A Stroke Is an Emergency. Call 911.
If you think you or someone near you is having a stroke, do not call our office and do not drive yourself. Call 911. Treatment works best when it starts within hours, and paramedics can begin care on the way to the hospital.
SUDDEN SIGNS TO ACT ON
Balance. Sudden loss of balance or coordination
Eyes. Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Face. One side of the face drooping or going numb
Arms. Weakness or numbness in one arm or leg
Speech. Slurred speech or trouble finding words
Time. Note when symptoms started and call 911
Symptoms that come and go still count. A warning stroke, or TIA, often clears within minutes and is one of the strongest signals that a larger stroke may follow. It needs urgent evaluation, not a wait and see approach.
Where We Come In
Emergency stroke treatment happens in a hospital. What comes after it usually does not, and that gap is where a lot of people get lost. You are discharged with a stack of paperwork, several new medications, and appointments to arrange yourself, often while still recovering.
That is the part we handle. Our neurologists provide follow up care after a stroke, evaluate warning strokes and TIAs, manage the risk factors that make another one more likely, and coordinate the rehabilitation and specialist care you need next.
We also see people who have never had a stroke but have been told they are at risk, or who have symptoms that need explaining. You do not have to have had one already to be seen.
What Follow Up Care Covers
Recovery is not only about regaining movement. A good follow up plan looks at several things at once.
Reviewing what caused the stroke
Blood pressure and cholesterol management
Blood thinning and other medications
Weakness, numbness, and coordination
Speech and swallowing difficulties
Memory and concentration changes
Fatigue that has not lifted
Mood, anxiety, and emotional changes
Seizures, which can follow a stroke
Referrals for physical and speech therapy
Bring your hospital discharge paperwork and current medication list to the first visit if you have them. They save a great deal of time.
The Part That Gets Overlooked
Depression after a stroke is common enough that it should be expected rather than treated as a surprise, and it is frequently left unaddressed. It gets read as an understandable reaction to a frightening event, which it partly is, but it also has a direct relationship to the stroke itself and it responds to treatment.
Anxiety about having another stroke is equally common, and so is a kind of flat, effortful fatigue that people struggle to describe to anyone. Changes in memory, attention, or word finding can persist after the obvious physical symptoms improve, and those deserve proper assessment rather than being written off as getting older.
All of that is treated inside this practice. Psychiatry, therapy, and neuropsychological testing sit alongside neurology here, so the emotional and cognitive side of recovery does not require you to go find another practice and start over.
Reducing the Risk of Another
PREVENTION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK AFTER A STROKE
Having had one stroke raises the risk of another. Much of that risk is modifiable, which is the encouraging part.
01
Finding the cause
Strokes happen for different reasons, and prevention depends on which one applies. Irregular heart rhythm, narrowed arteries, and small vessel disease all call for different approaches.
02
Managing the risk factors
Blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and smoking are where most of the risk lives. Working with your primary care provider, we keep these under active review rather than set and forget.
03
Staying on the plan
Medications only work while they are being taken. If something is causing side effects or is hard to keep up with, tell us. We would rather adjust it than have you stop.
Why Choose A Ray of Hope
Stroke recovery involves the body, the mind, and the medications keeping you from having another one. Most practices are set up for one of those. Getting all three attended to in the same place, by people who share your record, is the difference this practice makes.
A neurologist with focused stroke experience
Shorter waits than large hospital systems
Psychiatry and therapy for the recovery you cannot see
Neuropsychological testing for memory and thinking changes
EEG on site if seizures become a concern
Support for the family members carrying this alongside you
Find the Right Provider
Follow up care starts with one of our neurologists. If you were recently discharged from a hospital, call us rather than waiting, so we can see you within the right window.
Ready When You Are
Choose the office nearest you to request an appointment, or give us a call and we will help you find the right provider.
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