2019年6月, Kristen Knight's world changed when her husband Bruce passed away unexpectedly after 27 years of marriage. He was a headlining comedian and she was working in the show business industry in Las Vegas. 他们没有孩子，她和家人也不亲密, 所以他的死不仅粉碎了她的整个世界, 但这也让她感到非常孤独.
大约17个月后, 2020年11月, Kristen was watching television when she tried to pick up the remote control on the side of her bed. 不管她怎么努力，她的左臂都动不了. 沮丧的她试着（大声地）说：“我的身体怎么了?她说话含糊不清，这说明出了严重的问题.
She called 911 and an ambulance came and took her to the nearest emergency room where they said she was having a 中风. 中风后的每一秒都很重要, 所以她很幸运能马上注意到问题并得到了及时的大发娱乐. 如果她睡着了或者没有意识到情况有多严重, 她可能没有及时得到治疗.
当中风患者在特定时间内到达医院时, 医生可以使用一种叫做TPA的抗凝血药物, 或者组织纤溶酶原激活剂, that breaks apart the clot and helps restore blood flow to the brain or other area of the body. 医生们评论说，克里斯汀及时赶到接受TPA治疗是多么幸运, 这可能救了她的命. 但她并不觉得幸运.
“我躺在那里，左侧瘫痪了，当时我并不觉得幸运. 但我并没有失去视力, 说话的能力, 或者我的任何认知功能, 所以情况可能会更糟,克里斯汀说。.
The cause of her 中风 was (and still is) unknown since Kristen had no family history or common risk factors. Her initial hospital visit was only a few days in the intensive care unit before she went to a nursing home facility. 出院后, she went home but ended up back in the hospital three more times with another clot and brain hemorrhages.
Kristen would eventually go to two separate rehab facilities in the Las Vegas area as part of her ongoing treatment, 但都没有大发娱乐提供她需要的照顾. Each time she was discharged back home, where she was completely alone and partially paralyzed. 她感到既无助又绝望. She wanted to be readmitted to the hospital just to have someone to help her with daily living activities like bathing, 吃, 上厕所. 她有很好的保险, 但没有得到任何支持来建立家庭医疗保健, 也不知道如何获得她需要的服务.
"I was very, very suicidal, extremely suicidal, I even started planning it,克里斯汀说。. 中风幸存者通常有严重的头痛和焦虑, 医生还开了强效止痛和抗焦虑药物来大发娱乐患者. She thought about how much alcohol she would have to mix with those pills to end her life. "It seemed like the medical staff who were supposed to be helping me really were working against me, 这太可怕了,她说.
不过，还是有一线希望的. 中风前，克里斯汀与老朋友道格重新取得了联系. 大约35年前，他们一起创作音乐. 他是一名音响工程师，家里有一个录音室, 她主动联系我，希望能再次合作.
Doug and his wife Judy heard she was in the hospital and came to stay with her while she recovered. 她的账单堆积如山，房东威胁要把她赶出去. 她在等保险公司的赔付, 但与此同时，公用事业, 租金, 其他款项仍未到期. Other friends helped with 租金 so she would have a place to live, but it wasn't a long-term solution.
然后道格和朱迪建议克里斯汀住在他们犹他州的家里. They built a room that could accommodate her needs and would take her to doctor's appointments. 中风之前, 克里斯汀只在晚餐时见过朱迪一次, 她和道格的专业合作是几十年前的事了. 然而，这对夫妇很快就像一家人一样，她同意搬去和他们住在一起.
克里斯汀说：“他们非常慷慨无私，真的很了不起。. Doug and Judy also suggested that Kristen might benefit from going to University of Utah Health's brand-new 克雷格·H. 尼尔森康复医院 它于2020年在盐湖城开业.
It was a battle to get her doctors in Vegas to discharge her to the rehab facility, though. They were pushing her to go to a nursing home again, but she insisted on 康复. 她在拉斯维加斯的社工帮不上忙, 所以她自己给招生部门打了电话，并与保险公司进行了斗争，终于被录取了. Before the hospital would release her, she also had to arrange for medical transport.
She was still struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts when she first arrived at the 尼尔森康复医院. 然而，道格和朱迪的慷慨足以让她决定继续下去. 后来她去了uu of U Health，她的整个人生都改变了. 在到达时, the first change she noticed compared to her prior experiences with rehab and the nursing home facilities was the staff.
“每个人都很好. I told them about my fight to get there and they kept saying they were happy to have me there, 我应该去那里,克里斯汀说。. 她一开始并没有这种感觉, 但在见到她的新医生后，她知道这就是她需要的地方.
史蒂文Edgley医学博士是 中风康复 在大发娱乐. 在开始接受眼科医生的医学培训之后, he experienced a 中风 at the age of 28 and changed his medical career to focus on 中风 prevention and 康复. 他知道克里斯汀已经在医院接受了几次治疗, 急性康复, 在到达尼尔森康复医院之前. 他是第一个真正了解她经历的人, 这有助于她信任他和他的团队.
“对大多数人来说， 中风康复 他们一生中最艰难的事情是什么, and it takes a tremendous amount of 精神 fortitude and a team with the skillset to facilitate that recovery,”医生说。. Edgley.
Dr. Edgley and his team also knew that Kristen had struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts, 对于这么多中风患者来说，这是多么困难啊. 医疗团队经常关注中风恢复的身体挑战, 但心理和情感方面同样重要.
"It's critically important to understand and treat the emotional and psychological aspects of 中风. 病人 are mourning loss of function, and they are dealing with psychological trauma. Not addressing those factors puts a patient at a grave disadvantage right out of the starting gate,他说. "One of the very unique things that we have [at 尼尔森康复医院] is awareness and understanding of the psychological and emotional impact of these really difficult life events. 大发娱乐有很棒的 心理学家和咨询师 谁是大发娱乐中风恢复小组的成员."
Dr. Edgley also emphasizes that 康复 treatment is more than just restoring physical function. 而是尽一切可能提高生活质量. “大发娱乐不仅仅是想让病人出院回家, we truly think of the long-term effects of being able to enjoy their life—a night at a restaurant or the movies, being able to spend time with loved ones or in social situations—those are the things that really promote quality of life."
That begins with putting the patient in control of their treatment and engaging them with a team-based approach to push the limits of what they might think is possible in recovery.
对克里斯汀来说，这种以人为本的护理方法非常突出. When she told them she was struggling with depression they didn't threaten to put her in a 精神 hospital; instead, they connected her with 精神 health professionals who helped her develop a coping strategy.
“这是一个非常全面的项目, 他们治疗各个方面——身体, 精神, 感情用事——他们不评判别人,她说.
After leaving 尼尔森康复医院, Kristen moved back in with Doug and Judy. She set a goal to walk independently in the next six months and her recovery continues to progress (even if it feels slow at times). She still thinks about those dark days when all she wanted was for her life to be over. 她中风后的恢复并非一帆风顺, 它有起有落, 但她不再有那种绝望的感觉了.
“你拥有的最有价值的东西是希望. 拥有希望是如此珍贵和无价，这就是U of U Health给我的. 我知道好日子还在前头，还有关心我的人, 所以我想成为一盏明灯，谈论它，这样我就可以大发娱乐别人,她说.