righteo so i had a check up CT scan to see how the bleeding was going and fortunately it's all resolved....

however... it also showed that I've had another stroke... in the past 2 weeks.... without even knowing it??

has anyone else had a stroke without knowing?? i'm talking absolutely 0 symptoms.... found that very weird.. yet to hear their thoughts...

apart from that i still feel awesome.

Hi Emily
Yeah these are called silent strokes and they only come up as white or grey matter on the MRI which shows damage. I had a few over the years before I was diagnosed, with absolutely no symptoms and they only found this out as the grey or white bits appeared on my MRI!
Moira

It's actually very common. As Moira said only the doctors know it's happened. The same thing can happen with heart attacks, no symptoms but the scar tissue is there saying it happened.

Hope you hear from the doctors soon. I will keep you in my prayers.

Emily I'm so sorry.Kathleen's first couple of strokes we never knew about.When she had her first MRI, after a more obvious stroke, they had found a couple old ones that we never knew she had.I am glad your feeling good and hope that there are no more complications.
Mary Grace

Hi Emily,

How are you?

Kevin (Cubbie) had a stroke he didn't know about. It was in addition to the significant stroke he had already experienced. He also has had multiple cerebral infarcts.

I hope you are doing ok since your head met the pavement a few weeks back. Did you experience anything addtional, aside from the brusing, from  that episode? Why the scooter? How is Karly?

Let me know how you are doing.

Hugs,

Lore    

ah man.. what would i do without you guys?? you're all fantastic!

wow.. silent stroke... i've never heard of it.. is it just an MM thing? i guess seeing as there's still the white/grey/damaged matter, that's its still a bad thing? even if not felt?

i felt (and still feel) totally fine after my close meeting with the sidewalk.... the graze has almost totally disappeared... i was mostly embarrassed for throwin my head at concrete so soon after brain surgery... coulda waited a month or so...
i must admit my speech is getting crapper.... mostly with finding words.. and/or saying completely the wrnog word without realising it... but it seems that's common-ish..

hey i'm also having a neuro-psych test soon.. to work out what (if) i've "lost" from the strokes... has anyone had that done?

anyway my computer time is up, better run...

cheerio i love you all!!!  ;;D  :)  :D

Hey Emily,

I had a silent stroke too, how weird..............is a MM thing, I don't know.
I also had a neuro Psych person see me after my stroke, and I think they test various things like, problem solving, memory and i'm sure there were other thing, but i can't remember................must of worked on me hey!!!!!

See u soon,

Emma :)

Hi Emily,
I think they are termed silent strokes as, although they do damage they may not affect things that we notice!

Yeah I had the psych test done - it baffled the living s***t out of me! They get you to do a lot of cognitive and logical things - figure out how to get through a maze etc.. not a lot of fun and frustrating as you know you should be able to do it but can't. Something similar to the word thing. Hubby Tony asked me to draw up a template for his work last night and he only wanted half the profile as he was just going to reverse it at the half way mark and do you think I could work that out?! and I was a draftswoman for most of my life. Ah well there are more important things to worry about!!
Good luck with the psych thing!
Moira

Hi Emily,

It is a common practice at Stanford for all MM patients to go through neuro psyche testing. It provides a benchmark for where patients are before and after surgery.

I know in Kevin's case, he has difficulty "finding" the right word (s) or sometimes he knows the word but can't speak it.  Kevin's strokes/hemorrage caused a problem with abstract thinking. Things did not make sense to him. With speech therapy the abstract thinking is almost completely gone. Also, some MM patients that have experienced strokes and/or hemorrage sometimes get confused. You may be experiencing one or more of those common threads (symptoms) among MM folks.

Do take care and keep us posted on your experience and results of the neuro psyche testing.

Hugs,

Lore

Hey Lore,


Maybe you should say it's common forsome patients at Stanford.  LOL!  My strange brother just wouldn't have it done.  It does make you feel stupid.  In fact, I received my results from them a couple of days ago....and boy oh boy.....I didn't like the results at all.  Not only does it make you feel stupid, but on paper....it tells you you're stupid!!  LOL!!

