Stroke and the Family: A New Guide

by Joel Stein M.D.

Overview

A young woman suffers a stroke; she rebuilds her career and personal life, but not before her marriage falls apart. An eighty-year-old man dies unexpectedly of stroke, leaving his grown sons to wonder whether they are genetically predisposed to stroke. A recently retired woman confronts her future with a husband suddenly disabled by stroke. How can she help her husband? Will he ever recover? How will she cope with her own emotional stress?

In Stroke and the Family: A New Guide, Joel Stein shows the many faces of stroke and the people it strikes. To the family just beginning to cope with the aftermath of a stroke, the diagnostic tests, drug regimens, rehabilitation strategies, and varied prognoses can be completely bewildering. Because stroke can affect memory, speech, and movement, the impact on everyday routines and close relationships can be especially intense. Stein has produced a book that allows general readers and nonphysicians working with stroke survivors to make sense of the confusing variety of diagnoses and treatment options, and goes on to explore challenges the recovering stroke patient and the recovering family will face during a long recuperation with an uncertain outcome. Stroke and the Family offers up-to-date information and places the current research findings in context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674016675
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/25/2004
Series:	The Harvard University Press Family Health Guides , #4
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

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Table of Contents

Introduction

1. What Is a Stroke?

2. Finding the Cause of a Stroke

3. Stroke Prevention

4. How the Brain Works

5. Medical Complications after Stroke

6. Recovery and Rehabilitation

7. Stroke in the Young and the Old

8. Impact on Marriage and Relationships

9. Impact on Children and Family

10. Return to Work and Leisure Activities

11. Weakness after Stroke

12. Loss of Sensation or Vision

13. Problems with Memory and Thinking

14. Emotional and Personality Changes

15. Communication Difficulties

16. Swallowing Difficulties

17. Pain and Muscle Spasms

18. Equipment and Home Environment

19. Nontraditional Treatments

20. Understanding Clinical Research

Appendix: Resources and Information

Index

What People are Saying About This

Joel Stein has written a comprehensive guide to stroke for patients and their families. It covers all the basics of stroke care, from prevention to returning home from hospital through rehab. Dr. Stein's book will be a 'must' for families and patients living with the after effects of stroke. The writing is clear and easy to understand, and the information-packed text uses patient vignettes skillfully to illustrate very important issues in an engaging and humane manner.

Walter J. Koroshetz

Joel Stein has written a comprehensive guide to stroke for patients and their families. It covers all the basics of stroke care, from prevention to returning home from hospital through rehab. Dr. Stein's book will be a 'must' for families and patients living with the after effects of stroke. The writing is clear and easy to understand, and the information-packed text uses patient vignettes skillfully to illustrate very important issues in an engaging and humane manner.
— Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., Vice Chair, Massachusetts General Hospital Neurology Service

Editorial Reviews

Joel Stein has written a comprehensive guide to stroke for patients and their families. It covers all the basics of stroke care, from prevention to returning home from hospital through rehab. Dr. Stein's book will be a 'must' for families and patients living with the after effects of stroke. The writing is clear and easy to understand, and the information-packed text uses patient vignettes skillfully to illustrate very important issues in an engaging and humane manner.

Walter J. Koroshetz