Thank you John. That all makes a lot of sense to me. Because of Covid complications, to put it mildly, the hospitals are desperately short of staff, and the rehabs are full at present. Patience seems to be the name of the game. Thanks for coming back to me. Regards - Diana
Hi Hilary. Every answer is valuable, especially that all strokes are different. I am sure he will need physio, and I can find that for him when he gets home if the NHS ones are not available. And I am told acupuncture is very effective with strokes. We shall see. Hope you are OK now.
Best wishes - Diana
Hi Diana.
As everyone else has said it is all dependent on when the clinical team agree he is OK to come home. I had quite a bad stroke 2 years ago, which paralysed my right hand side, but I did keep my speech. Thank goodness.
I was transferred to the rehab ward after 3 days (I think) and was there for about 5 weeks. I came home with Early Discharge Support, but had been assessed by OT as well as physios and my husband was supoorted as well e.g. how to help me in and out of the car and going up and downstairs.
OIt does sound as thpugh your husband is making good progress, but I found doing the 'big stuff' was relatively quick: it is the finer things that take longer. The movement in my arm came back a bit more quickly than my leg. The main advice I would pass on is do the exrecises the physios and OTs give you to do outside the one-to-one sessions as this will enable quicker recovery and continue at home!
All te best.
Jackie
Dear Diana
every stroke is different. I was unlucky because i missed the four hour zone and couldnt have the first treatment. I was paralysed and could move my right hand and nothing else. Couldnt even sit up. After three days i had a sudden recovery which was nothing short of miraculous. However, five years on and i still have disabilities. We do vary a lot.
a major stage is when we can transfer unaided. It sounds as though he is on his way to transfer. Excellent.
covid has really messed things for stroke patients this year, and especially next of kin. I do feel for them. A minor plus point is that stroke patients need rest and visitors disturb that rest. I did and do try to be positive.
colin
Thanks Diana for the encouragement. I only have mild gait ataxia. I've said I want to be in the involvement in research section so I do like to keep abreast of things. Hilary
Hello Diana,
In the UK, in terms of his eventual discharge, he will be under the care of a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) which will comprise his stroke consultant, his different therapists and a local representative from social services. They will start planning this fairly quickly but it will depend upon the progress he makes. I was much more severely affected by my stroke and it was almost four months after my stroke that I was eventually discharged. The standard of therapy is higher as an inpatient, compared to therapy provided as an out-patient after discharge.
Early in my care, my family was told that I would need to spend the rest of my life in a nursing home and therapies were provided to improve upon that - at first mainly around the use of a wheelchair, a hoist and washing myself and dressing one-handed in bed. This would have given me some quality of life but it was far from what I wanted.
Progress is measured using something called the Barthel Scale which assesses "Activities of Daily Living" (or ADL for short):
Barthel scale - Wikipedia
This includes ten different areas. If your husband scores well with these or makes good progress, it will hasten his discharge.
As with many things about Stroke, it does depend upon the severity of the Stroke and the determination and effort of the survivor.
Finally, as his carer you should be consulted around all planning. I had to have several weekends at home before I was discharged for good and that was conditional upon my having three adults at home at all times.
I hope this gives you some information. As a next step, I suggest talking with the Occupational Therapist charged with your husband's care. They often perform home assessments and liaise with your local Social Services.
Take care now, both of you,
Damian