take an antiplatelet agent or an anticoagulant to make the blood less sticky and if you've got a big buildup of plaque we may be able to get it out of there surgically so what we hope to prevent strokes but when they occur we want people to call 9-1-1 and get into the emergency room immediately because if you're in the midst of having a stroke which is a blood clot sitting here the other name is thrombus we need to treat it so how could you treat it if somebody had a stroke that happened 15 minutes ago and they rushed into the