was part of the arthritis because the knees were hurting. I got myself up, fell on the floor again and got up again and fell again. I finally said, "Something's wrong." I called my doctor and told her, "I think I'm having a stroke." She said, "Get to the hospital." Then I called 911 and when they came I told them I was having a stroke and they took me to the hospital. My sister lived on the same street four doors down.

I did not lose consciousness at all. I maintained full cognition through the whole time. I stayed in the hospital 2 - 3 weeks and then I was transferred to the rehab center and I was there another 2 weeks. I apparently developed a pulmonary embolus so they shipped me back to the hospital for another 2 weeks. Then back to rehab until November.

Rehab was not really a positive experience. I felt that they were not consistent enough. They call for you and bring you to the therapy room and you sit there and wait for the one assigned to you while they work with 2 to 3 patients at one time. So they tell you do this exercise for a while and they work with another patient, then they come back to you. So you're not really getting a consistent effort. Out of an hour of therapy, you're lucky if you get twenty minutes.