Fairy-Tale Ending for a Stroke Patient

I did a seminar at a local library regarding natural help for headaches. After the seminar, a 75 year old woman came up to talk to me. She had had a stroke that left her with a drooping face on one side, and with an arm and a leg that weren’t working well, she had difficulty speaking and spit a bit while she tried to talk. She was embarrassed about her condition. She told me that she experienced the stroke about five years earlier and that shortly after her stroke, her husband had died. She was embarrassed to go out in public because of the way she walked and the way she talked. She and her husband used to go to monthly retirement meetings with people from his union. After the stroke, she no longer felt comfortable going to those meetings. She also did not leave the house much and was very lonely. She attended my workshop because she had headaches, but afterward, she asked if I might be able to help her with her stroke recovery.

I gave her my card and told her to call my office for a consultation and an examination. A couple of days later she arrived at my office with her two daughters. One of her daughters was very happy that she was going to try something new to aid in her recovery. The other daughter was absolutely against her seeing a chiropractor as she was worried that her mom was too old and may be injured by our treatment.

The three of them came into my consultation room and the mom said that she would like my help. Her daughter said that she was here to hear what I had to say, but was not going to let her mom get chiropractic care for the reasons mentioned above. After listening to the mom’s story about how difficult her life had been since the stroke, I asked the daughters if they would let me examine their mom to see if I felt I might be of help. Both daughters agreed to an exam as long as there was no treatment to follow.

I examined the patient and found that her nervous system was mostly intact and that the possibility of improvement was there. During the exam, I asked this woman to stand on one leg. With either leg, as soon as she tried to stand on one and lifted the other leg off the ground, she fell over. She had almost no balance at all. I told this woman and her daughters what I had found and asked if it would be OK if we did a brief treatment on her. They finally agreed because mom said she really wanted to try. We did some treatment that was very gentle and lasted over half an hour. When we finished, I asked her to try to stand on one leg again. She was able to stand for a considerable length of time on either leg. To say the least, she was very excited. She turned to the daughter who didn’t want her to have care and said, “Did you see that?!” He helped me more in half an hour than my neurologist has helped me in the last five years. I then asked both daughters if it was okay with them if I did a treatment program with their Mom. Both agreed to let her give it a try.

We set up a 3 month program of care. Our patient was improving with great speed and consistency, but very close to the end of her program she told me that when she finished she would not be coming to see me anymore. I asked her why that was. She told me that the month previous, since she was walking and talking so much better, that she went to one of her husband’s retirement group meetings. At this meeting, she met an old friend of theirs, whose wife had died. They started dating and he asked her to marry him and move away with him to his retirement home in another state. She thanked me profusely for all her help and gave me a big hug. The daughter who originally did not want her mom to receive care later came to see me and thanked me for what I had done for her mom. To me, this is almost like a fairy tale because it had a happy ending for all.

I have had very good results with all the patients who have come to see me for help after a stroke. This is extremely gratifying as most patients who have had strokes often have room for a much more complete recovery and I am happy to have been the one that helped them regain their independence and improve their quality of life.

Sincerely,

Richard F. Gringeri, DC

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