Father 1 month after stroke

01-24-2016, 10:09 PM

Hello everyone, i just wanted to look for some advice or support on something stroke related regarding my father. He recently had a massive left side stroke and a heart attack on christmas night. He is still in the hospital to this day with right side weakness in his arm and leg and can't speak or swallow on his own. He is also dealing with heavy breathing episodes where he breathes fast and loud for about 10-15 seconds and then it subsides back to normal breathing.

I am almost certain hes got some for sure cognition issues but am not 100% positive because hes not directly communicating but it does seem as if he doesn't know who his family is or atleast it seems like he doesn't recognize us because he doesnt really look at us or focus to a degree in which it feels like he KNOWS us and also isnt showing any emotions.

So i guess my question for you guys around the forum is have you ever dealt with or cared for a stroke victim who seems to have forgotten family or people even up to 30 days after a stroke? Will it improve over time or can rehab help him with recognizing and/or remembering people or important information?

He hasn't started rehab yet but he will next week weve recently found a facility that we like. THanks in advance.

01-25-2016, 12:27 AM

Make sure that you go to the left side of his bed because he might have vision problems on his right side with a left side stroke.

01-25-2016, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyp

Make sure that you go to the left side of his bed because he might have vision problems on his right side with a left side stroke.

Oh yes, defintely. Well the first few days he couldn't even turn his head towards the right side. But we try to speak to him from left side mostly! Thanks for the advice!

EDIT: Hey you from st.louis also? Cool to see that im in the bridgeton area!

02-05-2016, 06:12 PM

update:

He's nodding his head to music and is definitely focusing more. Showing some emotion but still not talking but were hiring a speech therapist to work on that. We probably wont know exactly where his cognition level is until then but I will update!

02-16-2016, 06:00 PM

That's great. Remember the brain has to heal from the traumatic incident that took place. Patience and time. Give nothing but hope and be truthful. Your father can hear. Think about it as locking up his brain. Little steps.

02-18-2016, 11:31 AM

Hi. My Mom who is 87, had a massive left hemorrhagic stroke too. She was in a vegetable stage for more than a month. We took her home after 15 days from the episode because doctors said there is nothing wrong with her physically. She was on feeding tube, catheter , she was opening her eyes sometimes and moving her left arm and leg , not much though like she did in the first week. She had been given the death sentence but she made it.
She now eats solid foods, she is in diapers, speaks some sentences clearly but she is not the same person she was before. As you said, she does not remember things, only some old stuff, she does not recognize us , she calls me with a different name. She does not know I am her daughter or what we all are to her. I can even say this became worse. Well, she has been very down for the last 20 days even though all the tests came out normal. She sleeps a lot, not speaking as clearly as before. We stopped her therapy at the rehab center cause she was so weak. She had a virus going on though and she has been on antidepressants for a week now which might have made her sleepy too.
To tell you the truth she looks and speaks as if she has dementia which is probably the fact. I do not think her cognitive condition is going to get better at this age. It tears me apart to see her like that. She used to be more energetic than me, going to the beach far away with 3 buses every day. That is where the episode happened.
Give it time, he will get much better. You have to try giving him liquid food with the spoon at some point to see if he can swallow. Don't wait for doctors to tell you that.
Let me know how he is progressing. I forgot to tell you that her right leg has some movement too. Keep up the faith.

02-22-2016, 09:21 PM

Thanks alot for your response. It means alot! Since my last post he has made some minor improvements. His right side is still very weak but his cognitive functions seem to be recovering. He still is struggling to speak but hes trying and i can tell with time he will atleast recover a portion of his speaking abilities. Still waiting on his insurance stuff to go through so we can get him in physical and occupation therapy. Its really tough to see my dad like this but all we can do now is wait and hope he can regain as much independence as possible within the next year or 2. I will continue to update for those who might be following!

EDIT: And im so srry for you and your family i know its tough but just hope for the best and give your mother as much emotional support as possible it seems to help my dad with alot with all the support for family and friends.

02-22-2016, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyp

That's great. Remember the brain has to heal from the traumatic incident that took place. Patience and time. Give nothing but hope and be truthful. Your father can hear. Think about it as locking up his brain. Little steps.

THanks alot man, and yeah being patient in a time like this is very tough but i guess i have no other choice eh? So it is what it is and im just gonna hang in there and hope for his full recovery!

02-23-2016, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JKeith2k

Thanks alot for your response. It means alot! Since my last post he has made some minor improvements. His right side is still very weak but his cognitive functions seem to be recovering. He still is struggling to speak but hes trying and i can tell with time he will atleast recover a portion of his speaking abilities. Still waiting on his insurance stuff to go through so we can get him in physical and occupation therapy. Its really tough to see my dad like this but all we can do now is wait and hope he can regain as much independence as possible within the next year or 2. I will continue to update for those who might be following!

