Amy is still in ICU from day 1. She suffered a stroke during surgery and then another 1 week later while trying to wean her from the BP medication. The BP is monitored by an arterial line. Too high can cause hemorrhage and too low can cause stroke. What she was gaining in her left side was now gone. She has left sided paralysis.
Her second surgery was 2 days ago. Amy did fine in the surgery but was not waking up well or moving limbs he way they wanted so they did a stat CT scan. The scan showed no bleeds. She just isnt waking very well but I think that since they arent giving her pain meds, all she wants to do is lay there quietly. They are holding the pain meds until she wakes up better. This jouney has been a roller coaster of emotions and strength. I certainly hope that Amy doesnt remember this. I know that I will never forget it. My son flew out to be with me and that has been a great help. Please pray for him also because his job isnt so understanding. and thank you for all your prayers for Amy!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Amys mom

Christe~

My love and thoughts are with your entire family.
I will keep Amy in my heart.

Linda A.

Many prayers for your family..I'm so sorry Amy is having these complications.My daughter had similar complications.She was only five at the time.She had several strokes her most severe after ehr first surgery.She  was like an infant.The good news is she's had no strokes since ehr second surgery.She's also walking talking reading and writting.She's happy and very determined to do it all again.I pray that your daughters recovery can be complete and quick with no further complications.(((((HUGS)))) and many prayers.
Mary Grace

Hi Christie,

It's good to hear from you.

I'm sorry to hear of Amy's complications however, I'm glad to hear Amy had her second surgery without any bleeds and that is behind her now.

Like my brother, Amy will require rehab, but I am confident, with the proper therapy, and with time, Amy will improve.

I'm glad to hear your son is with you and I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers.

Stay strong and keep us posted on Amy's progress.

Hugs,

Lore  

I am sorry Amy has complications. I wish her a speedy recovery. I will pray for you and your family, expessialy Amy.
Becky

Just thinking about you guys and praying that Amy is recovering well.
Mary Grace

Am so sorry to take so long with the next update. 3 days ago Amy came out of ICU still with her feeding tube, picc line, etc into a neuro close observation room where she is watched 24/7. Yesterday the feeding tube fell out and for the first time she passed her swallow study. Today she ate pureed foods. She walked down the hall. Her mind still isnt right and her left arm/hand is paralyzed but each day things look better. They are working on discharge to an inpt rehab hospital back in Mo. I am very pleased with the care she has gotten at Stanford. Everyone is caring and wonderful.
I was advised to contact the study in St Louis MO and i was told they didnt want Amy in thier study because she was fixed!!!!! WOW that just tells me that there are people out there that doesnt know there is a fix for thier disease. That makes me very sad. Wish we could educate the world. Thank you for all your prayers. I know God heard every one of them......Amys mom

Bless your heart, Christie for keeping all of us all informed about Amy's recovery. Sounds like she's on the mend. Have you seen a copy of Jill Bolte Taylor's book, My Stroke of Insight? Linda (LA on this site) recommended it to me. THs woman experienced a massive hemoragic stroke and pretty much had to learn everything both mental and physical, all over again - and she did. She recovered completely. She thinks she's better now than before her stroke. I think you'll especially appreciate what she has to say about how her mother helped her with her recovery. It's amazing how the mind and body can heal with time. Amy will too. She  and you will remain in my prayers.
Kim

Christy,

So glad to hear Amy is doing so much better, although she has a long road ahead of her.  I have been thinking about her so much lately and praying for her recovery.  I know you are a strong person and will be with her through it all.  that will be to her benifit.  Good luck on the road ahead.  My prayers will stay with you and with Amy.

Love,

Margaret

I am so sorry for Amy but I must ask how old is she ? I was unaware that  this diasese does not have an age criteria. I hope she does well in her recovery,

Christie,

That's such good news!  Baby steps each day are just fine in my book.  

I was able to escape the office yesterday for the first time in a week.  Ran up to peek in on Amy, but she was asleep.  Her nurse was with her, and said she was doing quite well.  I was so happy to hear a good report, but very sorry to have missed you.  

Anyway, we'll probably be up here at some point over the weekend, so will keep in touch with you guys.  Please give Amy a hug for me, and we'll talk soon!

Jill  

Thanks Jill,

 sorry to have missed you. The nurse told me that someone had stopped in and i thought of you. Amy is doing quite well and they are working on placement into an inpt rehab back in MO. It will be good to have her home again. I guess it will be a long road to recovery but i have faith that she will recover. Have a great Thanksgiving with your family and i will see you soon. Jimmy will be back tonight and we will have our little Thanksgiving together with Amy. We have alot to be thankful for this year!!!!!   Christie

someone had asked Amys age. She is 34 years young!!!!!!

Christie~

Am glad to hear that Amy is coming along!
Baby steps indeed! But steps forward all the same.

Your good news brightened my Thanksgiving.

and educating more people about mm has already begun with each baby step!!!

I had two enormous strokes which lay me completely out ... had to learn everything all over. I was 49 (back in 1999) then had the surgery at Stanford.
I'm alive and functional now! It can and does happen!!!

Sending my best to you all.

Linda (LA)

Christie,

Thank you for taking time to keep us updated on Amy's progress. You all have been on my mind and in my thoughts and prayers.

I have faith Amy will do well back home in rehab along with all the continued love and support from her family. Small steps, big strides.      

Enjoy your Thanksgiving together with Amy.

Stay strong and keep the faith and please keep us posted on Amy's progress.

God Bless you all.

