Stacie's Story
Stacie Buccelli, 54, loves to travel.
From the majestic beauty of the Grant Tetons in Wyoming to the stunning views in Zion National Park, Stacie loves exploring new places. However, her trips to picturesque destinations were put on hold when a medical event sent her to a place she never could imagine.
As she was preparing for another fun weekend, Stacie suddenly suffered a stroke.
Stacie was rushed to Banner Baywood Medical Center. Due to complications of a brain bleed, she was intubated and airlifted to Banner University Medical Center where she spent four days in the intensive care unit.
After six days, Stacie stabilized. But the stroke left her grappling with profound physical and cognitive challenges. Stacie’s doctors recommended a comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation program to help her rebuild her life. She and her family chose Banner Rehabilitation Hospital East. Fortunately, the hospital was close to Stacie’s parents’ home.
Upon admission, Stacie had weakness on her left side, poor balance and a modified diet due to her intubation. She required total assistance for all self-care and transferring from surface to surface, including assistance to sit on the edge of her bed. Her attention span was also extremely limited, making early therapy sessions difficult.
Despite her symptoms, Stacie’s goal following rehabilitation was to walk out of the hospital and she planned to do everything she could to make her goal a reality, telling her therapists, “I am going to be the best stroke patient ever!” Indeed, her newest journey would be one of self-discovery and strength, as she pushed the limits of what she thought she was capable of.
Stacie’s physician-led rehabilitation team worked with her to develop an individualized treatment plan. Her team of physical, occupational and speech therapists focused on maximizing Stacie’s independence by improving her left-side strength, balance, speech and swallowing.
Stacie, an accountant, appreciated having different therapies each day that featured attainable goals. “The therapy times are fairly short so you don’t get too tired and can move along to something different,” she explained.
Among several strength exercises, physical therapy treatment also featured electrical stimulation on Stacie’s left side. The stimulation sent mild electrical pulses through her skin to help stimulate the muscles in her shoulder and leg, as well as manipulate her nerves. Stacie also used an upper body ergometer, which allowed her to pedal a bicycle-like machine with her arms and increase the strength in her shoulder. Her confidence propelled her forward.
“The therapists set reasonable goals,” she said. “They make small goals to reach big goals.”
In occupational therapy, Stacie used an expiratory muscle strength trainer (EMST) to build her lung strength, which allowed her to improve her breathing, swallowing and speech. Her success with the EMST quickly allowed Stacie to achieve her goals in speech therapy. She improved her oral motor control for swallowing safety and boosted her vocal quality following her intubation.
A mother of three, Stacie was appreciative for the support her family provided throughout her rehabilitation. “My family has been fantastic,” Stacie remarked. “They have come to see me every day. I’ll have three weeks of my kids being in town to get settled at home and into my outpatient therapy routine.”
As she progressed through her therapies, Stacie’s big milestone came when she attempted to walk one day.
“When I got up to walk, I could feel my knee kick forward,” Stacie explained. “That meant a lot because that is what it is supposed to do.”
Through her determination, Stacie demonstrated steady progress and regained much of the function of her left leg. She only needed minimal assistance with self-care and transfers. Furthermore, because of her achievements in speech therapy, she was discharged early to take on additional physical and occupational therapy in an outpatient setting.
When Stacie departed Banner Rehabilitation Hospital East after 23 days, she successfully completed her goal of walking out the doors thanks to her work ethic, motivation and mindset.
Stacie was looking forward to a return to her family and some normalcy. “I look forward to being at my parents’ house and outpatient therapy,” Stacie explained. “I can’t wait to be in the shower for as long as I want.”
Stacie typically looks for the beauty in nature during her travels, but throughout her rehabilitation journey, she saw the power in healing a little bit each day so that she could take giant steps forward.
“Day to day it’s hard to see the progress, but at the end of the week you can see it’s there,” Stacie remarked.