EDIT: And im so srry for you and your family i know its tough but just hope for the best and give your mother as much emotional support as possible it seems to help my dad with alot with all the support for family and friends.

I am happy for you. Unfortunately, my mom can see us, show emotions, like crying, but she does not know who we are. I ask her, do you know I am yourdaughter and she responds that she does not know anything.
She keeps calling me with her name which is her favorite niece's name.
At first she could not focus, looked spaced out but that is fixed. It takes time for her to turn her eyes to the person speaking to her though. She understands everything though.
Keep me informed.

02-26-2016, 10:46 PM

UPDATE:

My dad is finally eating on his own again. Now that hes eating solid foods on his own again we can take the feeding tube out. Just so happy hes coming along slowly but surely. Hes struggling with the right side but he is moving it slightly.

@vannatoo

Hey atleast your mom is talking my dad still isnt talking so we have no idea what exactly his memories or thoughts are at the moment. He suffered brain swelling along with the stroke so idk if that will affect that aspect of it as well. What i learned about stroke is it can cause confusion and make them mix up words and names by associating them with the wrong people so she might know who you guys are just have things mixed up and will take time to work all that stuff out especially at her advanced age of 87 my dad is only 59 so chances are he will recover slight quicker.

But i will say this, as much as it hurts to see her like this CONTINUE the emotional support it helps. Keep talking to her and letting her know how much you love her. I honestly believe support from loved ones and family is a key factor for recovery.

Keep your head up!!

02-27-2016, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JKeith2k

UPDATE:

My dad is finally eating on his own again. Now that hes eating solid foods on his own again we can take the feeding tube out. Just so happy hes coming along slowly but surely. Hes struggling with the right side but he is moving it slightly. Mm

@vannatoo

Hey atleast your mom is talking my dad still isnt talking so we have no idea what exactly his memories or thoughts are at the moment. He suffered brain swelling along with the stroke so idk if that will affect that aspect of it as well. What i learned about stroke is it can cause confusion and make them mix up words and names by associating them with the wrong people so she might know who you guys are just have things mixed up and will take time to work all that stuff out especially at her advanced age of 87 my dad is only 59 so chances are he will recover slight quicker.

But i will say this, as much as it hurts to see her like this CONTINUE the emotional support it helps. Keep talking to her and letting her know how much you love her. I honestly believe support from loved ones and family is a key factor for recovery.

Keep your head up!!

Hi. My mom is worse now and we cannotfigure out why since the exams came out fine.
We hardly understand a word of what she is saying, she sleeps all the time. I am going to stop the antidepressant med which is the reason for her sleeping so much but I am trouble because she started going down before that. It can also be the stopping of the cortizone but we started it again 4 days after the quit and she was still not like before.
My mom has an edema as well but she talked, not clearly of course but some sentences were very clear, so do not worry speech can improve in time. Brain is weird and unpredictable.

02-27-2016, 01:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vannatoo

Hi. My mom is worse now and we cannotfigure out why since the exams came out fine.
We hardly understand a word of what she is saying, she sleeps all the time. I am going to stop the antidepressant med which is the reason for her sleeping so much but I am trouble because she started going down before that. It can also be the stopping of the cortizone but we started it again 4 days after the quit and she was still not like before.
My mom has an edema as well but she talked, not clearly of course but some sentences were very clear, so do not worry speech can improve in time. Brain is weird and unpredictable.

I also want to say that you have to take the tube out and not feed him with along with the tube. I hope you know that.

02-28-2016, 02:16 PM

Its possible for her to get worse before she gets better. Ive been doing alot of research and that is a possibility. My dad was getting better intially after the stroke then all of a sudden he started sleeping ALOT more, his kidneys started having problems, his brain swelling got worse and he just stopped progressing. The weird thing is, we didn't start seeing real improvement until after almost 40 days. When he got to a nursing home and they changed his food hes been progressing in a positive direction ever since. Yesterday he tried his hardest to get a full sentence out but he just couldnt find the last words. It was heart breaking to see him struggle but I know we have to be patient.

02-28-2016, 02:57 PM

I know what you mean but my mom passed this stage, that her kidneys were about to fail, she was dehydrated. There is no swelling, no blood in the brain, it has been 5 1/2 m now from her stroke.
After the 2 m she started to improve and reached a stage where she could make whole sentences clearly some of them though, eating and drinking, crying when saw new people, following conversations and asking things etc. For about a month now she started to deteriorate, she had tests done in the hospital,all fine.
But she cannot really speak now, chokes on water, sleeps all the time. We are stopping the antidepressant pill tomorrow, see how she will be. The only thing I know is that she has been over a cold which seems to have past. We will run more tests on her. I was crying today looking at her, how thin she is now.

02-28-2016, 04:42 PM

Im sorry to hear that, i wish the best of luck for you and your family. I know it probably looks bad but there is always a chance this is just a small set back and she can still recover!

Father 1 month after stroke

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