A stroke survivor and his wife share their experience 4.5 years after his initial stroke and 20 months after his first treatment, evaluating his ongoing progress as he receives a third dose of Perispinal Etanercept (PSE) at the Institute of Neurological Recovery. The video captures long-term and real-time updates as they discuss changes in fine motor hand control, reduced daily fatigue, restored driving ability, and gait independence.
Patient-Reported Changes Featured in This Video
- Fine Motor Dexterity & Subtle Grip Control: Prior to treatment, the patient’s left hand operated like a “mechanical clamp” without subtle modulation, crushing fragile objects like styrofoam cups. Following treatment, he demonstrates outlining his fingers, reaching behind his neck, and controlling his grip pressure to hold or slide objects without crushing them.
- Reduction in Post-Stroke Fatigue: Before PSE treatment, the patient required routine three-hour naps every afternoon due to severe fatigue. Post-treatment, he reports needing only 15-minute rest periods to feel refreshed, while his spouse notes he can keep up during normal walking without exhausting quickly.
- Independence in Driving & Mobility Aids: The patient notes that he now drives independently using his left hand on the wheel—a task he could not manage prior to treatment. Additionally, he no longer relies on a cane, walker, or airport wheelchair assistance, walking through airport terminals independently without falls.
- Real-Time Joint & Muscle Relaxation: Immediately following his third injection, the patient reports additional relaxation in his left shoulder, arm, hand, ankle, and hip, noting increased range of motion and looser muscle tone.
- Improved Overall Quality of Life: His spouse highlights a transition to independent daily living, noting that the combination of increased stamina, hand function, and mobility has restored his ability to care for himself.
Read Video Transcript
*Transcript generated by YouTube
It’s been about 4 and 1/2 years after your stroke. Yeah. Yes. And about 20 months since I was here last. Yeah. So my stroke was late April of 21. And it affected what? My entire left side. And what happened after your first treatment? Immediate. I mean, you know, immediate. You can watch the video immediate, right? I mean, literally within the 10 seconds of the shot, I felt it in my hand first, you know, I’m like, “Oh, it’s loosening up, you know, right away.” And then it just, you know, allowed me to walk easier. Everything shoulder freed, you know, could do this. Like all these things I show people couldn’t do this before. I can outline out outline my fingers, you know. I could not do that before the shot, which means I could not effectively work on my bikes, you know. So, that’s where I’m at now. I’m at the place where I think boom, I could advance more. And that’s what I’m doing here. So, I’m going to get this shot. Then, I’m going back to therapy for 6 weeks and I’m going to try to get better and better. And so far, it that’s worked and now I’m looking at what five years out, right? So I expect to keep improving.
He just gets so fatigued in like 20 minutes and I make very little allowance now. I just walk around normally and and he’s able to keep up. Whereas before that was not the I used to take three-hour naps routinely in the afternoon or early afternoon. 3-hour naps. Now I can lay down for 15 minutes and go, “Oh man, I’m refreshed.” So yeah, that there’s there’s a big difference there. He and he could drive a lot better. Oh, I can drive now. Cuz before he could I couldn’t use his hand. I mean, I could not drive with this hand on the wheel. The confidence that he can go by himself and I don’t have to or somebody doesn’t have to be with him. It’s been very freeing cuz he can take care of himself now. Yeah. And I know he loves that. Yeah, way better. My life is way way better. Yeah, way better. So, third dose it is. Let’s do it.
You see it? It’s just relaxing but very peculiar. This hand is looser and so is that ankle down there. looser.
That shoulder is loosening up some more. My ankle and foot on that right side is way looser than uh it it was.
This is what I was hoping for. A little bit more gross motor. Yeah. here. That arm loosened up more. See, that’s that’s looser.
Definitely there. That’s much better.
It’s just amazing, isn’t it? Yeah, it is amazing. And my hands freer now. Usually that’s really hard to get that to open and stretch out. It’s better. That’s better there.
I couldn’t grab a a styrofoam cup, right? I would grab it. It would just crush. And now I can I can, you know, like I can let things slip through this left hand if I want where before I could not. It was either clamp down like literally mechanical clamp like that or it was up. There was no subtle difference. Now there is. And now I’m getting a sense that there’s going to be even more. You know, see how I’m getting further back there. I used to not be able to get back to the neck there. I could just get to the back of my head. So So that’s better. I can see I can feel it in my hip already before I even stand up. The other thing is, you know, you think you get stuck. You think you’ve reached your limit and you’re not going to get any better. But when you have this, it affects uh your quality of life like crazy. And for example, when I came down here last time, I flew down, right? They put me in a wheelchair at the plane and they take you up the ramp and everything cuz you’re just too slow. This time I walked, you know, so now I haven’t fallen and I don’t use a cane and I don’t use my walker. All those things are put aside, you know. Um Yeah. But the quality of life as far as a stroke patient goes, it’s night and day difference, you know. Yeah. It’s a huge success. Yeah. It’s amazing. It really is. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it again.
