Patient Stories

Steve: High Achiever in California

Steve was 55 old years old with a Physics PhD who led a large R&D company in California. He was three months post-stroke, and a diabetic who had a complicated medical history. His specialists included a endocrinologist, cardiologist, nephrologist, and the physiatrist from his rehab. He continued to have cognitive issues with memory, executive functioning, and fatigue. He had been treated in both an inpatient and outpatient tertiary rehab facility and was making poor progress toward recovery. One of his specialists attempted to organize collaboration among the physicians, but was largely rebuffed. He contacted Neuro-Hope because of our High Achiever’s Brain Injury Rehab program, and because of our ability to treat him in California, 2500 miles away.

HR policy prevented him for returning to the workplace without a physician’s authorization. That policy didn’t prevent him from using the study in his home so he could work several hours a day. Work for him was stimulating and not an imposition.

His study in his large home was well equipped, and we were able to have therapy sessions, usually mid to late afternoon East Coast time. He complained daily about his cognitive symptoms, but these symptoms generally weren’t observed during therapy. During a weekly clinical meeting, a nurse on Neuro-Hope’s treatment team inquired about his medications. She called the patient and discovered that Steve was taking a strong diuretic in a single daily dose. Administering the medication in a single dose had the potential to disrupt the patient’s electrolyte balance resulting in a worsening of cognitive symptoms. When the diuretic was spread out over the day, the cognitive issues resolved. While a physician’s prescription is needed for rehabilitation therapy, physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician’s assistants are rarely involved in the daily operations of brain injury rehabilitation facilities.