Darlene's Story
After a whirlwind life—growing up in Houston, getting married and moving to Reno, Nevada where she got her pilot’s certificate and raised horses—Darlene Hargrove and her husband, Bill, settled in Aubrey, Texas.
She quickly integrated into the community while caring for Bill’s mother who was battling Alzheimer’s disease. Darlene worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and became involved with local county and city council land-use issues which caused intense stress and raised her blood pressure.
When the 70-year-old woke in the early morning hours with nausea, intense headache and dizziness that made it impossible to stand, Bill called 911 and she was rushed to the Texas Health Hospital Emergency Department in Denton. Doctors immediately diagnosed her with a ruptured aneurysm bleeding into the brain. She was sent on a care-flight helicopter to Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth and rushed into surgery to secure the bleeding artery with a stent and coils. The procedure was successful, but a stroke caused by the bleeding in her brain left Darlene unable to move her right arm and right leg.
After three weeks of recovery at the acute care hospital, Darlene was ready to tackle her immediate and long-term goals: “getting up by myself and walking to and from the bathroom with no assistance… followed by returning home to Bill and my 29-year-old horse."
For that, Darlene chose Select Rehabilitation Hospital of Denton based on a friend’s recommendation and the hospital’s quality of care.
“We decided on Denton because it was counted as one of the best quality hospitals, and it was close to home,” explained Bill.
At the hospital, Darlene was quickly assessed by her physician-led care team who created a personalized care plan which included nursing care and physical, occupational, speech and recreational therapy.
“Everyone was so wonderful and they greeted me like family when I arrived. They told me what to expect with my schedule and explained how the therapy would help me reach my goals,” said Darlene.
At Darlene’s first physical therapy evaluation, she could walk up to 50 feet using a rolling walker with only moderate assistance. Her brain was relearning awareness of the right side of her body and the guidance from therapists helped her avoid running into the walls. Darlene’s team focused on improving Darlene’s balance, safety and awareness on the right side while training her to walk with a smooth step. To accomplish this, the team used the Andago device— a mobile, robotic technology that senses the patient’s intended movement and dynamically supports their body weight while the patient moves.
Within one week, Darlene could independently get up and down from a seated position and/or the bed with her team always nearby should she need support. The balance gains allowed Darlene to walk 300 feet with a rolling walker alongside a therapist.
Meantime occupational therapy (OT) worked to increase Darlene’s independence with daily tasks and activities. OT employed a robotic arm called the ArmeoSpring to engage and retrain her right arm. The device supported Darlene’s arm while she used it and her hand to play therapeutic video games. The games were geared to retrain her brain in using her right arm and hand for functional tasks; they also improved her arm strength and coordination.
Within a week, Darlene had greatly improved her right side awareness. She could now independently manage her upper body dressing and only needed minimal assistance for lower body dressing tasks. Darlene could also bathe, use the toilet and get in and out of chairs and the bed with occasional guidance for safety. She was well on her way to meeting her self-care goals.
In addition to the physical difficulties after her stroke, Darlene noticed some mild challenges with memory, word-finding, thought organization and concentration – activities needed to perform complex activities. For that, speech therapists had Darlene practice strategies to compensate for her memory and word-finding deficits such as slowing down when talking and creating word associations.
Darlene readied herself to return socially to the community through recreational therapy. Engaging in Wii Fit was a favorite… “I will have to get one of these for myself,” Darlene noted of the video fitness game. The game was fun to play with others, but also reinforced her physical, occupational and speech therapy goals—increasing her overall body strength, coordination and cognitive skills.
Twelve days after admitting to inpatient rehabilitation, Darlene was walking 350 feet with a rolling walker and stand-by assistance, if needed. Her memory, word-finding and complex concentration skills were scoring normally and she was ready to go home to Bill and her horse.
Darlene plans to continue her recovery with outpatient physical therapy to further build and refine the strength and coordination on her right side.
For others facing similar challenges, Darlene said recovery happens one determined step at a time: “Wake up and set small goals for the day.”