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Mother can’t talk or move suddenly after a major heart attack. Can you help me worry less? Or something?

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littleoc

MyPTSD Pro
Sorry, I’m not really sure where to put this post.

My mom’s been in the hospital for a week now. I found her in shock in the bathroom. She’d been having the heart attack for two weeks. Part of her heart is dead.

But as of two days ago she suddenly is acting like an 85-year-old person with MS? She can’t talk, she can’t move much, and when she does talk she can barely make jokes and she repeats the same words over and over again and can’t talk over a whisper. And she keeps saying the wrong sounds or words when trying to talk. And can’t eat well by herself.

She’s also confused. She knows it’s been two days since she could talk, read, or listen, but today when they took her for the MRI she thought it was because they misheard her when she was asking for water.

Is she okay? The nurse said something about beta blockers? She’s laughing a bit when I’m there but now she’s frustrated that she can’t talk and I’m really worried. Did any of y’all’s family members go through this? It’s temporary, right?

Thanks.
 
@littleoc :hug:

Did the hospital say anything about what meds she's on, other than the beta blocker? I don't know the treatment protocols where you are, but there should be more than just the beta blocker.

Did they say what the MRI was for?

There could be many, many reasons why your mom is acting differently. The good thing is that she's in hospital, so she's in the right place for care and to find out what else is going on.

Are you taking care of you?
 
Is she okay?
Ask the nurse to speak with a social worker or counselor who can walk you through what’s going on with your mom & help you with all the upcoming steps.

IDEALLY, if you can get a Case Manager in the upcoming days? They act much like a symphony director; from ongoing care to gathering resources (like a nursing home, or skilled nursing care, and outpatient appointments, and cognitive therapy, etc.; both locating and figuring out insurance/funding to make it happen, filing disability paperwork, etc.), and family assistance (there are usually therapy groups in hospital for loved ones to attend to help them cope & understand what’s going on, but sometimes it’s 1:1, or both).

Doctors and nurses are largely focused on getting their patient well enough to be transferred... but the social work & counseling team work with families (and patients) to help them understand not just the current steps but all the upcoming ones, as well.
 
Thank y’all for the help. I really appreciate it.

It turns out my mom had a stroke, too, while in the hospital forvthe heart attack. The doctor waited too long to get her to the MRI machine.

She’s improved a bit but still can’t say the right words.

Are you taking care of you?
Doing my best, yeah. Thank you.

My friend and I cleaned the house while she was away. It’s more comfortable now at least.
 
It turns out my mom had a stroke, too, while in the hospital forvthe heart attack. The doctor waited too long to get her to the MRI machine.
If it helps ...getting an MRI sooner wouldn’t have prevented the stroke... it simply confirms that a stroke happened and -ideally- what kind of stroke. Which helps determine what kind of treatment is necessary, possible, or best.

The sudden change in behavior is what indicates a stroke happened at all // is usually the reason why an MRI would be ordered.

Usually because MRIs are ordered for a lot of different things... including if someone isn’t recovering as fast as the docs thinks they should be. Or if there are unexplained symptoms. So they go looking for contributing factors they might have missed, or that might be new problems just starting, rather than just assuming this person is slower than most (which also happens).

Finding the stroke is actually a good thing... there are a lot of possible causes of cognitive change and physical impairments. Strokes, TIA’s, TBI’s, Seizures, etc. are at the top of the list, but the list is as long as your arm when you’re dealing with an elderly person who’s just suffered a heart attack. Knowing exactly what the cause was? Allows them to start treating it sooner. Super glad she was still in the hospital when this happened! :) It narrows the number of causes considerably, and gets her treatment the absolute soonest possible.

How’re you holding up? Gotten in touch with family services / family support peeps through the hospital to help out?
 
Thank y’all for the help. I really appreciate it.

It turns out my mom had a stroke, too, while in the hospital forvthe heart attack. The doctor waited too long to get her to the MRI machine.

She’s improved a bit but still can’t say the right words.


Doing my best, yeah. Thank you.

My friend and I cleaned the house while she was away. It’s more comfortable now at least.
A stroke was my first thought when I saw what you wrote. Thank God she is already in care, keep us posted on her status.
How are you doing?
 
Thank y’all for the help. I really appreciate it.

It turns out my mom had a stroke, too, while in the hospital forvthe heart attack. The doctor waited too long to get her to the MRI machine.

She’s improved a bit but still can’t say the right words.


Doing my best, yeah. Thank you.

My friend and I cleaned the house while she was away. It’s more comfortable now at least.
I was going to say she had a a stroke . I'm so sorry. Strokes are recoverable but they take work.
 
I'm really sorry to hear about your Mom. Hospitals are hard on the elderly, so many things can go wrong. Your mom should be transferred to a facility for stroke/MI rehabilitation once she is stable.
 
Thanks, y’all.

My mom isn’t actually elderly. It’s a long story. When I’m less tired I might tell the story. She’s barely 59 right now though.

And I meant something else about the doctor ordering the MRI too late, but I didn’t know all that info so thank you mucho, @Friday :)

Anyway, she’s fine right now. Can’t talk correctly but frankly she couldn’t do that anyway. Now it’s just exaggerated. If she gets frustrated or talks to my 3-year-old nephew, she talks much better. Or if she thinks no one is listening. Not perfect, but it shows that her brain is going to make a good recovery.

She had not been taking her medication lately. I’m going to be in charge of helping with meds when she gets home (I’m her care taker now) so I’ll find a way to help her remember. One stroke is enough to make subsequent strokes a little more likely, so I’ll make it a priority. Though I won’t tell her that. She’s already gonna be anxious every time she feels a little heartburn now. This is, what, her third time dodging death? This woman’s crazy :)

She can think fine and hear fine. We have deaf people in our family who can’t understand her anymore, though, because she messes up words often enough now that lip reading won’t work.

Good times

I’ve also figured out that my twin brother is now an asshat and I wish I could cut him off without worrying. But I don’t want to be part of any drama, either. That’s out of context here, though, and I’m way too tired to explain.

@Friday I’m still trying to figure out when to meet the social worker. It’s frustrating because she’s not there when I am yet (I keep coming in late after sundown)
 
My grandma is being nicer now. She did randomly threaten to sell the house we live in while my mom was f*cking dying, making her homeless basically. Although I feel that’s an exaggeration. (My sister told me the story and she’s a bit out there occasionally.) But she stopped doing that. I plan to get my mom out from under her thumb though. It was bad enough that her ex husband abused her, we don’t really need his mom to continue stressing her out. I make barely 150$ a week right now though, so that f*cking sucks.

I sort of am taking care of myself, though, yes. Doing my best. Might go swimming when it isn’t storming, I guess. Mostly I’m just tired, so I’m going to go sleep all day. Y’all should do the same.
 
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