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June 24, 2019 1:37 pm
Sandi Floria quickly moved to intense concern when her 42-year-old husband repeatedly dropped the baby food while feeding their infant. The puzzled look on his face signaled more than just clumsy hands, and she jumped into action - because she understood warning signs of a stroke.
Sandi called the show to share her story, their journey, and their ministry, Compassion Radio.
Sandi's husband Bram has been the Full-Time Host of Compassion Radio and President of Compassion Ventures since December, 2016. For ten years he served as Executive Producer for the daily broadcast, which now reaches tens of thousands through a network of nearly 500 radio stations with 1000 releases a day.
Bram met Sandi in 1984 while doing Missions Work together in Eastern Europe. Apart and together, they led teams of Christian musicians on Evangelistic Crusades throughout Western Europe, the Soviet Bloc, Africa and Southeast Asia. As a Development Director for Continental Ministries and Christian Artists, Inc., Bram helped advance the arts in creative worship on three continents.
Today, the Florias live on 30 acres of what they call their ‘Texas Paradise’ where they’ve raised their four children.
From the National Stroke Association:
A stroke is a “brain attack”. It can happen to anyone at any time. It occurs when blood flow to an area of brain is cut off. When this happens, brain cells are deprived of oxygen and begin to die. When brain cells die during a stroke, abilities controlled by that area of the brain such as memory and muscle control are lost.
How a person is affected by their stroke depends on where the stroke occurs in the brain and how much the brain is damaged. For example, someone who had a small stroke may only have minor problems such as temporary weakness of an arm or leg. People who have larger strokes may be permanently paralyzed on one side of their body or lose their ability to speak. Some people recover completely from strokes, but more than 2/3 of survivors will have some type of disability.
Use F-A-S-T to Remember the Warning Signs of a Stroke
Stroke By The Numbers
Back to the show for caregivers about caregivers hosted by caregiver.
This is Peter Rosenberger bringing you three decades plus experience to help you stay strong and healthy as you take care of someone who is not and why is that important well again if you go down.
What happens to your level. If you are not a good place and when I say go down I don't mean just you. You get the flu or something. If something happens to you where you work, you are taken out of the picture for extended period of time financially, emotionally, physically, professionally, all of those things it can get really really gnarly for you as a caregiver and your love. So that's why we do the show 800-688-9522 800-688-9522 strokes strokes are a ugly specter that hang over the heads of so many Americans and we all think that those things are for the elderly, but they're not.
And my guest today is a friend who is been to this process are husband was 42 years old and she's with us. They sent you there hey this is Sandy Florio and she and her husband Graham longtime friends of ours and she's out in Texas and this thank you for being willing to share the story you actually worked in an environment where you understood strokes so you saw some things that other people may not have, but tell us goodbye to be getting a just tell the story of what happened to her. Writing to share our story because it got an outline that the story and we had been traveling a lot number 2009 and the long trip and I had a small town baby and three older kids. We had gone back to working or anything. I came home to get ready for dinner and my husband Graham with being a dainty drop baby for jar on equipment or any hello Megan actually had to clean it up and get contact their pharynx and started feeding the baby again and in my rash around anything to get the dinner on the table. He dropped the baby food jar again and it made me angry financially and I said I do quick and I think you and he had a really confused look on his dad hang out and I don't know what you mean and I think it hung out and couldn't really learn fellow at that point I said to her older daughter who was 13 at the time, and I'm online how to stroke and drink all neighbor and then I took Carrie and I carried but I want Frank to the bedroom and I began to at pension income can in going unconscious and on the lake until the paramedics arrived and they arrived quickly.
Thankfully and how different the country so I was little concerned that they arrived quickly got into the hospital within and after wind down and was able to receive the medication that that help but think that life so you click when the pyramids got there the transporting. What did they do for him in that process. What what what what happened during the do the whole for the moment they got there to the hospital because they do anything well not really but on the drug kind of medication at the time, they may now I don't now that on that paramedic told me one of the paramedics at I think he had the migraine dehydrated. I only realized I'm going have to fight the fight for my husband because they didn't think the belief and so I just said no, having a stroke and is a theory situation needed in the hospital right away and you know this will work in a facility in a rehab facility for several years before I was married and worked with close brain injury patients and not instruct patient and so I was able to recognize that that's what happening to brand and I feel very fortunate that I was prepared for that and I didn't know I needed to be prepared, but on but that's what that is and and I let earlier because you mentioned to know the defined what to look for and there's a lot of website that will give you just really simple things that one of the best ones that I felt was called back and the FF AFP look at their faith nihilistic out there time and if it pulled to one side. After the one side. That's a good indicator if there their arms aren't there unable to lift one of their arms over their head all the way old downward. That's another good indicator speech is slurred. That's an indicator and then kind for TN call 911 right away.
