My grandma had a stroke

[letsgetweird]

PDQ

Has anyone (or a family member) been through this and care to share their experience? My 81 yo grandma suffered a major stroke today. They did a procedure to remove the blood clot and she's currently intubated....they said she'll be awake tomorrow.

She lives several hours away in a rural area with no family around. What are we probably looking at when it comes to recovery? Rehab? Nursing home?

We have no clue what to expect. My grandma does not take care of herself properly and is already a very difficult person to deal with unfortunately. Because of strained family relationships, having her live with one of us is not really an option.

[mysteriouswife]

Strokes are so hard to determine the outcome until the person is awake. One grandparent was fine outside of minor mobility for a few weeks. Two more had major issues. One had a feeding tube until end of life, could no longer use one side, or speak. The other had mobility issues and speaking issues that resorted in relearning to speak and chew. My mom had one that resulted in memory issues and not being able to maintain a job for a while. The effects on strokes are vastly different for everyone.

I’m very sorry your family is going through this. I hope for the best for her

[VillainV]

My uncle had a pretty massive stroke about 4 years ago, in his mid-60s. He lived by himself and it was several hours before he was found by coworkers and taken to the hospital for clot-busters. He was in the hospital for several weeks, then in a rehab facility for a few months, and moved to a nursing home for a few more months.

Since he was working at the time, he had health insurance through his job that covered most of his immediate expenses. He was not able to return to work, so eventually he lost his policy.

He is no longer able to live independently, so my parents moved him across the country to be close to them, and they placed him in assisted living. Physically he lost a lot of dexterity in one arm/hand, and had some balance problems, but he can walk short distances unassisted, and he can still talk. Cognitively, he suffers from short-term memory issues, severe executive processing deficiency, and language processing deficiency. As a result, he has pretty severe depression. I mean, he lost his ability to live and work independently, will never drive again, struggles to communicate and understand people, can no longer form relationships or friendships….it’s not the retirement he had planned, and I’m sure that’s unbelievably difficult.

Stroke recovery is incredibly individual. It’s possible your grandmother will recover some of her abilities, but which ones and how much depends on lots of factors. Unfortunately, it may be several months before you know what her long-term steady-state is going to look like.

[cleo29]

I am so sorry! like the pp said, they can be hard to predict. I would expect she might need OT.

[expectantsteelerfan]

Like others said, it can vary so wildly. My mother had a stroke last year at the age of 65. She never fully lost consciousness and called 911 herself but couldn't articulate what was happening, and then she did lose the ability to make sense for a while, but she made a quick and full recovery after just a brief hospital stay and the only lasting effects being that she needs to be on blood pressure meds.

[letsgetweird]

Mar 29, 2022 19:01:00 GMT -5 VillainV said:

My uncle had a pretty massive stroke about 4 years ago, in his mid-60s. He lived by himself and it was several hours before he was found by coworkers and taken to the hospital for clot-busters. He was in the hospital for several weeks, then in a rehab facility for a few months, and moved to a nursing home for a few more months.

Since he was working at the time, he had health insurance through his job that covered most of his immediate expenses. He was not able to return to work, so eventually he lost his policy.

He is no longer able to live independently, so my parents moved him across the country to be close to them, and they placed him in assisted living. Physically he lost a lot of dexterity in one arm/hand, and had some balance problems, but he can walk short distances unassisted, and he can still talk. Cognitively, he suffers from short-term memory issues, severe executive processing deficiency, and language processing deficiency. As a result, he has pretty severe depression. I mean, he lost his ability to live and work independently, will never drive again, struggles to communicate and understand people, can no longer form relationships or friendships….it’s not the retirement he had planned, and I’m sure that’s unbelievably difficult.

Stroke recovery is incredibly individual. It’s possible your grandmother will recover some of her abilities, but which ones and how much depends on lots of factors. Unfortunately, it may be several months before you know what her long-term steady-state is going to look like.

Thank you for sharing. I read that depression is very common in people that have had a stroke.

[fivechickens]

I am so sorry about your grandma.

My mom had a stroke. The main side effects were slurred speech and her hand/arm was weaker after. ETA: my mom never went to rehab or nursing home, she was in the hospital getting chemo when the stroke happened and it was mild.


My friend had a massive stroke when she was 46. She uses a wheelchair, has lost the use of her arm, has memories issues and her speech, like my mom, is a bit slurred. Her husband has said that the physical part is obviously hard for her but the hardest part for the family, especially for their kids, is that her personality is completely different now. ETA: she spent 6 months in the hospital, then went into a rehab/nursing home for 3 months and then went home and did outpatient rehab for awhile.

