Hemorrhagic Stroke Recovery

[Shrish]

My 55 yr old mother had a "massive" hemorrhagic stroke Feb. 18/05. The neuro surgeon said it was a large deep bleed in the left side of her brain, apparently she is lucky to have survived it and without surgery. The latest CT scan 3.5 weeks after the stroke the blood has started to re-absorb and swelling is going down. She is currently in a rehab hospital (March 18) with paralysis on the right side (arm and leg) and has aphasyia - she understands us but has a hard time getting her words out (she does put small phases together at times).A speech therapist works with her and she can read, write some (copies words) and has progressed with food (a feeding tube to puree foods to soft - ground foods). The speech therapist has positive prognosis for speech improvements over the next year. I'm wondering how paralysis recovery works? She has physio and Occupational therapy working her muscles but do people with paralysis get some motor function back and if so what type of time frame (3,6,12, months?)Is there any recent research or therapy to aid in the motor recovery process such as magnetic stimulation or emg that we should be considering or inquiring about? Any questions I should be asking the rehab or dr.'s to find out about my mother's prognosis for it....or is it giving her brain time to heal and see if rehab can help?

Thank for your time and any comments/direction are appreciated.

Shrish

[Shot123]

Thank you, my niece who is 40 is in the hospital now I found her Sunday. April 11-2015 on the floor don't know how long she had been there, she has not responded like one of the other people, she moves her tongue, she has Pneumonia from the aspiration. They suggest the nursing home, she is doing nothing, looks well has a feeding tube. I can't give up on a miracle, but afraid of what will be the ultimate outcome, I am up now can't sleep thinking about how I found her on that floor. I am devastated. She suffers from diabetes. And high blood pressure. Please continue to look for hope and her,p from the Lord

[byeandee]

My brother died April 2 nd, I remained positive but he just went downhill, got food on his lungs. We are heartbroken

[byeandee]

My brother died on April 2nd, he just deteriorated before or eyes and got food on his lungs, we are heartbroken

[Barkan_1]

Hi,

I feel like we are going through similar situations and wanted to share my brother's stroke case. He had a stroke on March 8 and it was unfortunate that he got help on March 9 because no one was there with him. He was unconscious when admitted to a hospital and after a CT scan, we were told he has left basal ganglia hemorrhagic stroke and the bleed was big and was in difficult part of the brain. It was very difficult for us to hear all these bad things at a time. He was then moved to ICU and a Neuropsychiatric doctor was treating him and hoping the bleed will be reabsorbed. After 4 days his consciousness dropped from 9 to 4 on Glasgow Comma scale. They then decided to do a surgery and clean out the blood, but we were told survival is 50/50. After two hours surgery, he was able to survive but still then we were told his recovery is 50/50. His conditions started to get even worse, his BP was high and  fluctuating a lot, infection problems and his consciousness dropped to 3, he was also on a ventilator and you can just imagine how difficult it would be to bear all these for the whole family... But even then I didn't want to give up, me and my sister chose to trust God that things will get better and started to encourage the whole family. After sometime, his conditions started to get better; his BP was okay, and they were able to control the infections. His breathing got better and on April 10, he was breathing by himself (he has a tracheostomy). His consciousness raised to 5 and he was then transferred to a semi-ICU. He hasn't yet opened his eyes and he only moves his right hand in response to pain..Still we are hoping and praying that he will pull through and recover. We chose not give up, even if the doctors are not so positive about his situations.
I think your brother's condition is better than mine, but I do understand how difficult the situation can be. But even then please don't give up, try to stay positive even if situations are not. Please continue to be the strength of your family.

The Hospital food are not so good, and we started to prepare food at home. we also use Ensure nutritional supplement. Does anyone have an experience using Ensure for such patients, please I need your advice. Also if you know any other food types that is good to give him...Thanks!!

[michniak]

How is your brother doing? Every stroke is different... and I think there may always be hope, but it's so hard to tell... as the strokes are so different in severity.  

It's April 1st, how is your brother today?

[byeandee]

Hello

My Brother had a stroke on the 10th March a bleed stroke. I was with him in A & E until 5am in the morning and his right side was weaker but there was power - he also was answering with one word answers. The following day his responses were still appropriate but he was very agitated and his blood pressure was going through the roof so the following day he was put on a ventilator and sedated. A second scan showed the bleed had increased slightly.  It was not a big bleed but in a bad spot. He remained sedated and a third scan showed an improvement but we were told that he was worse off than the night he arrived in hospital. We were told he could die and that his chances were 50/50. Over the last week they have tried to lighten sedation but kept saying it was not working and he got agitated. One of the nights when his sedation was less he woke up and looked at us and and when we were leaving we said goodbye and he lifted his left hand as if to wave.  After that he got stressed and was knocked out again. On Thursday he was moved from ICU to HDU. We had 3 meetings with doctors this week each of them worse than the one before. His sedation stopped fully on Thursday and we were getting responses - we knew he knew we were there and his eyes opening slightly and then more and he was responding to music we were playing but when we mentioned it to the nurses they just smiled and said he was not obeying commands and they work off the Glasgow Coma Scale. The following day his eyes were open even more and following his girlfriend around the room, squeezing her hand and moving his left arm and leg. We were told on Friday to prepare for the worst. That if he got anything like pneumonia or his heart weakened that they would not be tying to save him. We were told he might die again and really they thought he may have had a more serious stroke but was too weak to scan.  We insisted on the responses we were getting and as we walked out of the family room devastated the doctor went to asssess him and we heard her saying Oh God there are some responses. In the last 2 days he has opened his eyes more and more -making more movements and tried to move his mouth (he has a tracheostomy) he has smiled and squeezed our hands. They are now scanning him tomorrow and have also started a few minutes of physiotherapy for his circulation . Do you think we have hope after all this - do these signs sound positive to any of you? On Friday I didnt know what to feel. I have been my parents strength keeping them positive but I felt a bit defeated on Friday and thought do I keep positive or am I in denial? Really loved reading these stores and thank you