Stroke, my Grandad has just had one......

[npg1]

Hi everyone, I dont know if anyone can help me but just wanted to post anyway.

Last monday my Grandad had a stroke. Quite a bad one I think. He is in a specialist stroke unit. I havent seen my Grandad for about 3 years so also feel very guilty about this.

The hospital is about 60 miles from me but I went down on saturday and I was so shocked and upset. The was vagely mubbling, lost all function on his right side and has a bad chest infection which they have said they are more worried about getting that under control before they scan him for the stroke.

When i saw him he held my hand and looked at me, I dont know if he recognised me or not. I talked to him and showed him a pitcure of my DD which he took out my hand and held it. He then took his oxygen mask off and wouldnt let the nurse put it back on him. Then he started coughing and we said you have to keep it on as it helps the coughing and he put it back on again.

It's very hard for me to get down there, I have 2 young children and visiting is 3-5pm and 6-7pm but I feel like I want to be there everyday. DH word away in the week and dont think he understands how I feel and I find it difficult to talk. I broke down on sunday morning and he knew how upset i was.

Can my Grandad improve and how long until this happens? Thanks for reading.

I am so sorry this has happened to your grandad npg1. How old is he? And how was his health before the stroke?

The short answer is yes he can get better but there is no guarantee. My mother had a stroke 2 years ago when she was 74. She was in intensive care for a couple of weeks and then a specialist stroke unit. She did not know who any of her family were to begin with but she has made a superb recovery and you would not know now that she had ever had a stroke. (though to those who know her I would say she aged 10 years overnight )

Every case is different and your grandad has every chance of making a recovery. How often you visit him is of course up to you, but I could not visit my mother more than occasionally and I have to say it helped me as when I did go, I could see the improvement each time. But you must make your own decision on that one.

Hi, physio's have a really important part in the rehabilitation process for those that have had a stroke, my experience is that those who have good physio input can get back to nearly how they were before, also it depends on other medical conditions and how quick the stroke was diagnosed and treated, hope it works out for your grandad

Hello npg1

My mil had a stroke 10 years ago, she had to relearn to do lots of things, and also had to have intensive speech therapy.

She is on warfarin and some other medication, and her speech is still slightly affected. But otherwise, she is just as she always was, her mind is still razor sharp.

The first 6months - year were quite hard for her, it really affected her confidence, but she had excellent support from the physio unit and, of course, her family.

Wish your grandad all the best for his future recovery.

Sorry, just read that back and it wasn't a dig at you and your situation , re family support.

We were 200 miles away, and you sound like you have your hands full, so don't feel bad.