Hemorrhagic Stroke/Recovery Times OK?

[pookiemon]

My sister-in-law had a hemorrhagic stroke with a intracerebral hemorrhage. This was on May 18th. They have done a Ventriculostomy. The gas man found her in the driveway. We figure it had been somewhere between 20-35 mins. before she was found. They have her in a medically induced coma where they say she will stay for the next 3-4 weeks. Is this normal? Also, they did a cat scan on the 18th, and 19th and we were told the bleeding had stopped. They are doing another one tomorrow, and they are now talking about putting a shunt in. Once again is this normal? They say if she survives (her chances are 50/50, she is still in critical/stable condition) she will have slurred speech, minimal movement of her right arm, and a limp with her right leg. Should they be able to tell this while she is in the coma? She was concious after they flipped her over in the driveway and upon arrival at the hospital which is approx. 40 miles away.We look forward to your response. Thank you,

Lost without her hanging with us!

Barbara

[nalini06]

Gr8 to hear this!
My husband 33 yrs old had a stroke last july and now in his cognitive retrainig. 1 coil was placed for his aneurism bleed. your reply has given me a great hope even my husband will recover fully. but if you can mention your time frame for your wife will be of great help to me. My husband is now mobile but has a problem with his cognitive memory. Your post has given me a gr8 hop thank u so much.

Nalini

[onebadbunny]

you have no idea how much i needed your story.
my husband had hemorrhagic stroke 5 days ago. i was losing hope because they keep seeming to give him medicines, and he keeps getting worse. now he has pneumonia in the lungs.
i cried muchly & got angry at him because promised to never leave me.

i hope i hope i hope.

[Alexl30]

i am currently going through the same thing however my father had severe bleed in the left lobe however i see the same responses as well as a lift with the right leg,right leg bending a few times, shrugging of the shoulders,side to side movement of the head when spoken to i get the same nothing but decisions im not ready to go to that i see improvement... with prayers,faith, and lots of hope

[sammanthhaa]

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[sammanthhaa]

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[Annie1301]

My mom (85) just had a hemmoraghic stroke on Dec 13, 2011.  She had great care for 3 days in ICU then she was moved to a regular room with just average care.  The doctors gave very little information to us and were difficult to track down.  On the sixth and ninth days we heard from the two doctors and both were very pessimistic...."she'll never go home again, will have to live in a long term, skilled-care facility for the rest of her life".  

It was quite a shock since she passed the swallow test on day three and was responding to commands to lift her left arm, open eyes, etc.  She could speak some words that we understood and when upset, could speak much more clearly.  It does seem that these doctors skip the class on bedside manner and giving hope to families.  

Mom got the quick rush out of the hospital on the 9th day (right before Christmas) and was was transferred to a skilled-care nursing facility, which is barely staffed because of the weekend Christmas holiday.    It amazes me that the hospital staff has no procedures to lead the patient's family to make proper decisions for the ongoing care.  The social worker had never even been to any of these facilties.  She didn't even know what the staffing was at each one.  To complicate matters, this is happening in Miami, Florida and many of the facilites "speak no English".  

I am considering asking my dad if we can move Mom to where I live in Charlotte, NC for a few months to get the first part of Rehab done under my supervision.  My dad is very strong and capable but it is very difficult for a spouse to handle all these details, choices and be able to have the strength to advocate for their loved one.  Just because a patient is old doesn't mean the medical community should give up on any real recovery.

The comments here are encouraging!