Mum's Stroke Recovery

I was up in Wellington for a long weekend last week and noticed how busy it has been. Between, nurses doing check ups and taking observations, Physio, speech therapists, occupational therapists, doctors, meals, trying to drink a litre of water and visitors, there is not a whole lot of time for Mum to spend by herself.   We have had discussions with Mum about this and feel that it will be better for her long term recovery to restrict visiting to her immediate family for the time being. On behalf of the family, thank you for all of your support and kind messages. With the shock of the stroke the massive amount of support Mum has received from friends and family has been a huge boost.  It has been a scary time and Mum has felt very loved and cared for whist she adjusted to the realities of where she has to start her rehabilitation from.   We are getting a better sense of the cadence of recovery.  Unfortunately, there won't be massive breakthroughs that make fo...

 I popped in to see Mum on Tuesday evening and she was in pretty good spirits.  She seemed less tired than the last time I saw her, even though I arrived just before the end of visiting hours. She has had a wide range of visitors from family and friends to physio and occupational therapists, it's all go. The physio is getting Mum to do an exercise whereby she interlocks the fingers of both hands and uses her left arm to assist her raising her right arm.  In typical fashion Mum demonstrated this exercise a number of times during my visit, she is really focused on goals. Her goal for tomorrow morning is to make her own breakfast. Mum has really enjoyed all the visits she has had and we went through a number of her photos of Mike and Hugo, it was great to see her face light up as we looked at a number of Hugo's photos.  Mum was also showing off her fingers as her lifelong friend Jenny has been in giving her a manicure which she was really pleased with. Mum has also been...

 Amanda, Hugo and I visited Mum a couple of times today.  It was the first time I had seen her in a few weeks.  I was very impressed to see her so chatty and in good spirits.  She was sitting in her chair when we arrived and having lunch: Soup, eggs with gravy, ice cream and jelly. The soup looked good, mum thought the eggs and gravy was an interesting combination. She left the gravy. The nurse reported that the doctors want Mum to drink more water with threats of putting her back on an IV.  1 L a day.  When you have to go through a 6 step process for each swallow 1 L is pretty daunting.  We tried to encourage her, but Hugo found the best way was just to drink some for her.  Later he spilt some on the floor which Mum was very pleased about: "Anything to empty that Jug!" She had a good sleep during the day which was well needed as she is still having some trouble sleeping at night. Hopefully tonight will be better.  We will be up in Wellington...

 We just heard Mum has moved to the Rehabilitation centre at Kenepuru Hospital. Ward 6, room 8.   -Mike

 Mum had a videofluoroscopy today which is a moving x-ray examination of swallowing. She has been given the all clear to drink fluids. This is the first step to rehab. They offered her some coffee this morning but Mum declined.  Turns out it was instant coffee.  I guess she is hanging out for the real thing! -Mike

It's been a pretty positive day to today, firstly Mum's moved to a room of her own which is great and provides her with a bit more privacy.  Additionally the hospital has been making enquiries about Mum being relocated to Kenepuru Hospital, subject to there being space.  This isn't likely to  happen for another two or three days but is still a positive sign.   Mum had a session with the physios today and apparently they were happy with how Mum was progressing. Mum was able to initiate minor movement of her right foot this evening, which was really pleasing.  The speech therapist was in again today and has given Mum a bunch of classic phrases to practice, which Mum was handling really well. Mum is enjoying being able to eat food  again and it continues to be a source of great commentary. The staff at the hospital are doing a great job and being so helpful. From the family I also wanted to say a huge thank you for all the messages we have received and of...

Mum had a session with Lara the speech therapist this morning, and has passed the swallow test for some foods. She had some yoghurt and mashed banana. The nasal tube is staying in for now to help with delivering medication and to top up foods, but this is great step forward.  We’ve been told we are not to finish Mum’s sentences for her and her homework is to over articulate her words and keep eating.  The doctors do their rounds a bit earlier on week days, so we missed them today, but mum seemed very pleased with the cocktail of drugs they have prescribed for her. The physio is due for another session today, and if the physio chair turns up she will be aiming to get sitting on the chair. The nursing staff are fantastic and taking great care of mum. - David  

We spoke to a Dr Sean Lance today. Mum calls him the shouting doctor, dad won’t need his hearing aids with him. He described the area of the brain the stroke had occurred in like sh1 at paekakariki. It has a lot of traffic but is also able to be bypassed with a bit of work.  He said that focussing small goals was how we should be looking at the moment, and that getting mum back to living independently at home was very realistic.  Last night mums heart beat dropped quite low so they gave her an electro cardio gram (ecg) where they put 12 sensors on her and get a snapshot of the heart over 10 seconds. There was nothing irregular.  The big risks for mum in the short term are chest infections and another stroke. There is some medicine they can soon administer that will decrease the chances of a second stroke.  Because of the long weekend, she will not see a speech therapist until tomorrow who will be able to assess if she is allowed to swallow. In the meantime mum will g...

 Mums had a rough few days.  On Friday the 5th of Feb she had a mild stroke in Waikanae. She did really well to work out something was wrong and get Dad to help.  She went to hospital in an ambulance.  Her symptoms were mild to start but over night developed to paralysis to the right side of her body. Her Neurologist was pleased with the sequence of events in the sense that she doesn't think there was any more Mum or Dad could have done, nor any further intervention the doctors could have tried to prevent the onset of these symptoms. The doctors believe her to be stable. Mum is fully lucid.  Her speech can be a little slow but her wit is still lightning quick.  At the moment we are waiting for the swelling associated with a stroke to go down so we can see the actual extent of the damage caused by the stroke.  The hope is she will get back some feeling and control over her body over the next few days.  Once this baseline is established a therapy pr...