View Full Version : My mum had a stroke today :( Need reassurance
Hi all, I guess I am after some reassurance from anyone who has had any experience/knowledge of strokes. My mum (who will be 60 in July) had a stroke this morning, with two suspected TIAs over the past three weeks. Her main symptoms were visual disturbances/aura, dizziness and confusion. Her scans showed a blocked right main artery to the brain which has fired off little clots causing the stroke. Doctors decided that unblocking the artery would cause the blood to rush to her brain and cause more damage so she is currently in hospital on medication to try to dissolve the clots first and in a few days they were talking about a "brain bypass" to unblock the main artery. At this stage we don't know the severity yet. She showed improvements with her speech by the time we left tonight, remembered things that she didn't earlier in the day (the day and what year it was), and was aware she was supposed to work tomorrow and could remember the days she works. However, she still couldn't perform simple commands or follow instructions. When the stroke nurse was showing her pictures she couldn't recognise what they were (she said a picture of koala bears were "glasses", for example). She can walk although her gait is slightly off and her right side vision and movement is more affected than the left.
As you can can imagine I am very worried about recovery and the possibility of more strokes. I know it will likely be a slow process and road to recovery but anyone offer some reassurance or positive outcomes? I can't sleep and keep thinking the worst. I can't bear the thought of anything happening to my mum :(
HI there, you'd be surprised at how well people (especially at a young age, as your Mum is) can recover and heal from this. My Mum had a 'less severe' stroke to your Mum. She had confusion, visual disturances (double vision, sparkling auras and vision loss), memory problems, major loss of balance and major 'anxiety-like' symptoms. Sadly for my Mum, at the time, it was diagnosed as Migraine as she had vomiting and headache also, which she had always had very badly. By the time she had a scan it was a year later and showed where the stroke had occurred only. If she had had input right from the start I'm sure she would have made an even better recovery, however, as even without medical input within weeks she was hugely better. All that has remained 2 years later is some vision loss and a slight short-term memory difference. I guess what I am saying is that stroke is a really well known about condition, there is lots of expertise in the field and medics are really good at treating it and rehabilitating people. It is a really good sign that she is already showing some improvements, and it is surprising how the brain can heal following this type of trauma. I hope some others come along with some more relevant advice and input shortly, however, until they do I think you should feel encouraged that she sounds like she is in good hands and as for the 'more strokes' - they will work to discover the reason for it occurring in the first place and treat accordingly with perhaps blood thinning agents. The key to strokes, I believe, is getting in there quickly with symptoms and having it dealt with promptly, and that is what is happening with your Mum.
I'm so sorry to hear this :( I totally understand the stress of dealing with a serious illness with a loved one. She's in the best place for treatment and all you can do is take it one day at a time and be a supportive and strong as you can. It's a positive she's showing signs of recovery already.
Positive thoughts and hugs :bighug1:
I am so sorry you are going through this - you must be so worried. I know several people who have suffered strokes, my uncle and father -in -law included, and all those I know personally have recovered more or less fully. Your mum has had a clotting type stroke, which is the “good” one. The prognosis for this type is much better. My uncle had the bleeding type, which is the “bad” one, but he recovered totally. It is a long road though, a possible long stay in hospital and lots of physio therapy. Wishing you and your mum the very best.
I don't personal much alot about strokes- but I just wanted to post here and say I'm thinking of both you and your mother during this time x
MyNameIsTerry
25-02-19, 04:38
I'm the same as Sarah, I don't have much experience with them. Some older members of the family and neighbours have had them but they were elderly.
All I can fill is echo the wise words above about how much more they understand now, she's in the best place and her quicker recovery at this point seems a good sign. What do the doctors think?
I really hope she gets the best care and makes a full recovery from this.
We are all here for you if you need support. Anxiety is going to be affected by something so big and it's perfectly understandable that the next few days in particular may be quite rough with such a shock and the roller coaster of emotions but listen to the medical team, lean on your support people and try to be objective as best you can as anxiety is obviously going to see the opportunity to run away with itself into catastrophizing.
:hugs::flowers:
Sending you my very best wishes and I'm so sorry your Mum has had this happen to her.
It must be a very anxious time for you but make sure the doctors tell you everything and support your Mum as best you can. Please let us know how you are coping because it must be such a challenging time for you and your family xx
Rihanna, my mum suffered multiple strokes which affected her sight, her balance, her grip and her memory.
But, she was still aware of certain things like where she was, people she knew, what year it was and was I looking after the house.
Sleep, monitoring and medication were the key factors to her wellbeing and of course time.
Although my mum was much older than your mum as she was in her 80s, there was improvement.
Hospitals, after tests normally suggest rehabilitation which is basically checking and learning to cope with tasks in normal day-to-day life.
This continues when your mum is released from hospital.
They may suggest her bed be moved to ground floor room, if she lives in a house.
At this stage Rihanna, you can not make an assessment on how your mum is exactly going to be. As it was me.
So I used that time to prepare stuff in her home so it would be ready for her return.
It also keeps the positive side of things going.
If she has memory problems, then making notes and lists of things will help her.
My mum also thing where her husband was still alive, even though he had died 2 years ago.
This was hard because it was like she was grieving like it was the first time.
It will be upsetting for you Rhianna and you have to keep as much as normal life as you can.
While your mum is in hospital you are relieved from any burden and until tests are done and time has past, you will not know the full picture, but your mum is still a good age to even recover fully.
Keep us updated and ask for as much help as you need. :hugs:
Just to add to that, I had a mini stroke myself and lost the use of my right arm and leg, but fully recovered within the month. That was about 15 years ago.
Have no advice but I’m so so sorry this has happened to your Mum. She’s in the best place and she’ll get the help she needs. Sending love to you both and I’ll keep you in my thoughts x
I know it has been months since I posted this but I want to thank you for all your well wishes. I did read them at the time but as you can imagine things were pretty full on then.
My mum is doing really well, she was very lucky. For someone who has had what her doctors said was a "massive stroke, about as massive as they come", she has managed to come off with very little side effects.
Unfortunately she lost the vision in her right eye, which took her a while to get used to, but she's back walking everywhere, without her walking frame now as she was initially very off balance, does her grocery shopping (we take her but she navigates the aisles confidently now by herself), reads and writes as well as she always has, memory sharp as a tack. Day two in hospital she couldn't remember my name but knew EXACTLY how much money I owed her haha.
She still has her days where she is more agitated over little things than usual, and gets her words muddled up or can't say something, but she is still here, she's doing amazingly, and we are so lucky to have her!
A very belated thanks again for all the support! Hopefully this offers a bit of hope or reassurance to someone going through the same thing! X
That's wonderful news and a testament to her spirit :)
Positive thoughts
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