broken hearted but have a question

[JulieKingsley]

my mother has had a stroke. one day she seems out of it cognitively (mentally) and others seems OK. Has anyone ever seen this? I am a long distance caregiver as she lives in FL and I live in NY. I am grieving the loss of the mother I knew and praying for a type of recovery where she can have some quality of life. Right now she is bedridden in a nursing/rehab place and paraylized on one side. Thanks.

[Fayelle]

I think its pretty common to have residual effects from a brain injury such as a stroke....It is possible too to continue to have TIA's or ischemic attacks when you are having strokes which will effect your cognitive abilities....

Have you talked to her doctor about your concerns? Or even her nurse? There may be an explanation they can give you regarding this.....Often times they include the family in this information if you ask them to.....

My father has not had any strokes, he has however had seizures and drug use which have impaired his capability to take care of himself....The nurses and doctors have been good to explain anything I ask them to regarding this....He is 54 and has significant neurological deficits, his go from moment to moment though....He can be fine one moment and get paranoid as well as forgetful the next....Often times I will tell him something important and he will forget the next day, or even ask the same questions over and over again.....

My husbands grandmother has been having strokes and she has developed spots on her brain where her memory center is, since strokes leave spots on the brain it is not uncommon for there to be problems in the areas where the stroke happened....I am not 100 percent sure about the cause of the damage from a stroke but I believe it is scar tissue....Do not quote me on that because I am not sure about it.....

I know depending on the severity of the stroke there can be a recovery of certain abilities with efforts to that end....

There are a lot of complications with any brain injury and I would suggest asking for any information you need from the professionals helping her currently. You are entitled to know this information since it is your mother and it will effect your life in some way......

My son has had seizures and had some short term effects on his memory and behavior as a result. The symptoms subsided but there was fall out from his seizure activity.....Any insult to the brain can have an effect on cognitive ability even if it is only in the short term.....

I wish you the best, and am sorry to hear of your mothers complications.....

Fay

[Tootsie]

Hi Julie,
Being so far away makes any kind of caregiving difficult. Basically, you need to find out which nurse, or aide is responsible for your mother's care and arrange for the best time when she can tell you how your mother is doing.

You need to ask her doctor, what the goals are for rehabilitation. Is she expected to regain her ability to walk with assistive devices like a walker, cane, etc? Will custodial care be required for the rest of her life? Is she taking any medication that might complicate her ability to speak or communicate? Are there other medical problems that complicate her care, like diabetes or heart disease? Once you have the answers to these questions, you might have a better idea of what lies ahead. Cheerio.

[potatobug]

M y mom had a mild stroke after a bout of the shingles in March earlier this year.Cognitively there has been a massive decline, though there are no real physical affects other than pain she feels which is more arthritic in nature.She seems to be with it at most periods,But often says odd things, and her perception seems to be a little distorted.She spends every night calling out loudly from her bed til early in the morning,she has one drink every night(a continuation of a drinking problem shes always had,)And I often wonder if it makes things worse for her mentally.She does not care for herself, no showering , dosent eat properly etc...she really needs more care,but at this stage I am trying to take care of myself as well as everyone else.Not to go too far off topic-With the stroke there have been some indications that there is definitely a decline in her mental capacity.Good luck to you, hope things work out-

Patty