dad had stroke please help

[babygirlava]

My dad had a stroke on 09-17-2010 it is now 09-25-2010 and He has been transfered to the rehab part of the hospital. He has no movement on the left ide and can only say yay and no. And today for the first time he said help me and put his hand on his head because he had a head ache. I am wondering how long this is going to take for him to get better the dr can't give us any straight answers. He seems better in some ways ( he can change the tv to what he wants with his good hand. he can urinate on his own. and he is answering yes and no questions) when speech therapy is in with him he gets mad when he cant talk) he is able to stand with assistance of two therapist) are these good signs? It seems so slow. AND it is hard to watch. He is only 54.

[ed34]

his determination is a key thing, it will ensure he recovers. It's people who sit back and believe they will never be the same again who don't recover very well, and all those people need is a lot of encouragement. Your post brings back lots of memories, and over the next few weeks you will see a lot of improvement. It's important to keep reminding the patient just how little they could do a few weeks/months earlier, because they tend to forget and lose track of the improvement.

[babygirlava]

Thankyou for your post. I have been very busy so I haven't been on here much. My dad came home and went back for the surgery to unblock the arteries. The left side was 100% blocked and will remain that way (they can not unblock) They did unblock the right side. He bleed out shortly after surgery and was rushed back in to fix that. He woke up very slowly and was ventilator dependant for 3 days. But he did come back home. HE was talking better and able to stand with assistance. He even feel out of his hospital bed four times trying to get out by himself 9he is determined) He unfortanatley was taken by life flight last night he had a five min long seizure followed by weakness now on the left. He also has internal bleeding. They gave him two units two seperate times and are doing a colonoscopy and an endoscopy to find out where the bleeding is coming from. I met a lady who had the same kind of stroke 10 yrs ago she is perfect now. I hope the same for him. Some days it seems like we just can't catch a break. I am glad that your wife is better now. Thanks for the support it really helps.

[Roster17]

I read these posts, but make very little comments. Your post was so touching that I just have to say you must be an amazing person.  Your wife is a very  lucky person to have you. I'm sure you gave babygirlava a lot of hope after reading your post.

[ed34]

Thank you very much :) I appreciate your comments

[ireneo]

What a wonderful story you've shared. I agree that the brain is an amazing organ and there's so much we still don't understand about its function. You did a terrific job helping your wife make the new connections in her brain. Very creative and useful tasks. Rehab doesn't have to be boring. Thanks for sharing this encouragement with babygirlava.

[ed34]

My Wife had a huge stroke last year due to an episode of A-fib while on life support. From the scans, they estimated a 30% recovery. The first thing I have to say is, ignore what Doctors say. It was once believed that the brain had 2 years to recover from a stroke, but that has been proved wrong. Even at 90 years of age, we have the ability to form millions of new connections and break old ones every hour. So the brain is hugely adaptable. Have you ever seen the guy on TV who had half his brain shot away? he leads an independant life. Rehab did a good job on getting my wife walking with a frame, but that was it. Once home, I took the viewpoint that her brain was now a blank chip waiting to be programmed. I would hold objects at different heights and distances, so she had to reach to grab it. Teaching her how to control her arm movements again. I gave her a variety of objects to squeeze, teaching her pressure control and building strength. I gave her lots of intricate jobs, like putting washers and nuts onto bolts. I ensured she did drawings and writing with her weak hand. For her long term memory, I kept talking to her about events years ago and it didn't take long for her memory to remap itself. Standing for minutes on one leg built up her balance and strength in the legs. I even got her to take up knitting to get her hand functioning. What I can say is that we have amazed her Doctors, after 8 months of solid work, she revovered totally and there are no ways to detect she had a stroke, other than a scan. There are no weaknesses or disabilities on the affected side. There are some real emotional times, lots of tears and frustration, there were even times she wanted to strangle me. It has all paid off which is the main thing. The brain simply needs to find the right connections to make those areas lost, work again, and there are plenty of spare ones that are available for use.
Recovery was slow to begin with. It was three weeks before she walked with a frame. However, once we got working on her at home, things really speeded up. Every day you see HUGE differences. At first they have to really try, then you suddenly notice it's automatic. My Wife is in her early 40's so I imagine your Dad will have the same determination.

[ireneo]

Strokes are so unpredictable but I think he's making good progress so far. It's only been a week and he's improving. That's a good sign. But it may take months before he reaches his full potential of recovery. Please try to encourage him and express your concerns to his doctor only, not to him. He needs to believe that things will get better. His doctors will be able to assess his abilities and let him know when he's as good as it gets. Let's hope for a full recovery.