hemorrhage stroke and diabetes

[Marty1139]

6/1/07 my husband had a hemorrhage stroke in the right frontal lobe of his brain. He has been diabetic for over 30 years and had a kidney transplant 15 years ago. The stroke left him with weakness on the left side of his body and difficulty swallowing. After a marathon of hospitals and rehab wherein his blood sugars were not controlled (they took his insulin pump off!) after 20 days we made the decision to control his blood sugars at home with his pump on and get what rehab we could through Home Health care. After a kidney infection and some pneumonia, and another hospitalization (I was allowed to manage his blood sugars with his pump, thus had to be present at every meal), the hospital's skilled care rehab reported to our doctor he had plateaued out of rehab, at which time we opted for Hospice care. Now, after three months in Hospice with no rehab, his swallowing seems to have improved (he refuses thickened liquids and swallows carefully), he continues to transfer from bed to bedside commode with assistance, his speech remains fine, his blood work shows no problems, his blood sugars are relatively well controlled, his mind is relatively clear (he remembers things I don't and enjoys a good joke), but he does not want to get out of bed. He can sleep day and night and his only problems are itching and overwhelming fatigue. Actually he began sleeping most all day and all night about a year or more before his stroke but we could not get any answers as to why! Before that he rode his stationery bike 30 to 50 minutes daily, watched TV and read large print books by the dozens and knew more about controlling his diabetes than most doctors. The transplant coordinator told me that sometimes stroke patients lose their sense of hunger and just this week he has indicated he is hungry. Until this time when I took him meals he would say he was not hungry but would eat everything put  before him. My questions are: Do stroke patients sometimes lose their sense of being rested? At this point, he has lost much of his muscle mass throughout his body due to neuropathy and inactivity. Should we pursue physical therapy with Hospice in hopes of regaining some strength? Are there known "buttons" in the brain that can be stimulated to give him a sense of being rested?