Brain Stem Stroke

[Court86]

My mother, who is 57 and takes good care of her health, suffered a stroke two days ago and is in the hospital as we speak. The stroke occured in her brain stem and the top/side of her head. Through an MRI and a certain procedure I forget the name of, the doctors were able to determine the reason for the stroke on the top/side of her head, which was blockage, i believe, of the vein. What they found to be the cause of the damage to the brain stem was that in the artery leading to her brain stem, there was a break in the wall, which led to bleeding into the tissue around it (blood clotting was being release through the break). The doctors then gave her on a blood thinner, which as of right now, has stopped the blood from bleeding into the tissue.
They said she had the stroke, and then because of the bleeding from that break in the artery leading to the brain stem, she was having mini strokes.
Currently, she is doing better than she was yesterday, and she seems to realize when people are talking to her because when we (or the nurses and doctors) ask her to open her eyes, she does, even if its a light flutter. She can move her eyes up and down once or twice, although not fully side to side. She can not move her arms or legs yet, or speak yet. She is on a breathing machine as well.
I love my family and especially my mother with all my heart and my request is: what can we do to help her (besides her being in the hospital and what not)? My family and I are always with her, we take shifts and we take turns reading to her. We talk to her and try to tell her to think of good things that relax and make her happy. We try to get her to move any part of her fingers from time to time as the doctors and nurses sometime do. We also just sit in her presence and let her rest because we were also told not to over stimulate her. Is this helping? If anyone reading this has had a brain stem stroke, where was your mind when you had the stroke or right after?
I have been doing research on my phone so i understand the basics of what is going on, although anyone with information, inpsiration, tips, facts and/or and other helpful information (success stories too) please let me know. Thank you for reading this and I will keep this community in my prayers and good thoughts as well.

[nursietj]

Hi, I am so sorry about your loved one.  My Dad is currently in the hospital with a brain stem stroke.  We had no idea the depth of this type of stroke.  His stroke happened 3 days ago.  He is able to move all extremities, but is weak.  His speech is very slurred, is very aware of what has happened to him and can answer any questions you ask him.  So far he is able to breath on his own, b/p is good, double vision has disappeared.  Today  he is very tired and isn't as active (mentally) as he was yesterday.  The doctor says he is a miracle and that he is definitely in God's hands.  He has been receiving Luvenox injections every 12 hours.  So far his CAT scans are good, no bleeding from the injections.  If they do appear to be causing bleeding, we will stop them.  His swallowing is not good, but has refused any type of tube feeding.  My Dad was a very active, independent 77 year old man and this has been exceptionally hard on our family to see him this way.  Our prayers are with you and your family.  Good luck to you on this journey of life!!

[bigfoot1009]

You are in my prayers!  My extremely healthy father had a large stroke on the left side of his brain 4 months ago.  It is very gut wrenching!!  I have been doing a lot of research on strokes since then and one thing I have learned is to listen to music (softly) for 1-2 hours a day.  It is supposed to help with congnition.  From what I have read classical music is best, but any music that your mother likes is also good.  A study that was released in Feb 2008 showed that stoke victims that listened to music had a 60% better cognition rate while those that were read to only a 19%.  Hope this helps.