Dad's just had a massive stroke

[washy21]

Hi

I'm terribly upset. My dad has just had a stroke. He's 72 and is currently in hospital virtually asleep full time. We know that it is caused by a blood clot stemming from Atrial Fibrillation and it has affected his left side (No vision, left arm and leg)

The doctor has painted a very bleak picture which was very devastating and right now at this moment it just seems that there is no hope.

Can anyone re-assure me that if he survives there is some hope for quality of life. It's all a bit much at the moment and the future is too much to contemplate.

Thanks

[Akamilly]

I know this is an old post but we are in the same place now as you were then. Food and water have just been withheld. Can you please tell me what happened with your Dad? I'm not getting hopes up but it would be good to know. Thanks xx

[sara12345]

That's all that I know of that you can do.  Wish you comfort at this time.

[Earthmyrll]

My Dad had a stroke a week ago. It was a hemorhaggic stroke. The Stroke is on the terminal of the brain. He is still unconcious until now. He is in the ICU. He does not respond to pain. What should we do. We have been praying and hoping that he will wake up.

[sara12345]

Your brother said that he did not want to live if he couldn't care for himself.  He just had the stroke and could make a lot of progress.  Why couldn't he maybe take care of himself in the future? Why is anyone rushing to ask him if he wants the feeding tube to be removed?  It sounds like his wife and children have totally given up on him--just 3 weeks after his stroke!!!  And why have his mother ask him such a question when he must be very depressed after this major event.  And would he understand that to remove the feeding tube would mean death? Does anyone love this man?  He could get a lot better. And if he only gets some better, he might decide with time that he would like to live after all. I really don't understand you at all.

[sfshortstuff]

My brother who lives in another state had a stroke about 3 weeks ago. He can't speak or swallow and his right arm is paralized. He can move his right foot a little. I think his left arm and leg are ok, but I'm not sure. He has a feeding tube. We have been talking to his nurse and she says he is alert and aware, nods yes and no, can indicate what he wants to watch on TV.
He has a blockage but they can't operate because his blood sugar is too high. When he arrived at the hospital it was over 500. In a few days they got it into the 300's and I was told that yesterday it was in the low 200's. His wife and sons want to remove his feeding tube because he had said before if he couldn't take care of himself he didn't want to live. He has not been on any "life support" other than the feeding tube. Our mother and other siblings think this is not right because he is alert and aware of what is going on. Mom, who is 87 is leaving next Friday to go be with him and see for herself what his condition is. I've told her to ask him some odd familal questions and see if he responds appropriately. If so, she will then ask him if he wants the feeding tube removed. We don't know at this point if he knows what his wife and sons are wanting to do. I wonder if laws in that state will even allow the feeding tube to be removed in these circumstances. He and I are not really close as he is 13 years older than me but it is still a tramatic situation for all of us. I don't know if anyone has any advice for us but everyones thoughts an prayers are greatly appreciated. His name is Bill and our mother is Mary. Thanks for letting me share.

[cing2013]

My grandma, who's 84 years old had a stroke last Wednesday. We brought her to the hospital  and during our first night at the hospital, she vomited a lot and complain that she have headaches. After that, no other recurrence happen. Her headache was gone the following day but we noticed that she couldn't open her eyes. If we ask her why she doesn't want to open her eyes, she said that she just simply don't want to. I've been reading the posts here and it seems like that situation is really common among stroke patients. However, surprisingly, her memory was really sharp. She knows us, all of her grandkids even the friends that visits her. However, she's left paralyzed on her left side-arm and legs. She had a CT scan and the doctor told us that she has swelling on her brain. They gave mannitol to her and I've read that that will help with the swelling.. But then we felt that the hospital was not really helping her and her doctor was really rude. And also the other day, one of the patient in our room died and so we got really scared. The doctor was not really helpful to us. One of the doctor told us that we can actually go home and just take care of our grandma at home because it's just normal that she sleeps a lot. But the rude doctor is really insisting to us that she'll be put to ICU and that's after being in the hospital for 4 days. However, we just decided to bring her home instead. Now, there's a nurse that's helping us feeding her through a tube on her nose because she has difficulty swallowing. She still sleeps a lot but respond to us when we talk to her. Do you think it's just better to let her sleep a lot and just talk to her once in awhile? We think she looks better now than when she's at the hospital.