Life during a recent medical emergency. The doctor tells TMZ he was at dinner in Los Angeles with his family last Thursday when he suddenly started slurring his speech. Earlier, I had a chance to talk with TMZ's Harvey Levin, and he told me while this only lasted for less than a minute, Debra's wife, Heather, insisted he go to the hospital and ambulance shows up . He gets in the back of the ambulance. They check him out for a minute and they say you're okay. And he gets out and says to Heather, Let's go home. She says, No way. You're going to the hospital. They get in a big argument. We actually have video of them arguing on the street next to the stretcher. And he he calls an Uber and the Uber starts driving him home. She calls an Uber and says, follow that Uber. And she's calling his friends, his doctor friends saying he needs to go to the hospital and get this checked out. And it turns out that Terri Dubrow had what's called a transient ischemic attack or a Tia. It's also known as a mini stroke. It's a brief blockage of blood flow to part of the brain. And for more on what unfolded here and some of the warning signs that all of us could potentially look out for. We're joined live tonight by Dr. Vivek Rao from Kaiser Hospital in Redwood City. Dr, really appreciate the time tonight. So in this case, Dr. Dubrow suffered What's called a Tia. He how serious is this kind of event? Well, thank you, Alex, for having the segment on your show today. It's important for all of us to know that stroke is common and it can be deadly. And action by bystanders and family is just as important as the action that we provide and care we provide in the hospitals. So a stroke is a sudden blockage and the blood blood vessel, as you mentioned, and it can lead to weakness of somebody's face, arm or leg on one side with numbness, speech troubles like this gentleman had understanding to difficulty with understanding language, sudden vision, loss, sudden double vision, sudden headache. These are signs and symptoms of a stroke. And if you think you're having one of those or you think somebody near you is having one, please call 911. Let the medical professionals figure it out. Now, unfortunately, a Tia is a mini stroke, transient ischemic attack and a mini stroke means that it only lasts for a few minutes to maybe an hour. And as such, many patients and even loved ones think it's going to go away and they and it does go away and they and they kind of minimize it. And you should not you should call 911 even if it's a result, because it could lead to another stroke. There are some situations where people have a stroke a day or two days afterwards and they wish they had gotten care sooner like this gentleman did. How often, Doctor, can I ask, how often does does a Tia pre need a more serious stroke? That's a great question and it can be up to 20% of the time depending on the individual risk factors for the patient involved and getting care immediately so that we can adjudicate whether they're at high risk or low risk for a future stroke is extremely important and there are also lots of mimics that can look like mini strokes and so we can sort through all of that really quickly and deliver the care and try to prevent that stroke. I mean, how cool is it that we can actually prevent strokes rather than just treating them? And that's that's an important distinction. And I think it's so interesting what you're pointing out here that you know, you put such such importance on people's friends and loved ones who are spending time with them noticing something that that feels like it's off and then making sure that that person gets help. How much of a difference does it make to have people who are paying close attention and picking up on some of these warning signs? It can make all the difference in the world. It's very common, as perhaps in this case, the individual involved does not think it's a serious event. And they want to minimize it or they don't want to have the shame of having an ambulance show up at their house and it ends up being nothing that's not relevant. Make sure you get help for those individual things because they don't know exactly what's going on. They might be scared and it's most important for us to not worry about how things look . Just get care immediately. And it's okay if you're wrong. It's all right. Just call 911. Yeah. Get help as soon as you can. Time is of the essence. Dr. Vivek Rao from Kaiser Hospital in Redwood City. Nice talking with you. Thank you for the
