{"id":1556,"date":"2018-02-01T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1556"},"modified":"2018-02-13T14:41:58","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T19:41:58","slug":"patti-depaulis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1556","title":{"rendered":"Patti DePaulis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting Back to the Peak of Health\u00a0<\/em><\/h1>\n

By Carol Radin | Photography by Alexis Emm<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t happening to me,\u201d Patti DePaulis told herself.<\/p>\n

A successful account executive, marathon runner and weekend mountain climber, she was at her peak physical and mental performance. Patti carried on through a day that started with a four-mile run, sales meeting at work and two-hour service appointment for her car, even though the slackness in her left side and tongue, lack of concentration and extreme fatigue were telling her body to stop. She was having a stroke.<\/p>\n

Patti, the inspirational honoree for the American Heart Association, knows she is lucky. She is here. She can look back on the stroke and still look forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, you think you will lose yourself,\u201d Patti said. \u201cThings might be a little different, but you can still be the person you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the day her stroke occurred, Patti started her daily routine. She noticed, though, that her left leg felt odd. The night before, she\u2019d gotten a severe cramp in that leg after her gym workout, something that hadn\u2019t happened before. Then, the next morning, she felt as if it was \u201cswiveling out away\u201d from her. Dressed for running, she paused at the top of her staircase.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just looked down and had this sense of, \u2018Was I ever going to get down?\u2019\u201d Patti remembered.<\/p>\n

It took her five minutes. When she called her dog, her tongue felt \u201cfive times its size,\u201d she recalled. She was sure she was slurring her words, but was determined to go on. She made it through both her run and workday. Though she thought she was slurring words at a sales meeting, she second-guessed herself when her colleagues gave no indication something was off.<\/p>\n

Finally, after a car service appointment and harrowing drive \u2014 the highway appeared to be dropping off to the left, Patti remembered \u2014 she went home and collapsed on the sofa. When her husband, Mark, found her there, he immediately took her to the hospital.<\/p>\n

The doctor told Patti she\u2019d had a major stroke and had lost function on her entire left side.<\/p>\n

Questions raced through her mind. A mother of four grown children, she wondered if she would ever enjoy life with them again. Would she climb the Adirondack peaks with her husband again? Would she even be able to take walks with him again?<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I still run?\u201d she asked aloud.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatti, you have to run!\u201d the doctor insisted.<\/p>\n

It was the answer Patti needed to hear. For the next six months, she threw herself into her physical therapy regimen. Two weeks after the stroke, she got on the treadmill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t care if I scuffed,\u201d she said. \u201cI was going to get on that treadmill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three months later, she was running on the treadmill. She also returned to work shortly after being released from the hospital. Though she floundered at times, she believes the mental and social demands of the job helped restore her concentration.<\/p>\n

Above all, she credits her husband \u2014 her lifeline, she said \u2014 who monitored her food, exercise and medications when she could not. Together, they understood how important it was to Patti that she become a strong woman once again.<\/p>\n

For the rest of her life, Patti will have to pay close attention to signs of an oncoming stroke. It can happen to anyone and the risks of paralysis or fatality are very real, she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I would tell people is to listen to your body,\u201d she said, \u201cnot just to know your body, so that you know when it\u2019s acting differently, but to listen, and act immediately, while you still have your senses. I should have listened to my body that morning while I was in the driveway in my car.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shared this acronym for warning signs of a stroke: FAST \u2014 face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty, time to call 911. In addition, she stressed the value of maintaining good health, physical fitness and healthy eating practices, as well as regularly monitoring cholesterol, blood pressure and other vital functions. Patti regained her function and athleticism at the pace she did thanks to her healthy physical condition prior to the stroke, she said.<\/p>\n

Patti is back to running, snowshoeing and climbing. Recently, she and Mark climbed Mount Esther, the 28th highest peak in the Adirondack Mountains. Their goal is to scale all 46 Adirondack High Peaks. Since the stroke and her recovery, Patti\u2019s perspective has changed in positive ways, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery day, when I open my eyes in bed, I move my hands, I move my feet \u2014 I feel so blessed.\u201d SWM <\/em><\/p>\n

For more information, visit the American Heart Association at heart.org<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getting Back to the Peak of Health\u00a0 By Carol Radin | Photography by Alexis Emm \u201cThis isn\u2019t happening to me,\u201d Patti DePaulis told herself. A successful account executive, marathon runner and weekend mountain climber, she was at her peak physical and mental performance. Patti carried on through a day that started with a four-mile run,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[156,531,312,517,546,516,547],"class_list":["post-1556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-alexis-emm","tag-american-heart-association","tag-carol-radin","tag-february-2018","tag-patti-depaulis","tag-the-go-red-edition","tag-wcny"],"gutentor_comment":1,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/AEP-SWM-FEB-2017-1-1.jpg?fit=5200%2C3486&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1452,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1452","url_meta":{"origin":1556,"position":0},"title":"Sushila Shah","author":"Staff","date":"January 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Second Career of Healing By Carol Radin | Photography by Alexis Emm\u00a0 Reiki healing came to Sushila Shah as a gift \u2014 literally. 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