New stroke survivor advice

Dear all my mum had a stroke on Friday and we are still trying to understand how it has affected her and what sort of a stroke it was. The consultant has not told me yet what the CT Scan says but she has symptoms like double vision and slurred speech. Any immediate advice of what makes the journey easier especially as we are going to work hard on recovery for her. Should she stay in hospital in the Unit as long as possible or go home as she seems desperate to get back?

Hi elz1 -So sorry to hear about your Mum. A lot depends on what the Consultant says but one thing you can be sure of is your Mum won't be allowed home until she has a diagnosis and the correct medication put in place for her needs. I would imagine if she has double vision and slurred speech, she will need specialist therapy for these in place too. As far as going home goes, the most frightening thing for me when I had mine was the fear of having another. As much as I wanted to go home because I could see the strain of me having a stroke was affecting my husband, I felt safe in hospital and very vulnerable when I first came out. It's a very emotional time both for your Mum and yourselves. Your Mum will get home visits from occupational therapy when she does come home and it may help you as well as your Mum if you could be with her as there is a lot to take in when they visit. There are some survivors on here with similar symptoms to your Mum and I'm sure they will be able to help you. My stroke affected movement on my left leg and arm but not vision or speech like your Mums.

Morning Elz

I am sorry to hear about your mom's stroke, it is clearly a distressing time for you all. However, it is important that she remains in hospital for as long as she requires to receive the right support and therapy, which might include physiotherapy and speech and language therapy.

You may be interested in reading the guidelines, which hospitals should follow with stroke survivors - http://guideline.ssnap.org/2016StrokeGuideline/html5/index.html?page=1&noflash 

They are quite lengthy, but you will see what should happen throughout stroke recovery, including how much therapy someone should get, and what should happen once your mom is ready to leave hospital.

You could also contact the stroke helpline on 0303 3033 100 or email info@stroke.org.uk for further support.

Hope this helps.

Take care

Vicki 

Dear Elz

So sorry to learn of your Mums stroke. When she is discharged then she will be able to have a copy of the letter from the hospital to the GP. That will give the diagnosis. Mum should keep that as it may well be needed at stages through her recovery.

Most of us want to get recovery and we think that going home will speed recovery. It doesnt. In fact it is very scary getting home. I would want to stay as long as the unit are happy to keep me. Generally they will not keep you in very long. 

By all means help Mum, but it cant be rushed. Once she is medically fit, which in my case was after just five days, the long journey of recovery starts. It is helpful to remember that Mum will then be injured and not ill. I do hope she gets the home visit team. They have so much advice to give. There is so much to learn. I am 27 months along and still learning. Things do improve. Mum needs to be positive (you need to be very wise and subtle to promote Mum being positive) and she needs to smile four times a day. Amazing what this does.

I think thats enough from me for now.

Do say hello to Mum from me.

Colin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi  my words of advice having had a stroke 6 mths ago is never forget it happened and she will need encouragement often,  everyone rushes about checking on you and all of a sudden its as if it never happened.  I have not got any visual effects but the fatigue and emotional changes are there.  My three children seem to have forgotten and I seem to have to make an appointment to see them due to their busy lives.  A simple how are you feeling today mum? means so much.  Things will improve but never be exactly the same. Take care of her you only have one mum, and take care of yourself.  Wendy

I suffered with double/blurred vision and slurred speech, both lasted a lot longer than I anticipated, however, over time both have definately improved, but it is a long and slow process. I was in hospital approaching 2 months, but had a lot of physical weakness aswell. I wouldnt hurry as it is a long term situation, when I was 1st admitted, I thought Id be in a day or 2, that turned into weeks and then months,I would liked to have known that right at the start myself. After discharge, I had an appt with an Orthoptic consultant and he suggested prism glasses,so had to go to specsavers and get some plain glass glasses and then a return visit to the consultant and he then attached prism to one side. This helped with things far away, but it wasnt the magic that Ithought it was,but it was still worth doing. He said it was called 6th (or was it 7th) nerve palsy and it was down to the brain swelling and that over time things would change and hopefully improve which they did. 

The speech was just sitting at home and going over exercises and repetitive sayings suggested by the speech therapists,far harder than it sounds and quite frustrating. But once again over time , tiny tiny improvements have occurred and now Im not so conscious when answering the phone or speaking to strangers, its not perfect, but I can manage. 

Best wishes to you and your Mum.