Just
as Eric Wilson’s professional life calmed down, his body
acted up — with an emergency.
“For 20 years I worked three jobs, working 18 hours a day,
six days a week,” he says. “I learned as a kid that if you want
something, you have to work for it.
“I guess you could say I worked so much that finally my body
couldn’t keep up with me.”
Before the stroke, the Midlothian resident had switched to
a new job, one that allowed him to come home and eat dinner
with his family for the first time in two decades. Things were
going great, but the long years and long hours coupled with a
family history of heart problems had taken a toll.
“My dad has had four heart attacks, but I had had no issues
up to that moment,” Eric says.
Creeping up
On Sept. 5, 2013, Eric was walking down a flight of stairs at his
work when he found himself unable to walk any farther.
“I looked down, and it looked like the stairs just
dropped off,” he says. “I sat down and told my co-workers
to call 911. They rushed me to Methodist Mansfield
right away.”
Emergency staff nurse Heather Farrell, RN, was the
first person to see Eric at the hospital. She saw the
possible signs of a stroke and immediately reported them
to the on-call physician.
Eric then went through Methodist Mansfield Medical
Center’s Code Stroke assessment, which includes a CT scan
and evaluation from a neurologist. Within 20 minutes,
Eric had been diagnosed with a transient ischemic attack,
or ministroke, caused by high blood pressure. Blood
transfusions brought his iron back to a normal level and
brought him back to a stable condition.
“Our goal with strokes is to deliver the highest-quality
care at the most efficient rate,” says Ketan Trivedi, MD,
emergency department medical director at Methodist
Now that he’s on the road
to good health, Eric Wilson
is excited to spend more
time being active with his
daughter, Kelsey.
All work
and noplay
For Eric Wilson, it led to a ministroke
8
Methodist Mansfield Medical Center
•
❁
Fall 2014
