Hello Mimi!

22 Sep 08 08:54, you wrote to me:

 RC>> My father suffered a stroke, his mind is sharp as a tack, but he
 RC>> suffers a neural deficit on his left side.

 MG> I think medicine has progressed to a point where more people can have
 MG> a stroke and survive it. I hope he's doing well.

He had his in 1991, four years into his retirement. He got up one morning
like any other, had a cup of coffee and read the newspaper, he had a
headache, took an aspirin and laid back down to take a nap. He had a couple
years prior to retirement, had both hips replaced due to sever athritic
deterioration in the joints. Earlier on in 1990-91, he had given up both
drinking and smoking. His older brother had passed away from a aneurysm in
the late 70's.

When he arose from his nap, he tried to get out of bed and collapsed onto
the floor, thinking that his legs cramped up.

He called my younger brother in to help him, my younger brother didnt
recognize the symptoms and proceeded to help him massage his leg muscles.

By that time I had come over and heard the activity going on in the
bedroom, I went in and immediately saw the left side of his face sagging
and I pinched him real hard on the left leg to which he said he didnt feel.

Called Ambulance and family.

I suspect that the damage had already been done during his nap, nothing my
brother could have done would have changed the end result, the hospital
administered the blood thinners and released him, arranging the customary
visits to the specialist doctors. We all have awoken with headaches before,
pillow headaches etc, I suspect that him taking the aspirin might have made
his stroke a little less severe than it could have been?

He went through several months of physical therapy, to the point that he
regained much of his independence back. He is able to walk with a cane,
bathe himself, drive etc etc. I installed the chrome handrails in his
bathroom in the shower stall and alongside the toilet.

In 1993 I took him up to Charlotte NC to have one of his hip joints
replaced/revised. In the late 90's he noticed what appeared to be an angry
boil on the back side of his leg, turned out a staph infection had festered
in there, presumably from the 1993 revision, in 2000 we almost lost him
when the surgeon went into explore, he had to take the existing artificial
hip out and leave it out for 6 months, and undergo a major antibiotic
regimen. But during that operation, he lost a tremendous amount of blood
and the infection had withered away some of his muscle tissue. Doctors said
the infection had walled itself off within his leg, which is why it wasnt
really discomforting him in addition to his existing sensory deficit on
that side.

He isnt getting around as good as he was when he got out of PT or when he
recovered from the 2000 incident, most of that is due to age, he doesnt
drive if he doesnt have to, but he still has most of his independence, he
still rides a exercise bike, which he started doing when he graduated from
PT in late 1991. 
He has one Carotid artery totally occluded and the other is 25% occluded,
he has that monitored 3 times a year and its been unchanged.

==
Ross
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