Bypass Surgery Stroke?

[chickysue]

My mother-inlaw  went in for a triple CABG surgery January 4.  She ended up spending 3 weeks in ICU  and  was on the ventilator the whole time (had a bout with pneumonia also), and was in that hospital for a month, then transferred to a nursing home for rehab.   Shortly after surgery (I believe it was a day or so) she extubated herself and had to be re-intubated.  At this point (6 weeks since surgery) she has been receiving speech therapy for about a week and can barely talk, has dsysphagia (has been on a feeding tube the whole time)  cannot walk, and her mind seems to wander off and have trouble concentrating.  We have asked the doctor(s) if she has suffered a stroke, they say the MRI or CT (not sure which they performed) showed no stroke and because she shows no signs of paralysis, they feel she simply is taking longer to recover than they thought it would.  They also say the self-extubation is not the cause of her current symptoms, just added to them.   This surgery was not a rush in fact it was postponed twice, she had been experiencing some angina and pre-op surgery tests pulmunary etc, were good to go.  She is 75 and diabetic, overweight (she has now lost 20 lbs) but other than that, she has normal aging symptoms such as some arthritis.  She was living alone indpendently and her brain function was fine, (she loved to do crossword puzzles and play scrabble and solitaire).  She now wants to do nothing but stare out in space though she says she's not in any pain.   After a month in the hospital, we handed her a pen to write with (as she couldn't talk) and she couldnt write anything, just made circles with the pen.  We are all very worried.  She has not been seen by a neurologist, we would like to know if if she should be, or should we just continue with the therapy she is receiving?   (Speech and physical).   We wonder if a neurologist would be ordering anything different for her if in fact she suffered a stroke.  They are telling us she may be in rehab for 2 to 3 months.  None of this seems like normal  bypass complications to us, unless of course she has suffered a stroke.   Any advice, would be greatly appreciated.