My sister stroke

Hi.. my name is Sarah..on the 21st June this month my younger sister who is 40 suffered a massive ischemic stroke on the left side of brain she was taken to kings in London and had a emergancy crainechtomy. She has very little movement on right side and only started speaking yesterday some clear words "Yes & no" but is struggling to get a sentence out ..She also checked her self in a mirror after staff in hospital parked her right by mirror was tough seeing her so upset as noticed the the large dip in her head where the bone flap had been removed. And her beautiful hair had been shaved. Any advice on how to keep her positive would be a god send. And the fact she going to be in hospital for some time yet. Also I have taken over her personal care due to her having sores any one else experiance this while in hospital ? And really trying to get her to eat but the puree diet she won't touch only ice cream and may be a milkshake . So any advice would be amazing as I take this journey with her. X

Hi, this is a tricky one as all strokes are so different and effect everyone in different ways. 

I had my stroke 4 months ago. I was 42 then (43 now) and had a pretty hectic life with a teaching job and 2 small children. I was lucky, it didn’t affect me physically in any obvious way. My brain was like spaghetti though, and I still get processing difficulties when it’s noisy or I’m tired.

I’m a pretty positive person, so after a weekend of feeling down I started to find all the positives. Extra time off work with the kids, still alive (!!), opportunity to evaluate my life and make changes while I have the time, etc etc.

I did still get down though because I’d feel guilty about things I wasn’t able to do at the moment. I started a diary then. I made notes of things I’ve “done for the first time since...”, even if they were silly little things. Daily or weekly they don’t make a big impact, but as I’m able to look from month to month there are big changes and improvements and as I can see those I’m able to think “well, by next month I may be able to...”

Recovery is a long term thing. It’s hard to accept tha in the beginning and I think that’s when depression can set it. Focus month to month and celebrate the small things. They soon build up. And good luck xxxx