Stroke

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Hello. My Uncle collapsed after having severe headaches and was rushed to the hospital. He had brain surgery 48 hours ago to have a blood clot removed. The clot was hardened however, as it had been there for a few days, and the surgeon couldn't remove it. SO they had to cut off the supply to part of the brain while they forced a rupture to break up the clot. This was successful, but, it caused another clot which they cannot touch due to its location. They have classified it as a stroke so far. He has been heavily sedated for most of the time, however, the doctors have said they are trying to find the right balance and today he woke up, opened his eyes and looked around. After further scans, they have said they are no longer worried about the second clot and are starting to increase his blood pressure and thus, blood supply to the brain while reducing the sedatives and allow him to wake up by himself, all tubes removed by tomorrow. Further, they said the impacts to the initial clot and the cutting off of part of the brain for roughly 5 minutes is less than they first thought. So given all of this, what does it all mean so far and what impacts should we expect to see when he wakes properly?

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@avbmitch,

Talk to your own doctor about this (I doubt your uncle's doctors will tell you much, given HIPAA regulations and all) and ask for the names of reference works to read up on what's going on.

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@avbmitch,

Sounds like you got a lot of information on the procedures your uncle went through. Now you need to sit down with someone and talk about the recovery prognosis. Perhaps the surgeon will do this or his/her PA or nurse.

Request a family meeting with staff. The hospital social worker can also be helpful. Immediate family members must be the ones to request information. But they can give permission for you to sit in on the consultation. It really helps to have another set of ears in a situation like this.

Good luck and speedy recovery!

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@PUNKEY,

Wow thanks for replying so soon.
I haven't been able to sit in on any of the meetings with the Docs or Surgeons so it has been hard to hear it from my cousins who are trying to recite all the info they are hearing.

Anyway, today, they were able to take some of the tubes out of my uncle and he is starting to open his eyes and look around , albeit, with a dazed look. He every so often also tries to grab hold of the bars and lift himself up. He has not yet spoken though and wanted to see if anyone here knows much about stroke patients and if its normal not to talk straight away.

The main concern now apparently is of infection, for which he already has a minor chest infection. But they are saying this is normal and are hoping he starts to cough a bit and clear his chest and avoid any further infections.

From there, he might be able to leave the ICU and start some sort of recovery.

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@avbmitch,

Hi all, just an update. My uncle is still in intensive care.it has been 8 days since he passed out due to a burst aneurysm in which was later operated on. it appears that while the burst aneurysm obviously did some damage , more damage was done later when the surgeons had to cut off some blood supply in the brain to burst and break up a blood clot. Weather that clot initially csused blood to be cut off completely I don't know z but given they didn't operate until midnight on the same day makes me think it must have been controlled somewhat.

Anyway, His brain seems.to be on the mend! He still cannot talk and does not have any movement on the right side . On a brighter note , he is responding well to the nurse , for eg when asked to put his hand on his head or poke out his tounge he is able to do it , and that is by vision ( notes on paper) and speak, so it looks like.he still has some mental capacity.

Would be interested if others have experienced similar or even anyone that has studied or specialised in this type of medicine please comment .

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