Page 163 - Total War on PTSD

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Dave’s story:
David is a 71-year-old Vietnam Veteran with a history of PTSD who had a severe heart attack in April 2014, and subsequently a stroke in August of the same year. His heart attack was so severe, that on the way to the hospital he went into cardiac arrest — he was successfully resuscitated and required stents in two of his heart arteries. The sustained heart damage caused him to have congestive heart failure from severe ischemic cardiomyopathy with a heart pump fraction of 30%, normal being about 65%.
Only four months after this heart attack, he had a severe stroke, that left him with right sided weakness and expressive aphasia, the inability to speak — he had a vocabulary of two words — “yes” and “no”. After his stroke, he was in a rehabilitation center for a month. He has been doing speech therapy for the last four years.
David started using the Blu Room in February of 2017 and has been coming twice a week for two years. He still has speech difficulties and his memory is affected but he is doing a lot better. He must pause and find his words but is able now to speak in full sentences. Sometimes he has to try several times to say what he means before it comes out with the meaning he intended. His speech therapists are amazed at his remarkable