Mum in hospital with bleed on her brain. Waiting for a phone call and can't sleep

[Elmo311]

Hi,

My lovely mum who's in her late 60's had a bad headache today, she then went to the bathroom and vomited and fell unconscious. My poor dad felt that something was up so he went to check on her and found her.

Because of Covid we can't be with her. She's been moved to another hospital. And they said they might put her on a ventilator.

Just so worried and I can't sleep :(

Thinking of you and your mum, hoping she is on the mend soon!

Thank you all. I'll update when something happens x

You must be exhausted Elmo I hope you get some positive news soon

Oh what a scary situation. I do hope you get some positive news soon.

Hugs and best wishes (())

For you

Hi everyone,

Mum is doing ok. She's still sedated and on the ventilator but they are planning to take her off it in the next 3 days.
It seems as though she can't move her left side. They did a 'wake test' on her this morning and she did respond to pain but not commands.

The nurse was so lovely. He said that he's seen patients in worse condition than mum go on to have a full recovery and that he thinks mums going to be ok.
That was nice to hear as I couldn't get anything positive said like that for ages.
I do understand that things could change for the worst. But just trying to stay positive right now.

I also finally was allowed to ask what happens after she comes off the ventilator and they said they'd keep her in ICU for a while and then transfer her to another hospital for rehabilitation, where she will be for quite some time.

It's nice to be talking about her future... x.

💐 Thinking of you and so glad that things are looking so positive. My mum had a brain bleed aged 70 and it was a very worrying time, but thankfully the bleed was reabsorbed and she went on to make a full recovery albeit with a little memory loss.

What a scary week you've had!

I think that's as positive as it could be at this stage. Hopefully you will be able to visit her soon.

Wishing your mum the fullest recovery possible x💐

Thinking of you. I am glad to see they’re so positive about your mum.

Glad to hear that there is some positive news

That sounds positive, thank you for the update

Pleased to hear this OP

Hi everyone,

I just thought I'd update the thread.
My mum is still in hospital. She's actually made a good recovery in terms of her mobility- she's up and walking around which is fantastic!

Her speech is better too. She's had a couple of falls in hospital and now she wears a helmet when she's on the move as her balance is off.

The problem is cognitively, she isn't doing well. For example, they took her to make a cup of tea and she boiled the kettle, poured the water into a jug and declared it done.
She tells me on the phone that Meghan and Harry came to visit her, and what they talk about. She calls the nurses 'shitholes' when they try to help her. And LOADS more but she's basically impaired.

She was meant to be going to the rehabilitation centre this week. But the occupation therapist called me today to say that they may not be able to take mum because she needs someone with her all the time, due to her getting out of bed etc and that the rehab centre might not be able to facilitate this.
They've asked us to come in for a family meeting on Monday.

Does anyone have any ideas of the options as to where we go from here / any experience with this? I'm so worried.

@Elmo311

Hi everyone,

I just thought I'd update the thread.
My mum is still in hospital. She's actually made a good recovery in terms of her mobility- she's up and walking around which is fantastic!

Her speech is better too. She's had a couple of falls in hospital and now she wears a helmet when she's on the move as her balance is off.

The problem is cognitively, she isn't doing well. For example, they took her to make a cup of tea and she boiled the kettle, poured the water into a jug and declared it done.
She tells me on the phone that Meghan and Harry came to visit her, and what they talk about. She calls the nurses 'shitholes' when they try to help her. And LOADS more but she's basically impaired.

She was meant to be going to the rehabilitation centre this week. But the occupation therapist called me today to say that they may not be able to take mum because she needs someone with her all the time, due to her getting out of bed etc and that the rehab centre might not be able to facilitate this.
They've asked us to come in for a family meeting on Monday.

Does anyone have any ideas of the options as to where we go from here / any experience with this? I'm so worried.

Hi OP,

My relative went through similar. She was left with facial paralysis and arm weakness. Both improved with physio although she never completely got back to normal.

The cognitive stuff... she would get up and shower at 3am, pour kettles down the sink instead of in the cup, make very odd cooking creations (carrot and broccoli lasagne anyone?), talked about strange things like asking me why I’d parked my car in the lift (I didn’t have a car, or a lift!) and she was pretty angry too. Within 12 months the cognitive stuff was back to normal!

My friends dad also had a brain bleed ten years ago and you’d honestly never know.

I hope her recovery goes well.

@Icancelledthecheque That must have been so difficult for you all. Parking your car in the lift made me chuckle!
I'm so happy to hear that she improved and is now back to normal!
That is my hope for my mum, although we have been told that she will likely never be back to baseline, I'm not sure what that means in terms of cognition.

Thank you for that x

My MiL had exactly the same thing and was very very unwell for months. However she eventually made a complete recovery and 12 years on you'd never know it had happened. Hoping it's like this for your Mum.

OP my mum had a massive stroke in 2006 and was in hospital for 5 months.

At the time I couldn't see her ever getting well but she made a brilliant recovery and her speech abd cognitive skills improved enormously when she came home.

It has been hard, I won't lie to you and it was a huge adjustment for both my parents but despite weakness in her right side she lives a very full life.

The stroke happened over 15 yrs ago but they still go abroad several times a year and see having a great retirement under the circumstances. As we speak she's making curtains for the lounge!

I hope this gives you a little er hope! Give it time and get her a good physio if you can. It makes all the difference.

I'm really loving the positive stories as I have a tendency to be rather pessimistic!

I'm also ok for anyone who didn't end up with a good outcome to comment so that I don't get too excited, but of course it's good to try to stay positive.

I'm concerned that they think she's not a good candidate for rehabilitation due to her small attention span (practically non existent) and that once she's discharged from the hospital we'd be on our own with it all!

Are they any rehab centres that do 24hour care? That's what she needs really. I'm hoping that they're going to suggest that, but it's just further away or something...

I found the Stroke Association very helpful OP.

My mum was in a rehabilitation centre for a few months and although it did help she hated it and improved enormously at home with occupational therapists and physios visiting her a couple of times a week.

I remember her being so happy when she made a lemon drizzle cake on her own which would've seemed impossible a few months earlier.

She did have depression for 18 months or so afterwards though and was on mild anti depressants.

It may be a long road ahead OP but she'll get there. The consultants were quite pessimistic that she'd ever walk again but she did!

@Sallycinnamum What did the Stroke Association do to help?

I'm glad you're mum did so well!

It's definitely a long uncertain road.

They gave me lots of information as to what to expect and some useful numbers for local services.

I know it's easy to say but try and stay positive. I found doing crosswords and reading to my mum really helped and lots of talking about what would happen when she came home. Give her something to look forward to.