A patient’s wife shares their story By Astrid Rial “Your husband is having a stroke,” the nurse said. Terror surged through my body. I shook my head in disbelief and said, “You are mistaken. You must be talking about another patient, not my husband. Tony is just 56 years old and an athlete.” On Aug. 3, 2018, my husband, Tony Malaghan, and I walked into the emergency room (ED) at Shoshone Medical Center in Kellogg. Earlier that day, Tony had experienced a few seemingly disparate symptoms—a toothache, a bad headache, a momentary loss of coordination and an even briefer episode of garbled speech. A quick internet search pointed to a possible mini stroke, but that seemed highly unlikely given Tony’s excellent health. After three hours of medical tests, the ED doctor could not find any neurological issues, but he noticed that the pupil of Tony’s right eye was blown—the pupil was dilated and would not react to light. “This might be a red herring, but I am going to call the neurologist on call at Kootenai Health,” he said. A medical crisis While we waited in the examination room, Tony and I chatted about our weekend plans. Then suddenly Tony’s entire body froze, his mouth agape. When he didn’t respond, I yelled into the corridor. A nurse ran into the room, and then the doctor asked for my permission to give Tony tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a clot-busting medicine. I heard the words no wife ever wants to hear a doctor say: “tPA can cause a patient to bleed through all of their orifices, and sometimes they die. Do you authorize this procedure?” I was paralyzed. Our son had just turned 15 years old. Tony was our rock. How could he be having a stroke? The only thought that came to my mind was, “What would Tony do if the situation was reversed?” I asked the doctor, “Would you give tPA if it was your loved one?” The doctor said yes, and I authorized the treatment. A nurse administered the in Stellar Stroke Care Tony Malaghan and Astrid Rial at their home in Coeur d’Alene, five years after Tony’s stroke. 14
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