stroke

[rita1111]

my husband suffered artery  dissection  causing a stroke in the thalama and cerebellum 2 months ago he spent 10 days on the stroke ward then was discharged home and received visits from ot and physio. one day his blood pressure was high and had to be monitired for three days hence his physio stopped. BP is now ok as on meds. my question is he is not seeing his consulant untill june and has had no more visits from the intemediate care team. I feel he is not being monitored anymore, is it normal to wait 4 months after discharge to see a consultant and what about the dissection is the artery still torn does it heal on its own. please help.
Rita

[sara12345]

Yes, I agree that the medical community has abandoned your husband at a critical time.  I had a carotid artery dissection and needed to take Coumadin for months afterwards which does need to be monitored.  Maybe your husband's case is different than mine, but I needed another MRI or CT scan 3 months later to see whether I would need surgery. You didn't mention any disabilities that your husband has, but if so the most crucial time to get physical therapy is within the first 3 to 6 months afterwards.

[oc1dean]

Your doctor really dropped the ball on this one. You should have been told if the stroke was caused by a clot or a bleed. A clot would have probably meant being on Warfarin. A carotid artery dissection does not directly cause a stroke, dissection means tear, so what likely happened is that the tear clotted, separated from the injury and traveled to the brain. While BP could make it easier to dislodge the clots your doctor should have discussed the reasons behind the stroke and BP. He must not be on Warfain, since that would need to be checked every couple of weeks to keep his INR within acceptable ranges. Start asking questions, sounds like your doctor is one of those who hasn't learned anything since medical school. But then I am not a medical person so ask your doctor if you can ask questions of him.