Polk County
Living
SURVIVING
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 13, 2015 7A
STROKE
Husband’s quick thinking
in dialing 911 saves wife
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Larry Britten
knew there was something wrong
when he couldn’t understand what
his wife was trying to tell him.
His wife, Louise Britten, had got-
ten up in the middle of the night
and taken the flashlight she always
used when trying to navigate their
darkened home. What she was try-
ing to tell Larry when she returned
to bed was that she couldn’t turn
off the flashlight.
“He couldn’t understand what I
was saying, so he thought, ‘I think I
better call 911,’” Louise said.
It was 3 a.m. on March 17, 2014,
and life for the couple had
changed in a matter of seconds.
Larry’s instinct to call for help
immediately probably saved his
wife’s life.
Louise, 83, had suffered a major
stroke and, within minutes, was on
her way to the emergency room at
Salem Hospital. She spend nearly
three days in the ICU and, after
that, began the long process of
being “reintroduced” to the left
side of her body.
Long hours of physical therapy,
occupational therapy and speech
therapy helped Louise relearn how
to do things she had done all her
life. Her brain had to “rewire” itself
to compensate for the damage
caused by the stroke.
May marks one year since
Louise “graduated” from therapy
and while she may not be 100 per-
cent the woman she was on March
16, 2014, she’s regained much of
what she lost. This month also is
“Stroke Awareness Month.”
Louise’s story serves as a good
cautionary tale — the Brittens be-
lieve her stroke could have been
prevented. She also could be a
poster child for how to work
through recovery — with plenty of
support from her husband and
team of therapists looking to help
her re-establish a normal routine.
“I personally didn’t know any-
thing about strokes,” Larry said, re-
calling that fateful night. “Both of
our families never had any experi-
ence with a stroke.”
He didn’t recognize the symp-
toms, but doctors were able to diag-
nose it quickly. The likely cause was
atrial fibrillation, or an irregular
heartbeat, which formed a blood
clot that made its way to her brain.
Louise had been aware of her
condition, but not that it could
cause a stroke. She cautions any-
one who has an irregular heartbeat
to research it and seek treatment if
necessary.
“Find out all you can, because I
think her stroke could have been
prevented,” Larry said.
Lorraine Brazier, Louise’s speech
therapist, said Larry’s reaction in
the early morning of March 17,
Do you know?
Key symptoms of a stoke can
be remembered using the
acronym FAST:
F — Facial asymmetry or
weakness on one side.
A — numbness or lack of
motor control in one arm.
S — Slurred speech.
T — Time, the faster the pa-
tient has medical care, the bet-
ter.
2014, was unbeknownst to him,
exactly what he should have done.
“I think it’s important for the
family to realize that the patient,
the person with the symptoms,
may not be the best person to be
making decisions about whether
or not 911 should be called,” Bra-
zier said. “I think the person clos-
est to the person having symptoms
needs to step up and make the call,
because the person with the stroke
may not have the insight to realize
there is something wrong with
them. Louise lost her whole left
side and didn’t know it.
“She had to be reintroduced to
her left side.”
That process began quickly for
Louise, in the form of a physical
therapist she nicknamed “Sarge”
for her no-nonsense manner.
She appeared in Louise’s room
in the ICU on her third day in the
hospital.
“‘We are starting therapy this
morning. Here’s your walker. I
want you to walk to your door and
make a left turn and go down the
hall,’” Louise recalled the therapist
telling her.
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Louise Britten, left, with the help of her husband, Larry, and a team of physical, occupational, and speech
therapists has recovered much of what she lost after suffering a stroke in March 2014.
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Britten worked with speech pathologist Lorraine Brazier on exercises
similar to these to recover her speech and ability to read and write.
Louise looked down the hall and
decided it wasn’t possible.
“That’s pretty far for the first
time walking (without assistance),”
Louise recalled saying.
“She said, ‘Do it!’ … I nicknamed
her Sarge, but she had a tender
heart.”
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Britten, right, had clear goals when she began seeing Brazier, left, in out-patient rehab in Monmouth
after being released from the hospital. She wanted to cook and write cards and letters again.
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AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13) (11:45 2:50)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13) (12:15 3:20)
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (Digital 2D) (R)
(1:40)
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MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (NEC Dolby 3D) (R)
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Larry was equally amazed when
he saw his wife — who hadn’t
managed to sit up by herself yet —
pushing a walker down the hall.
“They want to get you going.
They don’t want you bed-ridden,”
Larry said. “They want you to get
yourself back to where you want to
be.”
A hard worker who had the con-
stant support of Larry, Louise
made it to “independence day,”
the day they sent her home from
in-patient therapy.
“They are very special to me,”
Louise said her of nurses, doctors
and therapists.
She met Brazier at the rehab
center at Monmouth Medical Cen-
ter, where Louise was very clear
with her goals.
She wanted to continue talking
to her brother and grandchildren
on the phone. She wanted to cook.
She wanted to write and read letters
and cards again. Brazier and other
therapists worked with her on those
goal, assigning her “homework” —
exercises to do at home.
“Once you are released from the
hospital, your therapist gives you a
list of exercises to do, do them be-
cause it really, really helps,” Louise
said.
Months after Louise left rehab,
Brazier received a surprise in the
mail — proof of the impact of ther-
apy and Louise’s dedication.
“She wrote me a card — one of
her goals was to send cards again.
She sent me a little ‘thank you’
note in the mail,” Brazier said.
“That just warmed me to think you
met your goal. You are back writing
cards.”
Larry credits Louise’s team of
therapists, from the in-patient
rehab center at Salem Hospital to
the team at Monmouth Medical
Center, for helping his wife regain
her life.
“These people were awesome,”
he said. “I can’t believe how these
people helped her so much and
saw what her needs were. It’s the
most amazing thing I’ve seen in
my whole life.”
297 Pacific Avenue,
Monmouth 503-838-1141
EX MACHINA (Digital) (R)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13)
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (Digital 2D) (R)
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (Digital 2D) (R)
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (NEC Dolby 3D) (R)
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Thursday May 21
EX MACHINA (Digital) (R)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13)
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (Digital 2D) (R)
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (Digital 2D) (R)
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (NEC Dolby 3D) (R)
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