Every 40 seconds someone in the United States will suffer a stroke. Would you know it, if you saw a stranger having stroke? For a Milbank man, he’s counting himself lucky that enough people saw the signs and were able to put the pieces together in time.
By his own admission, Dennis Adelman doesn't think he's worthy of being interviewed. But sometimes, the most incredible stories can be difficult to put into words.
"I don't have an answer for why I'm still here. You know, there must be something there that I'm meant to do yet, so,” said Adelman.
In June of 2024, while at a neurology appointment, Dennis was about to experience being in the right place, at the right time.
“This visit just seemed a little bit different. Before he even got to the exam room, other clinical staff had noticed that something just doesn't seem right. His balance just seemed off, and he kept dropping his appointment paper that he had brought with him,” said Chrissy Thury, CNP, with Avera Medical Group Neurology.
“She said, are you always this weak? I said, I'm not weak, but I was dropping my papers, and I could not pick them up for some reason," said Adelman.
Dennis was also slurring his speech, and the left side of his face was drooping, key identifiers of stroke.
“It's very rare to have somebody come to the clinic with a stroke. The usual presentation is into the ER, because there's a big change all of a sudden. In this case, that didn't happen, because there are some strokes where you don't even realize you have the symptoms. Other people have to point them out to you, and so this gentleman came to the clinic with the symptoms that were brand new,” said Andrew Ridder, MD, a neurologist with Avera Medical Group Neurology.
With a stroke suspected, the next step is to determine if the stroke started within the last four hours.
“Because when we have a stroke, and there's a blood vessel that's blocked, opening that blood vessel up to get the blood back into that section of the brain is the goal. However, if that brain is dying, if it's damaged enough, putting blood back into that section of brain is highly risky. We do have to know exactly when it started,” said Dr. Ridder.
“We didn't really have a timeline of when, because he didn't really think anything was wrong. He had actually said that he was at his hairdresser that morning prior, and was at baseline,” said Thury.
Chrissy then became more of a private investigator, calling the salon to get a better idea of Dennis' state of mind.
“What time did Dennis leave? Was he normal? And they said, you know, around 11 o'clock, he was still himself,” said Thury.
That still left a few hours unaccounted for, so Chrissy reached out to family.
“So I talked to his wife, and she actually said that his son had talked to him around 1 p.m.,” said Thury.
“My son had called me and I was at a pawn shop, and he said later, 'Dad, you weren't putting two words together that made any sense,'" said Adelman.
“So between roughly maybe 12 and 2:30, symptoms onset. So we found he was within the window after gathering all that information,” said Thury.
“She wheeled me over to the elevator, and we went down, and when the doors opened, that's the last I remember,” said Adelman.
“We just kind of high-tailed it to the ED and hoped that something was found so that he could get the treatment he needed,” said Thury.
By being in the right place, and within the right amount of time, doctors were able to safely remove the blood clot from Dennis' brain and limit the damage to his body.
“It was a collaborative effort between not only clinical staff, from when he got off the elevator, but to people he had seen throughout the day that weren't medical at all, just to kind of piece the puzzle together. And luckily, we were able to get him the care he needed,” said Thury
“Oh, I'm very lucky. They’re angels. And yeah, it's pretty cool that I'm here yet,” said Adelman.
Not only are the chances of surviving a stroke greater when emergency treatment begins quickly, but the risk of long-term complications and disability are also decreased. Learn more about neuro-critical care at Avera
