Stroke and recovery

[sicko649]

Hi! I am very concerned about a relative of mine who had a stroke about two months ago. The stroke didn't leave any very serious damage, but nevertheless he had an operation on his heart to insert a device to block the flow of blood from one chamber to another, as he had a PFO or a small hole in the heart. This was done successfully. He also has an anuyerism on his heart in the same area, which I believe gave rise to the stroke initially, as a clot went to his brain.
He is back at work now, and basically I feel that he is obliged to work far too long for his own good. He is obliged to work twice the normal weekly hours, and this deprives him of sleep. Sometimes he may get just 5/6 hours sleep in a period of 36 hours. He is a junior doctor. I would like to know if you have ever come across any similar situations and if so,how did they work out? I think he should be taking it easy at this time, but it seems he is under pressure from the hospital where he works to continue. So what do you think?

[NTB]

that was general info and if his heart is successfully repaired it might not apply... unless a separate risk of thrombosis now attaches post-op because of the surgery and not from the original condition

[NTB]

the time when you're most likely to have a stroke is soon after you've already had one. Being at risk, you might want to have him check into the concept that much/most of the damage occurs during reperfusion (when blood flow along with oxygen is restored and creates Reactive Oxygen Species) - and so anti-oxidants have been seen in some studies to prevent damage from reperfusion

[Baz425]

I would like to think that the doctors that treated your relative would be aware of his work patterns and would have advised whether it was safe for him to return to this work.I have no idea of where he is working but in Europe,there is supposed to be the European time directive which would not allow this amount of work.He obviously must be safe to practice or he could be putting his patients at risk.I hope all works out well for him.Baz.