Kimberly Cooke Stroke Recovery

Our much loved Kimberly had a stroke yesterday. It's been the most surreal 36 hours for everyone.  First and foremost, this was a super FREAK thing. She has NO reason to have a stroke. 

 Kimberly had what is called a Carotid Artery Dissection.  This is most common in traumatic injuries such as falls, car accidents, coughing, vomiting, cracking your neck even (or having it cracked).  Kimberly had none of these things.  She developed a blockage in her left carotid artery which also caused a clot further up in the main artery to the left side of her brain called the middle cerebral artery.  Seth was a rock star and got her to the ER quickly where the stroke team at Christus TMF got busy in getting blood flow back to the left side of her brain.  She had a procedure called an embolectomy which pulled the clots from her brain and also a stent in the carotid artery which had an issue.  This restored blood flow back to the left side of her brain which was critical.  Now, this does not come without some damage.  She does have strokes but they are relatively minimal compared to what they could be.  

As a result of this stroke, she has weakness on the right side and trouble with her language.  She is having trouble understanding things as well as getting her words out (this is called aphasia).  She is not confused.  She doesn't understand lots of words.  

What does matter is that Kimberly needs a team around her right now. She is in the ICU. She will be there another 24 hours. She is stable and IMPROVING. She can't move her right arm. She is moving her right leg better today. She cannot speak well or understand a lot of things. The key to all of this is that her strokes are favorable to recovery but it will be a long road. She will need rehab which is expensive. When she goes home, she may need some help but we will cross that bridge when we get there. 

We all love the Cooke's and they need us more than ever.  Life is fragile...much love.