 Stroke: A survivor’s story Joy McCauley of Royston has tears in her eyes as she recalls seeing her husband walk again for the first time. She didn’t know it would be possible. But, as she recounts his battle for life after a massive stroke, she smiles. “Medically, he shouldn’t have lived,” Joy says. “He faced one trauma after the other. But his attitude was amazing, and still is. I believe it has a direct effect on his recovery.” Randy McCauley suffered a life-threatening stroke and endured high-risk surgery to return to where he is today. Because the surgery was successful, he is making a phenomenal recovery that astonishes his doctors and gives his family a reason to believe in miracles. Randy’s stroke struck after routine gallbladder surgery at a small community hospital. He was in the parking lot when the stroke started, and was rushed to the hospital’s emergency room. Doctors there did not think he was suffering from a stroke, possibly because he was so young, but Joy was not convinced. She asked that Randy be rushed to St. Mary’s, Northeast Georgia’s first certified stroke center. At St. Mary’s, doctors confirmed Joy’s fears and told her that his best chance for survival was emergency surgery to remove part of his skull. This operation would save brain cells by giving his brain room to swell. It was not guaranteed to work. It was risky. Randy would have to live several months with part of his skull implanted in his abdomen to keep the bone tissue alive. And because the stroke was so severe, even if the surgery did succeed, he would need months of rehabilitation to regain the ability to walk, talk and live at home. “We didn’t think he would live,” says Cammie Llewallyn, RN, Director of Neuroscience Services at St. Mary’s. “But because of his tenacious will and amazing support from family and friends, he did very well. Today he has regained much of his ability to speak and walk. He is amazing!” The McCauleys explain that no other facility gave them the hope he gained through St. Mary’s. He woke up from the surgery in great condition, according to his doctors. And since beginning rehabilitation, he has grown stronger, improved his walking, and gained more control over his limbs. “Randy has recovered astoundingly well,” says Kim Walpert, M.D., a neurosurgeon and Medical Director of St. Mary’s Neuroscience Center. “He has done a tremendous job and is taking the right steps to staying healthy.” Randy’s recovery progressed so well that in September of 2007, surgeons replaced the portion of skull they had removed after his stroke. That second surgery also was a success, Joy says, and within two weeks he was back at St. Mary’s Center for Rehabilitation Medicine. The difference this time was that his head now was in one piece. “He is unbelievable,” she says. “He is totally off all of his pain medication, and hasn’t had one headache since they finished. He looks great and he’s doing great.” Randy’s main goal, aside from learning to walk again, is going back to work. With a little more tweaking on his speech, he plans to start serving customers from his home. “He loves to talk with people,” says Randy’s father, L.C. McCauley. “You stand still long enough and he’ll talk to you.” One thing the McCauleys mention over and over is the quality of care they received at St. Mary’s. For example, one nurse told Joy that she had fasted for Randy during a time when he was in a coma. They didn’t even know her name. Other nurses came in and prayed over him and with him, brought him CDs and laughed with him. “We never needed anything because the nurses always made sure we were taken care of,” Joy says. “One nurse wrapped her arms around us, caring for us like our mother. It’s not just care here, it is care with love. They were confident, efficient and knew what they were doing.” “We’ve made a concerted effort to train all our staff with the skill sets needed in our continuum of care,” says Dr. Walpert. “We constantly implement performance goals that help us continue to strive for the highest level of care.” “I’ve been given a new lease on life,” Randy says. “Now, I don’t know where we’ll stop.” Stroke: A primer As a certified stroke center, St. Mary’s offers a full continuum of stroke care, including the powerful clot-busting drug tPA. If given within three hours of the onset of symptoms, tPA can stop certain kinds of stroke and prevent additional damage to the brain. St. Mary’s also offers: emergency care, a Neuroscience Critical Care Unit, the region’s only inpatient rehabilitation unit, general neuroscience nursing, home health care services, a wellness center, nutritional counseling, a stroke support group and more. If someone shows signs of stroke, call 911 immediately! Warning signs of stroke:
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