Mum had a stroke and has large clots

[ZachsDad]

Last Tuesday my sister rang me at 7am to let me know that my mum had woken up and couldn't breathe. She had been having some minor breathing problems for the week prior, but the doctor told her it was just her "asthma flaring up".

She had also complained of pains in one of her legs and they just gave her some pain killers.

Anyway, last Tuesday I get to my mums house and she was in a right mess, she was terrified and couldn't breathe, we called an Ambulance but they told us it was a "three hour wait". Knowing this I bundled my mum into my car and drove as fast as I could to A&E.

During the trip she was drifting in and out of consciousness and was trying to speak and not making any sense. We got her there in time, she was where she needed to be and started receiving care.

They initially started treating her for asthma but that did nothing, as the day went on she started to slur her words a bit, and by the afternoon her face was really low on one side, she wasn't making any sense and she was having real problems recalling anything.

It was at this point we knew she had a stroke, the was confirmed with a tonne of scans, they've also since scanned her chest and found that she has some blood clots in her lungs, and one "large clot between the left and right chambers of her heart"

At the moment they are treating her with injections and medications, however I am very concerned if any of these clots move, or if the large one breaks up and causes either a heart attack or second stroke.

Does anyone know the risks at play here? or the survival rates? can people recover from this? is there a huge risk of second stroke or heart attack? should they operate? I've no experience with this kind of thing, and googling just turns up doom and gloom, when I just need facts.

I'm sorry. I know you have asked for facts and experiences. I can't give you those but I can offer sympathy and a hand hold.

I'm sorry, that sounds really stressful.

How old is she and how fit up until now as that will affect how well she could recover, whether she'd physically be able to have surgery if it's an option etc?

I am so sorry this has happened to your mum.
It sounds as if she has both venous and arterial emboli (clots).
The leg pain was most likely DVT and the pulmonary emboli resulted from that.
It is frustrating that she was not examined at the time she was having early symptoms. Risk factors include immobility, heart failure, infection, dehydration amongst other things.
The arterial clot that has caused the stroke most likely came from the clot in her heart. There was probably a disturbance in the function of her heart related to heart failure, atrial fibrillation or infection.
These are my very general thoughts, given that nobody can really diagnose over the internet, but maybe these will help you consider the questions to ask when you manage to speak to her doctor.
Unfortunately the outcome from this type of stroke are not good. I am so sorry.
The clot in her heart is probably the most worrying.
Much depends on her age, her health generally.
I hope you can speak to her doctor asap.
She is on anticoagulant treatment. The pros and cons of anything more invasive really needs a discussion with her doctor.

she's 74 and had a number of other health problems in the past, which just adds to the worry.

Thanks, she is 74 and not in great health with a number of other conditions, she is still in hospital at the moment and they are doing all they can for her. I am also most worried if these clots start to "move around" as I have no idea how long it takes to dissolve them, remove them, or even if they will come back.

She is taking a multitude of blood thinning medication as well as injections which they say she will always have to take from now on.