Emily:

I was diagnosed in 1989 when I was 8. I am now 25. I had never had a stroke and then, in 2001, I had an MRI/MRA done and it showed a "silent stroke". It TOTALLY freaked me out. I was so upset! That is actually when I joined this family. Before that, I thought I was all alone in the world! NOT SO! :)

I haven't had one since, so maybe it was just a fluke! And btw, I couldn't for the life of me figure out when it happened. I was so far past surgeries, the last tests before that were done in 1999...

:) All the luck!

Sara

hey everyone, thanks again for your replies!

as for the scooter accident - karly's fine, i was just heading to the train station and scootering ir more fun than walking!! hehe .. my surgeon has since told me to wear a helmet from the time i wake up until bedtime!! ha
i got my skateboard out yesterday but decided to put it away again.. kinda not worth the risk! :)

thanks for the info on the neuro-psych tests, good to hear it's common, sounds like a good idea to me... i'm not too worried, i think i know that i have some troubles and if i can't be an engineer again - woohoo! hehe.. hmm maybe i should "rig" it!

anyway i'm obsessed with SUDOKU puzzles and constantly doing them so i think my logic is improving! :)

cheers
EMILY
(on emma's computer)

Hello~

I love this board. All the information is incredible.

I'm a Stanford (Steinberg) patient and have never heard of the neuro psych test. Had my surgery in 2000. Stroked before and after the surgery. I'll look forward to taking it when I'm there for my check up later this summer.

I, obviusly don't know if I've silent stroked or not but I did have an episode of Transiant Global Amnisia. I was walking and talking with my husband the entire time but had no idea about things in the house....'why is that there? What's this?' Only lasted about five minutes but was a big freak out for Jack.... It shook my confidence a bit and I've been in good contact with my incredible doctors again.

Hope you're doing well.
Thanks for the information about silent strokes.
Love to everyone who's on this mm trip,
Linda

wow linda, that spout of amnesia does sound scary!

i've got my neuropsych test on tuesday, which is good because my memory has been TERRIBLE!! my short-term/daily-tasks memory is getting much better, but over the last few weeks i've been completely forgetting yesterday! i think and think and i have no idea what i did (and often what day it was but that could be related to my lack of employment and structure, hehe)..
and then when i eventually figure it out (reminders/calendar etc..) i do recall it happening, but am sure it was at least a week or so ago... really weird feeling..
so i've started a "what i did today" notepad - and writing quick notes it in every evening, so that if i'm struggling i can look it up.. feels a bit like drew barrymore on 50 first dates! hehe (minus the romance haha)..

not sure if maybe this memory-business is because i'd been sleeping so much - 12/14 hrs a night! - and so that's why "yesterday" seems so long ago.. hehe.. i've been sleeping over the last few days though, most probably because i finally realised that i'd been taking DOUBLE the dosage of my verapamil tablets for a few weeks! oops! eek.. that had been making me quite nauseous among other things! though it was just part of the "deal" though.. lucky i figured it out..
although i must admit that the "wooshing" was heaps quieter when i was taking more verapamil... dunno whether due to severe dilation of the vessels (no need to "communicate") or just plain sedation.. haha..

Emily~

Sending love and strenght across the water to you.

I had that wooshing sound too. There have been a number of post surgery 'whooosers' on this board! Had it for months. Mine came and went.......

Glad you're not ODing on your meds.

I slept incessantly after surgery. A nap began right after breakfast and lasted until lunch....then more naps till dinner.....you get the idea. My body was recovering from surgery, and from having minimal blood flow all these years. Sometimes my husband would pack a lunch and leave it at my bedside when he went to work!!!!  I wanted him to leave a menu too!

Your Memory Notebook sounds like a great idea. That must be scary  not to remember things. except that cure movie with Drew Barrymore!!!! Keep up the healing process.

I suspect that when you're farther out from surgery and are doing more varied things each day that memory will be better.  Sounds like you're taking all the right streps. The notebood is a great idea,

Sending suppeot and love,
Linda (LA)