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Stroke - what the heck


Zain

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Hi

 

I realized i need to track the progress my 8 year son has made since his stroke on 1 August 2006. What better place than this Blog facility. It will help me to track progress and others to benchmark stroke in kid

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Hi Zain,

 

Welcome to our blog community. It is, indeed, a good place to document your son's stroke recovery. It sounds like he is doing pretty well for just having had a bad stroke in August...even though your whole family has a long road ahead of you yet.

 

One thing you might want to do is go to our Classic Posts and Advice forum and read the two topics there on stroke emotions. It sounds like Farhaan is experiencing Emotional Lability.

 

It hurts like heck for the families of stroke survivors and even though your pain is very clear as you write, you also sound like a very caring father who is capable of seeing his family through this crisis. Keep the faith.

 

Jean

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Welcome to blogs...this is a great place to process and just document progress. I can attest to the fact it REALLY works!!

 

I wish you and your family the best through this journey...I can't imagine what I'd do if my child went though this! You are brave and strong!!

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HeyZain:

 

I agree with Jean, blogging is was exceptional tool for me to accept what happened to me in my early 30s,but I can share your pain stroking at 8, that is damn too young, but hey keep the faith, things will improve by leaps and bounds, and yes you do keep yourself happy if you break how is your family going to handle this whole stroke crisis. one more thing when stroke happens everyone starts thinking and blaming themselves that they could have would have done something else, that brings lot of unhappiness. now I think that it was destined to happen, that's y it happen, and it could have been real worse for me, if I had died that day, I would hav e never had such a wonderful years with my son, and hubby, just today we all went to water park, and yes I went too, yes I needed help to get on rides, but hey I went, and enjoyed.

 

important thing is Farhaan is still with you all, and he will recover a lot, and since he is so young, his recovery will be great, and there are new things r always coming up

 

Asha(stroke survivor at 34)

 

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Gosh that brought back memories reading your blog. I could only blink, needed life support and a peg at first. I was 38 but it was hard to cope. 18 months in I'm typing this with my left hand, that's totally normal now. He will adapt and improve but all takes time. For me was 3 months to lose the trachy I needed and make a first sound but now I can say most words, 1 per breath. It's a long hard road but he'll get there, good luck with the journey.

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Hi guys

 

Your progress after a stroke has given me the greatest hope I have had in weeks. Thank you again. The more people tell me about themselves or others that had strokes and their recoveries, the better i feel.

 

Can anyone tell me if their strokes recurred? The doctors did all possible tests on my son to figure out the cause of this blood clot, but nothing - zilch. It is a mystery and i hope it does not recurr. Farhaan, for the last 6 weeks has been getting Clexaine injections in his stomach everynight. Clexaine is an anticoagulant. Hopefully this dissolves the existing clot and the brain cells that are just managing with collateral blood supplies are rejuvinated and more of his movements and control returns.

 

Thanx again

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Zain:

 

I stroked at 34, and the reason for my forming clot was after pregnancy, and also they checked my heart and found PFO(patent foreman ovale), basically birth defect in heart amost found in 1 out of every 5 individual, which allowed clot to travel to brain, and I got that fixed in june 2004, and luckily I didn't have recurrence of stroke, so I m back to rebuilding my life again,the way I had before

Zain, hang in there, Farhaan will do great in his recovery.

 

Asha

 

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Hey Zain

 

Hang in there, Farhaan has youth on his side (how I hated hearing that when I was in rehab but it is actually true) It sounds like I'm in your part of the country, I had my stroke in C.T. and was transferred to Entabeni Rehab, the team there is fantastic, they got me up and about. Feel free to mail me if you wish.

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Zain,

 

Everyone here is willing and able to listen to you and help you, your son, and your family. If you want to research it, it is spelled Emotional Lability (not liability) - very common in strokers.

 

You will see many positive changes in the first 6 months or so (major changes tend to happen earlier because that is what is focused on) but improvement will happen over a lifetime if motivation is there. Doctors may say differently, but we know better than them - we experienced it!

 

- Sherri, stroker at 34

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Hi Zain and Welcome, Wishing the vey best for your son and your family. I was 54 when stroke decided to hit. I had left sude paralysis and weakness. I began walking with a walker, then a cane, I now walk unaided.. quite a bit slower and with a slight limp. My left arm has some weakness, but i have use and control

 

The largest part of my recovery was in the first yr to 18 months, but as I continue to practice and challenge myslef I still see improvements.

 

The cause of the stroke was never found, but I did had a long history of migraine headaches.

 

I spoke to a girl at the bank today; her brother had a stroke at age 13. I of course asked how his recovery is. She stated that the only thing he has is a "hammer toe" He is now 17.

 

Best wishes to you all. Hang in there. I know there is NOTHING worse than watching your child when he is ill.

 

((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))) Bonnie

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I had a cousin stroke at 4 years of age while he was sleeping. He went through whole rehabilitation process and in the process found a love for PT, and he went to college and got his degree in PT and is a successful 35 y.o. who can really empathsize with his patients. I just wanted to share with you a childhood stroke story turned out well. I will be thinking of your son. Good luck. There's a lot of wonderful ppl on this site.

~Amy

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Hi Amy

 

Has your cousin fully recovered? Wel done on his success in life. I too hope that Farhaan can accomplish lots in his life. The problem is that he has brain stem damage from his stroke. Everthing else (his brain) is 100% functional - just movements restricted by the poor functioning of the brain stem.

 

:friends: thanx for quoting that incident of your cousin. I feel even more sure that Farhaan will recover its just the time it will take.

 

By the way, how long did your cousin take to recover?

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One important thing. Medical staff tended to be negative and that brought me down. Family were so positive. To help his recovery be positive to him, it does really help. My husband has a cousin who had a bad stroke like mine but is ok now. Must have been 3 or 4 years to be close to normal but that of course varies with type of stroke and age/general condition of strokee. I shouldn't have another stroke, like my husband's cousin I had an unusual cause, the chemo as a treatment of cancer, not a problem for your son I'd hope.

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Hi Diane

 

You are correct about these medical staff - they could tell you the truth in a nicer way - or dont be so damn pessimistic, including some of the neurologists -i was surprised - i thought maybe when they are studying being doctors they need some Communication courses added to their syllabii. Sometimes i guess they protect themselves by giving the 'worst case scenario'.

 

I made a statement to one of the neurologists - he did not seem happy about it "Medical science stops at the brain, or rather below the brain"

 

The guys at the Rehab clinic are fantastic tho.

 

 

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