What made you want to work in stroke?
Working in the ER exposed me to a vast array of strokes, from TIAs to hemorrhagic. Strokes have always fascinated me because based on the patient’s physical exam and deficits (if you know you’re neuroanatomy and physiology well), you can immediately tell which parts of the brain are offline.
Then based on that, you can quickly deduce where the ischaemia or haemorrhage is occurring. It’s a fun investigation to test your knowledge before the CT and MRI illuminate the answer.
What advice wold you give to yourself at the start of your career?
Looking back, I wish I had read the book My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte at the start of my career. She is a neuroanatomist that suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke and lived.
She recounts her experience with horrifying detail, which gave me a whole new perspective in how to care for stroke patients.
I highly recommend this book for all healthcare professionals. She helped me realise how important it is to be extremely patient.
What is the best quality someone working with stroke can have?
Stroke patients need extensive amounts of sleep, rest, and practice to relearn skills. They frequently experience anger and depression at not being able to function they way they used to.
I counsel them to make small baby steps, keep practicing, just fail forward a little bit each day. And like Dr. Bolte, you could potentially get back to almost perfect baseline.
Tell us about your work with Sleepline
At Sleepline I’m the chief medical advisor. After a stroke, sleep and mood disorders are unfortunately common. Patients suddenly spend much more time recovering in bed, therefore the type of mattress becomes extremely important.
I first became interested in Sleepline because their mission isn’t just to sell a product, but to genuinely help people.
Their mission statement: “To improve sleep health in a chronically sleep-deprived world by giving unbiased, accurate information free from industry influence. Unlike competing sites that are owned by manufacturers or investment companies, to always stay independent and trustworthy, recommending products that are best for the consumer and not for the corporate bottom line.”
People can trust that if they suffer from chronic pain, for example, this website will give completely unbiased reviews of those types of mattresses.