Hugs,

Lore

I just feel so bad. Amy is recovering well physically. Left hand/arm still paralyzed, but she is walking and talking. Mentally is not doing so well. She acts about 3 years old. I just pray that her mentation gets better. She would be mortified if she knew some of the things she is saying and doing. Please anyone, can this be normal after  strokes? Will it get better? I am just feeling so sad. Her children just don't understand why mom wont talk to them more than 10 sec. on the phone before hanging up without saying bye. Anyone with similar stories?   Amys mom

Hi Christie,

I'm glad to hear Amy has made progress and is walking and talking. Amy has been through a lot and it will take time and Amy will require rehab.

I'm reliving my brother's speech and mind issues he experienced after his hemorrhage and trying to determine if his issues are similar to Amy's.

When my brother had his hemorrhage, he could not speak and had no abstract thinking ability. When a person doesn't have abstract thinking ability, nothing makes sense to them. They can't read a book, watch TV or understand a conversation because nothing makes sense. With therapy and time, my brother regained his abstract thinking ability. I don't know if Amy is experieincing the same thing as my brother, meaning no abstract thinking ability, but if she is, it will get better with therapy.

If Amy's mind is affected by a stroke, it depends on the area of the brain that is affected and to what degree. Regardless, therapy will help Amy improve.

Even after my brother could speak, he still didn't know what was going on. He spent several months, several times a week, with a stroke and speech pathologist who got him on track to make sense of words and then simple sentences and I helped him with homework in the evenings to reinforce what he had learned in therapy that day.

Also, I had my brother watch TV shows like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  These shows required him to concentrate and learn spelling, and connections to things he could recall or had knowledge of prior to his hemorrhage. It really helped with getting him to understand and put the pieces together. He has regained his abstract thinking ability.

I do know that everyone is different and no two people, even having a stroke or hemorrhage, will necessarily experience the exact same issues or outcome because it depends on a number of different factors such as the part of the brain that is affected and to what degree.

I have to believe that therapy will help Amy. Therapy is the repetition of words and sentences and responses  and actions over and over again. It is relearning and it becomes hibitual over time. Also, most stroke victims do improve over time. Therapy requires patience and work but in my brother's case, it certainly paid off in the end.

At one point, my brother not only didn't know who I was, he didn't know his lifelong friend. I had to jog is mind by  telling him how he knew me and his friend. I showed him a lot of pictures and explained who the people where and where we were when the picture was taken. Plus, I would say our names over and over and finally, out of the blue, he said my name and his lifeling friends name. That was the beginning of continual improvement.

If I asked him to give me something such as his wallet, he had no idea what I was asking him for. I showed him his wallet and spoke the word and did the same thing over and over again until he finally got it. I also showed him what was in his wallet. I then took him to the store and had him buy food and purchase it because he didn't know what money was or how it worked. It took time and patience but only about 3 months of constant teaching, showing and doing. I saw a great improvement in that time and by six months, he was doing very well. Today, one would be hard pressed to know he had ever had such issues.

I hope this helps to ease your mind to some degree. I believe once Amy gets into a therapy program, she will improve.

I too was sad when I saw my brother for the first time after he hemorrhaged. It was devastating and I thought he would never speak again or ever know me again. At the time, it was hard for me to even imagine therapy would help my brother but in retrospect, it was everything to my brother improving.

Christie, I know how hard this is for you and your family but I also know you are all very loving and supportive.  All that love and support, along with therapy, will help Amy improve.

You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Stay strong and keep the faith and know we are here for you all.

Hugs,

Lore  

Hi Christie,

I can’t tell you how hard I’ve been praying for Amy, God love her. You both have been through so much, and are in my thoughts and prayers every day.

I can attest to everything Lore said, and tell you when I first met her brother Kevin after his recovery, you wouldn’t have ever guessed he ever hemorrhaged/stroked and was at deaths door like he was. I remember the first time I met him, I said, I can’t believe you’re alive, let alone doing so well. I just wanted to hug the stuffins out of him, I was so tickled at how good he looked after that nightmare he went through. Time is everything in recovering from a stroke, and of course therapy.

In my niece’s case, she had 4 severe strokes before her surgeries and was in a coma, on a feeding tube and completely paralyzed on her left side. She had to be medically airlifted to Stanford about a month later for her surgeries. All she did was scream or cry. She wasn’t the girl I knew when she first got to Stanford. She couldn’t talk, walk and was mentally gone. Like Lore said, every case is different depending on where and how much damage there is, but I gotta tell you, as bad as she was, after a year, she dramatically improved. At first she was in an in-house rehab program, then she was released to out patient therapy where her Mom and Dad took her several times a week. Her Mom switched therapy several times when she thought they weren’t giving her the attention she needed. You have to keep an eye on some of them places I guess. They also sent her to a special stroke camp in the summer where she got to go boating, horse back riding, learn to cook using only one side, and learn to interact with people again. It was amazing and she loved it. So in the beginning, you can’t even imagine how much they can improve, but with time and therapy, they can go far. She now can walk and talk and dress herself. One therapist told us that in some cases they don’t even begin to show real improvement until a year, so it’s different depending on each case. Just never give up hope and know you have your MM family here for support and we'll help in any way we can.

It must be hard for her children to understand all this though. That just breaks my heart beyond words. I’ll keep saying my prayers that she’ll improve.

Hang in there Christie. [smiley=hug.gif]

Please keep us posted.

Mar

Thank you all for your support. Amy mentation is about age 2 right now. I am very. Concerned about that

Hi Christie

Amy, her children and you are in my thoughts. You need to stay strong and believe the improvements are on the horizon. Keep believing and it will happen.

Mark (Luca's Dad)