My gran passed away a few months ago from
a stroke. It came on so suddenly. The
night before it happened gran was doing
her usal thing, she was pretty active for
her age (80years)- cleaning, cooking,
gardening, etc. Gran had an irregular
heart beat, high blood pressure and
angina. She was taking medication but
hadn't been to a cardiologist in a while.
We found gran in the early hours of the
morning in her bed, her left side was
completely paralysed (which means the
right side of the brain was affected
apparently), and she had erratic movements
of her right hand. Gran was frothing at
the mouth and had slurred speech. She
gradually slipped away from us, on the
6thday in hospital gran passed away. I
wanted the docs to do everything they
could...I felt they didn't...I heard there
was a blood clot busting drug they could
have given her...They didn't. I think cos
of her age they didn't do everything they
could of...I wanted gran to be
resuscitated...But they talked us out of
it...It was a horrible experience, the
docs didn't make it easier...Just wanted
to share my experience...Its was a really
dark time for us.
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drdgb
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 11 Location: Ireland
Re: Mr Gran Died of a Stroke Posted: 01-02-07 19:04pm
Hi,
the "clot busting" drug you refer to is
currently only of proven benefit if given
within 3 hours of stroke onset. As you
can imagine, not many patients are in
hospital and ready to receive the drug
within this time frame. Also in your
case we can't know the exact time of onset
as you found your grandmother in bed.
Age is not generally a reason to avoid
giving the drug.
Is is relatively common to have seizures
in the setting of acute stroke - is sounds
like your grandmother had quite an
extensive event.
I certainly agree that you should not have
been "talked into" a particular course of
management for your grandmother. Doctors
will generally suggest your course of
action only if a patient's outlook is
particulatly grim or the chances of
successfully resuscitationg them are
particulatly small. The aim is to avoid
unnecessary discomfort to the patient by
giving aggressive treatments that are
unlikely to have any benefit.
It sounds like you had a very difficult
time, I hope things are better now.
