Well it turns out the doctor yesterday did not have the full story. Heidi did not have TIAs, she had an actual stroke. She has a few lingering issues. Her face still has numbness and a very slight palsy to one side. She has a bit of speech difficulty as well due to her face/mouth not functioning correctly. We are hopeful that these will resolve at some point, but we don't know at this point.
She's home tonight, and I got out of work early to get home with her. I built us a nice cozy fire and she is drowsing on the couch.
Thanks to all who offered their support. It means a lot to both of us.
We'll see what tomorrow brings us.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Bursting Bubbles
Obviously I must have been too happy about how things were going last week, because this week sucks.
Heidi is in the hospital again. She has had at least 2 TIAs which are known as mini strokes. On Saturday she complained her face was numb, she had tunnel vision and felt dizzy. These are not unusual complaints of hers, however she usually doesn't have all three together, so I told her to lay down and rest and see if that made her feel better. She did and seemed a little better later on. I even mentioned to her that I didn' think it could be a stroke because I remember my grandfather's strokes and he had amnesia and weakness on one side along with what Heidi was feeling. Well while I may have been technically right, I told her just the wrong thing to do.
A transient ischemic attack (TIA, often colloquially referred to as “mini stroke”) is caused by the temporary disturbance of blood supply to a restricted area of the brain, resulting in brief neurologic dysfunction that persists, by definition, for less than 24 hours; if symptoms persist then it is categorized as a stroke. So a TIA is what Heidi had. Patients diagnosed with a TIA are sometimes said to have had a warning for an approaching stroke. If the time period of blood supply impairment lasts more than a few minutes, the nerve cells of that area of the brain die and cause permanent neurologic deficit. One third of the people with TIA later have recurrent TIAs and one third have a stroke due to permanent nerve cell loss. This is pretty scary.
Heidi has high blood pressure and diabetes, two big strikes against her in the stroke risk factor category. On Monday morning she got really bad again and was slurring her speech along with the other syptoms. Her sister took her to the hospital since I was at work and they admitted her.
I really don't know what I can do for her at this point, but for now she seems to have no permanent effects from this episode. Still the doctors have to find the source of these blockages or effective blood thinning agents to help prevent more or worse occurances.
I wish I could take this on for her!
Anyways, she's at the University of Iowa Hospital, one of the best places in the state, so I have to trust her to these folks, which is tough as hell for a guy like me, for now. I will update again when I know more.
Heidi is in the hospital again. She has had at least 2 TIAs which are known as mini strokes. On Saturday she complained her face was numb, she had tunnel vision and felt dizzy. These are not unusual complaints of hers, however she usually doesn't have all three together, so I told her to lay down and rest and see if that made her feel better. She did and seemed a little better later on. I even mentioned to her that I didn' think it could be a stroke because I remember my grandfather's strokes and he had amnesia and weakness on one side along with what Heidi was feeling. Well while I may have been technically right, I told her just the wrong thing to do.
A transient ischemic attack (TIA, often colloquially referred to as “mini stroke”) is caused by the temporary disturbance of blood supply to a restricted area of the brain, resulting in brief neurologic dysfunction that persists, by definition, for less than 24 hours; if symptoms persist then it is categorized as a stroke. So a TIA is what Heidi had. Patients diagnosed with a TIA are sometimes said to have had a warning for an approaching stroke. If the time period of blood supply impairment lasts more than a few minutes, the nerve cells of that area of the brain die and cause permanent neurologic deficit. One third of the people with TIA later have recurrent TIAs and one third have a stroke due to permanent nerve cell loss. This is pretty scary.
Heidi has high blood pressure and diabetes, two big strikes against her in the stroke risk factor category. On Monday morning she got really bad again and was slurring her speech along with the other syptoms. Her sister took her to the hospital since I was at work and they admitted her.
I really don't know what I can do for her at this point, but for now she seems to have no permanent effects from this episode. Still the doctors have to find the source of these blockages or effective blood thinning agents to help prevent more or worse occurances.
I wish I could take this on for her!
Anyways, she's at the University of Iowa Hospital, one of the best places in the state, so I have to trust her to these folks, which is tough as hell for a guy like me, for now. I will update again when I know more.
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