To make a long story short, we have found out that my husband has had a stroke. The neurologist put him on a weeks worth of steriods, told him to loose 20 pounds, stop smoking and keep his blood pressure down. After telling us all that and us looking at his MRI results we were a little beside ourselves. Dh is still having headaches every now and then and his rt side is still a bit numb. He gets exhausted after small tasks. Will he ever recover fully or will he always have these lingering side affects? Any knowledge or experience or advice would be very much appreciated!
TIA
I will start by saying that I am not a Dr. and I am only offering my thoughts. What did your husbands MRI say? Was there a blockage or a bleed? Did they do an intervention of any kind like a stent to the artery? Does he have a hx of heart disease? Has he had any heart test done ie: stress test, echocardiogram or heart caths? Is he keeping his blood pressure under control and what does his numbers normally run? What meds is he on? I know this is alot of things to ask but without more information it is difficult for me to help much. If you would like, tell me a little more and I will offer what help I can.
Remember, no one cares about your husband more than YOU!!! Everyone must be their own advocate and their loved ones as well. If you don't ask questions you will never get answeres. The old saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." is true in medicine as well.
Thank you for replying. Here is the story. Dh does have family history. His mother died at 46 of a heart attack and his brother died at the age of 39 from his heart exploding due to pnuemonia not being taken care of. Dh owns his own business in remodeling. He is 20-30 pounds overweight. He smokes about a pack a day and drinks ungodly amounts of Mountain Dew. He never gets sick and goes a million miles an hour. About 3 weeks ago he was carrying 6 2x4's on his right shoulder. He carried them about the length of a football feild and threw them off his shoulder. He immeidately felt pain in his neck. About 24 hours went by and he had numbness on the right side of his cheek. After 3 days his whole right side was numb. I kept bugging him to go to the ER. He refused. Finally on that Saturday I told him that I thought he was having a stroke and our 2 yr. old was not going to grow up without his daddy. He agreed and we went to the ER. They did a CT, chest x-ray, blood work, and an EKG. Everything came back normal. They sent us home telling us that he must have pinched a nerve. Go home, see a chiropractor and take IBprofin. We did. Another 3 days went by and he had hiccups that were non stop and causing him to vomit. I called the Chiro (we don't have a family doct) and insisted that he order dh an MRI. He did and we went (this was last Mon.) We were told by the radiologist to go home and wait by the phone. A nuerologist would be contacting us soon because dh has suffered a stroke. The neuro called and ordered a perscription of steriods. Told us that the worse was over and to come to his office on Wed. We did. By then dh's numbness was begining to wear off and his hiccups were subsiding. The neuro showed us the MRI. There was bleeding and swelling on his brain stem. He told us that it was a miracle dh was alive. He had suffered from a brain stem stroke. He took dh's blood pressure and it was borderline high. He referred us to an internist. He told us to wait for blood results and then make the appointment. There was nothing else to be done. Take it easy.
So today I was not feeling satisfied and called the neurologist back to ask a few questions. The blood work results are not in but go ahead and make the appt. w/ the internist. So I did. They can't get us in for 3-4 weeks. Again, not satisfied I called back the neuro. I explained to them that dh was indeed getting better but when he gets stressed or alot of activity or just making lunch for himself he gets tired, his numbness and headaches intensify and he has to take a nap. I explained as nice as I could that I was worried about his blood pressure and I wanted more answeres. An hour later I get a call from the internist. They can see him in 2 days. Hopefully we can get somewhere!
There is the long version. I hope this helps answere your questions. It's really all I know. I just hope and pray that he is able to fully recover and doesn't have another stroke. I hear that 40% of people have another stroke w/in 10 years and it's worse.
Ok, so we will piece this together. I don't need to tell you that husbands stress, smoking, huge caffeine consumption (mt. dew is one of the highest in caffeine) weight issues do not help his health problems - he knows that. I hate when Dr.'s tell pt's "you need to quit smoking, lose weight and change your diet". I wonder why it never works? It takes baby steps to overcome bad habits and a little of anything is better than nothing. So he doesn't have alot of good things on his side already. And unfortunatley, like most of us those not so good family genes were handed down to him increasing his risk, it appears for heart disease.
I understand the need for steroids - it is for inflammation. I am assuming that due to brain stem swelling they ordered the steroids. You said there was bleeding. Ask the neurologist if the bleeding has now stopped? I would assume so or he would be already experiencing problems. Ask too what he means by nothing else can be done? Better yet, get a second opinion. You can personally find another neurologist thru insurance network to get this opinion. All you will need is to get his previous MRI's, CT's and labs from the hospital, pick them up yourself and carry them to the New Neurologist for a 2nd opinion. Of course call radiology dept. and allow them atleast 48 hrs. to get MRI and CT ready. Please keep in mind you will need to get certain forms getting husbands permission for you to get his info. but call and ask what they need. This is very common and oh well if he confirms what the 1st guy said, so be it but better safe than sorry. It just doesn't add up to me? But remember I am not a Dr. just an RN who has seen alot of things.
I know why he referred you to the Internist. An Internist now adays is the person who has alot of knowledge about a little bit of everything. They are a step up from the family Dr.
But remember Dr.'s anymore don't always look at the whole picture unfotunatley they only focus on their given field and that is it. Right or wrong it seems to be the going trend. My opinion only.
I personally think that with the numbness your husband has, health history and family history it would be wise for him to see a Cardiologist as well. The Cardiologist will evaluate the Blood Pressure issue, and if needed perform other test to prevent him having a heart attack in the future. Blood pressure is a huge factor in regards to strokes as well as cardiac problems. If you can, go to Wal-Mart ( or something like that) and buy a blood pressure cuff that is electronic. Get a calendar and check your husbands blood pressure at various times thru out the day and write them down. Take the information to the Dr. with you as proof as to what his pressure is running. Plus it is good information to have. Just a thought.
Another thing, depending on what lab test that were ran they can get those faster than what they let on. Anymore I just go to the lab I had them drawn at, call first to make sure they are ready and then I personally pick them up. I then call the Dr.'s office, talk to their RN and let him/her know I have the results and I need the Dr. to get them and review them and call me to discuss. That way they can't keep saying, "We don't have them yet". Trust me they can get these results if they want them.
When I take care of a pt. I have learned to trust THEIR instincts. I think or know you are doing the right thing. It doesn't take much common sense to know when someone is blowing smoke up your butt. Be persistent, there is alwasy a way to deliver a message without being hated - its in the delivery. Remember, you and your husband have to comfortable with information that is given to you so don't give up until then. It can be a long stressful task but what price can you put on your life or your husbands?
Let me know what happens, take care and remain strong.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me. It's amazing that I am getting more answeres and information from a complete stranger on a message board than I am from the doctors! I did ask if the bleeding and swelling has gone down or stopped. His reply was rather sarcastic imo. He said, "Well, Mrs. Jordan if his symptoms are going away or subsiding, that must mean that the bleeding and swelling has gone away." I retorted, "Exuse me Dr. Sullivan, with all due respect, I am not a neurologist just a scared wife and mother. I would assume that another MRI would be in order to know for sure." His reply was, "If you want to spend another $2,000.00 for MRI when it's in my opinion not necessary fine." I told him that I would rather pick up the disk with my husbands MRI on it and get a second opinion. He said fine he would have it available for me Wednesday. My husband has a customer who we have worked for for 3 years. She just happens to be a nuerologist. We will be paging her this evening to talk with her and see what she can do for us. Anyway, again thank you for listening and replying. I will continue to post on this thread with any updates!
Re: Need info! 
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