[rooster222]

If she can go to rehab-check into rehab hospitals instead of nursing home rehab. Sometimes insurance won't cover the hospital rehab but they get better/more therapy than at a nursing home so better chance for recovery. I'm sorry you are dealing with this!

(There are rehab hospitals and regular hospitals with a rehab wing. Both better than nursing home option, imo.)

[tacokick]

Mar 29, 2022 21:00:54 GMT -5 rooster222 said:

If she can go to rehab-check into rehab hospitals instead of nursing home rehab. Sometimes insurance won't cover the hospital rehab but they get better/more therapy than at a nursing home so better chance for recovery. I'm sorry you are dealing with this!

(There are rehab hospitals and regular hospitals with a rehab wing. Both better than nursing home option, imo.)

I second this! Everyone I know who has had this option has done so much better regardless of age.

I’m sorry this happened and I hope she does well.

[egishere]

I'm so sorry about your grandma.
My mom had a massive stroke in 2018. She spent a couple of weeks in the hospital then went to a rehab hospital- I agree try to push for that rather than the nursing home ones. She then had to go into a nursing home for several months until my Dad could sell their house and move closer to me- they now needed a one story since she was wheelchair bound. She unfortunately never made a huge recovery- lost her speech and the use of the right side of her body. She passed away in her sleep about 15 months after the stroke.

Strokes are a very difficult thing to deal with- being fine one day and then becoming disabled in a split second. I hope your grandma has a better recovery, etc.

[spindle92]

I'm sorry to hear this about your grandmother.

My brother had a stroke 5 years ago, he was only 48 at the time, and he went to a rehab for I think 2 months.
The rehab facility was amazing and other than a slight imbalance issue, he is doing great.

[rebneen]

I’m so sorry 😢

My dad was 81 when he had a stroke that proved to be fatal. My mom had a few from age 65-72 and is mostly ok physically but there appears to be long term consequences in the form of her faster than average advancing dementia. It really can also depend where the stroke happened - my dad’s affected his ability to swallow while my mom’s seems to have had no physical consequences.

Like a pp said, it’s sometimes a while before you know what their recovery will be. With what you’ve shared I would expect some amount of time in the hospital to stabilize and then on to rehab. In my area the hospital my dad went to isn’t known for great anything so I planned to transfer him to a facility that my grandma went to right in the same office park as my DD daycare.

[Deleted]

I'm sorry to hear that you are dealing with this. I can't really offer any anecdotes or advice because we are still in the beginning stages with my Dad. He just had a stroke last week while he was already in the hospital after suffering a heart attack. His was a bilateral stroke which they were able to determine by doing and MRI of his brain. In his case, it was worse on right side, so most of his current issues are on his left. He's lost his vision in one eye, has numbness in both his left arm and left leg, and he's also dealing with some breathing and swallowing issues. We're really not sure at this point what his prognosis is, but they are starting Occupational Therapy now while he's still in the hospital. I'm assuming at some point we'll need to move him to a rehab facility, but we're still really not sure.

[letsgetweird]

Mar 30, 2022 16:28:17 GMT -5 @sameoldstory said:

I'm sorry to hear that you are dealing with this. I can't really offer any anecdotes or advice because we are still in the beginning stages with my Dad. He just had a stroke last week while he was already in the hospital after suffering a heart attack. His was a bilateral stroke which they were able to determine by doing and MRI of his brain. In his case, it was worse on right side, so most of his current issues are on his left. He's lost his vision in one eye, has numbness in both his left arm and left leg, and he's also dealing with some breathing and swallowing issues. We're really not sure at this point what his prognosis is, but they are starting Occupational Therapy now while he's still in the hospital. I'm assuming at some point we'll need to move him to a rehab facility, but we're still really not sure.

I'm sorry to hear about your dad.

We saw her today and she is doing very well considering. She was able to walk a little but with a walker

[cuadrado]

We just went through something similar with my grandmother.

For someone who is 81 and already has trouble taking care of herself, the hospital will probably recommend discharging her to rehab unless she's doing really well. Being hospitalized can really debilitate someone who is elderly. If she agrees to that then the rehab center will help determine an appropriate plan of care for her once she's done with rehab depending on how she's doing, what types of services she qualifies for, etc. The biggest long-term things things to consider are if she can care for herself (health wise) and if she is a fall risk on her own + considering what she wants to do.

[achi]

I'm so sorry. H's grandmother had a stroke and was able to recover and continue living on her own for many years. She did live with MIL for a few months while she recovered and so we could all be sure that she was indeed able to care for herself properly on her own.

[sparkythelawyer]

I'm so sorry. Sending love.

[letsgetweird]

When it comes to the stroke, she's doing great. But seems very likely that she has cancer