Dallas & I have been asked whether Down's syndrome predisposes
a person to strokes... and upon reflection I think it might.  People with
DS tend to have low muscle tone & other characteristics associated with
*sleep apnea*, which can cause strokes.  Such discoveries, however, are so
recent that very few people... including medical professionals... are aware
of the possible connection.  When I told a nurse shortly after Nora's
stroke that Dallas & I thought Nora might have sleep apnea, the nurse
rolled her eyes in a way I've learned to interpret as "Oh yeah...
another neurotic overprotective mother!"  The nurses in rehab saw
things quite differently & noticed that Nora often woke up coughing at
night.  That's a symptom worthy of note, IMHO, although the preceding
article doesn't mention it.

         The specialist doctors saw things differently too... particularly
after they found oxygen saturation levels as low as 60%.  They didn't want
to let Nora out of hospital, even though she was already in rehab during
the day by the time they conducted a formal sleep study.  They finally
conceded that she could go to rehab during the day as long as we didn't
allow her to sleep there.

         It's been suggested I find the eye-roller & say "SEE... I
TOLD YOU SO!" However, I doubt it would do any good.  And I'd rather
talk about the fun we had getting the hospital computer to recognize that
one particular patient needed to have her meals delivered to different
locations, depending on the time....  :-))




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+