There are lifesaving for teacher if you get to the hospital a short window of time so this all happened. He was 42. This is the was no warning. Nothing right right well known that brand cholesterol and high bid thinking my diet, exercise, cholesterol levels down, but what we didn't know at it with something that that was not what a conical restaurant that can treat diet had to have medications to treat it because it had gotten really high and we had just lost sight of that in some way had been gotten more inactive in content as the day when we get older sometime and so it was something that you got out of hand for the tenant out of sight out of mind and he was not prepared to was not aware that if cholesterol levels had gotten quite so high now brand situation is a little unique in that carotid arteries are called tortured arteries, which means they corkscrew instead at this going into the brain, like most people have that with another factor in the stroking that when his cholesterol levels gotten so high blood had gotten carotid on it. It was more difficult for it to get up into his brain.
With every you didn't really know all this did you know we didn't know that that was something I needed to ask when we found out that the doctor had did you know that when they get all of the MRI and CT scan quickly.
Didn't know of a shop. He's made a full recovery, but it's not that easy will what he is back to health. In normal he had made a full recovery and a lot of years it's 10 years. This year, and there's been a lot of we had speech therapy.
He also having contact heart surgery and they found a hole in his heart, which contributed all stroke and had to be repaired and it was about six years ago and on yeah and you on medication shall be on interest and cholesterol med for the rest of his life, but like he said he is fully recovered and you know people and I don't think anyone would ever suspect that he had had a stroke limit switch gears recovered are you on some days are better than other week with our ministry and so sometimes we don't have together. So when Graham traveled by him. I did get by myself you anxious at times that I have to trust the Lord because the things are unpredictable and again you know you can't even fear and have to choose not to do that. Well, it's been 10 years but I would imagine the first lease the first part of the usual list of muscle you because you fairly Coleman look like just freaking out everywhere but that you put some time between it, but I was the first several years with small children. This was pretty much a nightmare for you. Well I think so. We homeschool their children at the time, which was a gift from God. Actually, because we were able to be together as a family all the time every day and that we needed to recover.
I think we needed the children needed that I needed to see that there is adequate better and they were able to go to rehab with him sometime help with history had quizzed him on his therapy.
Everything would know we made a game of time and I think that that was healing for all of the learned even more so to laugh a lot and you know our children hope it was was open. It was your sense of humor nauseous because I think it is love help. This is totally supports your Buddha.
I'll be glad to offer some cover counseling without living BSU a couple questions on this when you went through this process you doing all this, you throw yourself into learning about its both of you. Did you open we did. What's changed for you as a family because of this a bit if you gone completely into different type of eating lifestyle physical lifestyle of what what's changed. Well, I know I'll say we have changed a lot in the way our current unprotected and current.
Everyone knows that if it does not make them very crazy with it and not edible so that had to change and I had to learn how to cook again in different ways and that that was a prophet for me when I was happy to think that it was a prophet and I think we became more active as a family together. We like to hike and that's kind of what we do.
If we go on vacation without hiking, climbing where outdoorsy and then so that been part of the change drive in exercising more and and we are together as much as we can be that important that we see how quickly things can change in how quickly life becomes fragile, and so it has been very important for us over the years. Even though our are two older have moved away from home on far away from home and other state we as often as possible get together at family time so I think that's something that we always stop before now even more so we make it a bigger effort to spiritually spiritually will change. We just got a couple minutes you would with change management.
Well, I think my prayer came in got keep it from happening or not happening that got Dana Amy and be my strength and wanted to think what song that just absolutely against me to not think of Psalm 18. I won't read the whole thing, but it just it talked about how God just absolutely comes directly in our deepest knee and arm assessment situation, and even though there were moments that we had no idea whether grandma survive the first 24 hours or 48 hours. He was in a, and we did know that God was still present in such a pain, or that I can't not try and that it's not comparable
