Center of Care

Brandi Tomberlin wasn’t supposed to live.
Doctors gave her a “window” of four to six hours to live as they treated a large blood clot on the left middle cerebral artery in her brain.  It looked grim.
But that was nine months ago.  Since then, it’s seemed like a lifetime of surgeries, rehabilitation, return trips to area hospitals, and tons and tons of therapy sessions to get her talking, thinking, walking, and working like the super-organized mother of three she had been before that fateful day, Aug. 25, 2012.
Last Friday, Brandi said she felt like she was halfway back from her stroke — a “5” out of 10. Her husband Ryan, a local construction manager, sat next to her in their Hanahan bedroom, patiently repeating questions and making sure she understood.
“I got it,” said Brandi, in a practiced tone.
Julie Weiss, the speech pathologist who has worked closely with Brandi, said she has nearly 100 percent understanding and cognition, but that due to the size and strength of the stroke, is sometimes unable to express her answers in a “normal,” timely fashion.
Weiss said Brandi is back to roughly 75 percent of where she was with mobility, and seldom needs a cane to walk any more.
The Tomberlins aren’t alone.  South Carolina ranks fifth nationally in stroke prevalence. Tony Keck, who oversees Medicaid for the state’s Department of Health of Human Services, said that while the state’s numbers are improving, progress is moving along far too slowly.
Last week, Brandi had to make a return trip to the hospital due to concerns over a recent drop in blood pressure, an enduring headache and blurry vision – all hallmarks of the days leading up to her stroke.
But by the time of the interview, she had improved and was back to what Ryan refers to as the “new normal.” He said there would always be concern when those symptoms occur, and he is still reticent that she’s completely  “out of the woods, because we’re not completely sure how big the forest was.”
But it is a significant improvement from surgery, being on a ventilator and not being sure if Brandi would live, much less come home.
While there’s never a good time to have a stroke, the Tomberlins have benefitted from recent and ongoing upgrades to stroke services at Roper St. Francis Hospital, which was recently given a national certification as a stroke care center.
Now, according to Weiss, stroke sufferers can be brought directly to either the downtown or West Ashley campuses of Roper St. Francis for the equivalent of “one-stop shopping” in stroke care.
The national certification carries with it the hospital’s ability to accept a stroke patient, give immediate care on through surgery, if needed, and then provide in-patient rehabilitative care and outpatient treatment, such as speech, occupational and physical therapy.
For Ryan Tomberlin, struggling to juggle an improving wife and everything she had brought to the family — his kids’ soccer/tennis/basketball schedules and overseeing construction of a large multi-use project in Mount Pleasant —  the one-stop option has been a “lifesaver.”   Financially, dealing with Roper St. Francis versus “15 million different billing offices” has been a boon time-wise. He also said that it has saved his family a significant amount of money because of how the hospital handles billing services.
“It makes it so much more easier to coordinate,” said Ryan. “Before Brandi’s stroke, she did it all. I worked, came home, played with the kids — you know, did the dad thing.”
Brandi’s mom, Peggy Collins, a truck driver, described her daughter as a “Supermom” before the stroke.
Now with the concentration of services through Roper St. Francis and with help from both sets of in-laws, Ryan has been able to balance family and rehab needs.
Brandi is very clear about what she most appreciates about Roper St. Francis: her speech pathologist, Weiss.
“She’s a friend … in the heart,” Brandi said, with help and patience from Ryan.
Weiss, a veteran nurse, said there is supposed to be a client-clinician relationship between her and Brandi. But both happily report that relationship has morphed into a friendship through which the two share recipes and parenting frustrations.