karen lloyd

Hi Ash, sorry to hear about your Mum, I can understand exactly where you are coming from. It took Mum weeks and I mean 8 to 10 weeks till we saw any kind of response whatsoever. I know how hard it is and how helpless and low you can get. In the end it is all just a waiting game and seeing how much the brain can rebuild itself. It really is an incredible thing the brain. I hope things are starting to improve. Don't expect big things. A great saying on here is 1 step forwards and 2 steps back and it really is like that, sometimes 3 and 4 steps back. My love to you through this hard time. Keep positive, miracles can and do happen. Love Karen

Hi Everyone, Wow doesn't time fly past so quickly...Just been back on the forums after quite a while I'm afraid trying to catch up on everyones post. Well next month it will be 2 years since mum had her sah. If you met my mother today you would never know that she was given a 10% chance of ever leaving the hospital let alone not making it through it at all. Not that I would say it is a complete recovery but it would have to be about 99% and that 1% is not that there is anything wrong just that she has a slightly different personality than the pre sah mum.....more outgoing and social.. So I'm gonna have a bit of a read around on here and try to do some more catching up... Love to all. Karen

HI Tisha, just read your post and that is just excellent news. It took mum quite a while to come back to the present....but like I said before the brain is an amazing thing but the biggest healer is time. just remember though one step forward two steps back...don't be suprised or dissapointed if she does seem to go backwards and forwards the inches gained do come back. thinking of you and your sister. regards karen

Hi Tisha, I have been following your story and my heart goes out to you. My mother had a grade 5 SAH in August of last year. We were given the worst possible outcome for her. She also had vasopasm whilst in intensive care. Mum spent 17 weeks in hospital and we were basically told that she would never come home and never function again as a person. We went thru exactly what you are going thru, the conflicting information from doctors etc. At the end of the day I really think that most of the time they are guessing and I would take everything they say with a grain of salt. My mother is now home and is a fully functioning wonderful person again and she was 72 when this all happened. It has taken a long time but the brain is an amazing thing and works in very mysterious ways. My best advice is to take everything that the doctors say on board but don't take it as gospel. I think that they always seem to give you the worst possible senerio even when things are looking positive. And trust me it really is one step forward and two steps back but with love and time miracles can and do happen. My love and prayers are with you Karen

Hi Everyone, thought I'd just give a quick update. Mum came home from hospital on the 20th of December, just in time for Chrissy. My sister and I have been sharing her so that she is with us all of the time. She has come through this amazingly well. All of the hallucinations have disappeared and she is very mobile no paralysis etc. Sometimes she is a bit disorientated but she is getting better everyday. The biggest difference in her is her outgoingness(not really a word) but she is just so much more out going that she used to be.....Very strongly sexually orientated. which is just not our old mum. But hey we can live with that, just have to stop her chasing all the little old men when we take her out. All in all we are just beside ourselves that we have our mum back....Not quite the one we knew, but we love her more than ever. Her biggest problem is feeling cold all the time.. don't know if this is due to the warfarin that she is on but on 35 degree days when everyone is boiling hot she is freezing. Through all the ups and downs and complication she just never gave up....neither did we. My love to all, hopefully mums story can help those going through similar times. Love Karen

HI everyone, just a quick update, well today we got the news that we were looking for ...Mum has been shortlisted to go to rehab........woo hooo.....we were a bit worried that they were not going to recommend this as we were told three weeks ago that it really looked like a nursing home for her...but she has just come on leaps and bounds. the confusion, memory and halucinations have come to a point where they really think that she will be able to come home. What a long rocky road we have travelled...reading all the stories,advice etc on here has really kept our hopes alive and gotten both my sister and myself through a lot of the traumas that we have had. so even people who lurk in the background a lot find this site a heap of support...thanks to everyone...YES MIRACLES DO HAPPEN..... best wishes to all karen lloyd

Hi Sharon, I agree with you completely. I've been saying to my sister for the last couple of weeks that mum obviously has unfinished business or she would not have fought so hard to stay......Last night she apparently commented to one of the nurses that she is not ready to go yet. This amongst all of the off centre things that she has been saying....there are obviously reasons why this all happens but unfortunately we will probably never know why.. take care and keep that faith...... karen

Hi everyone, third time lucky here.....After 10 long weeks mum finally had her trachy removed 2 days ago. I was there when it was removed and was very anxious as all the communication that we have had over the last 10 weeks is some words we have been able to make out from reading her lips.(They had to stop deflation on her trachy as she had another lung infection.) Well as soon as she had the trachy out she has starting talking and I don't think she has stopped since. Everyone on the ward, came to visit her and have a chat, I think that all of them have looked after her at some stage. Now she is not 100 per cent and has come out with some very weird and wonderful comments...ie that she was going to marry her cat.....but hey after 10 weeks of no communication goodness knows what has been swirling around in that head of hers. She is still quite confused re some memories etc but amazingly remembers quite a lot. She knows all her family, her date of birth, where she is etc. So everything is now crossed hoping that with some cognitive excercises she will be able to remember a lot more. Yesterday my sister was with her and apparently had her in stitches the whole time she was there...obviousy has'nt lost her sense of humor either. Lisa fed her some pureed veges and meat which she tolerated very well . The physio also got her up on a frame and amazingly she walked for 1 metre....apparently the nurses nearly fell over...this is after 10 weeks of lying in a hospital bed. The whole of the nursing staff are calling her the miracle lady as they have never seen anyone recover this well from a grade 5 SAH .....We still have a very long way ahead of us but are hoping at some stage to be able to bring her home. I really wanted to let everyone know as I come onto this site nearly every day to catch up on all that is happening, I'm just not a big poster... I hope that I have not upset anyone that is still going through the road to recovery as I know what a rocky and emotional road that is. But never ever give up hope...We were given a very bad prognosis for mum but it just goes to show that miracles do happen with love and support anything is possible. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone. karen

hi everyone will update tomorrow have tried twice to post update but keeps telling me this page cannot be displayed....and have written long story twice now and lost it so will have another go tomorrow.' cheers karen

Hi Everyone, just thought I would give you a bit of an update. Mum unfortunately had to have the catheter reinserted as she wasn't using her muscles and urinating and they kept having to drain her bladder which was very stressful for her. They have been deflating the cuff on her trachy 4 or five times a day to try and ween her off. I haven't been there myself while they have been doing this but my sister was there on Saturday when they had it deflated and Lisa was trying to get her to talk....So she said to Mum "say hello mum" and mum said it. Lisa then asked her if she had anything to say to her......hopefully something really deep and meaningful......She said "stop waking me up" which was just mum. Each time I have been up there for the last week or so she has been sound asleep. She is sitting up in the chair alot but obviously really tiring out. So it's some good news, even if I haven't seen it and she needs all the sleep she can get as I don't think she slept at all in the first couple of weeks. cheers everyone......

HI everyone, thank you so much for all of your lovely comments. Just wanted to update everyone. We had a meeting with the doctor the day before yesterday which went quite well.....Even though at this stage we still don't know the damage done mentally and we won't know that until the trachy comes out......which may be soon... she is doing really well...When we went to the meeting we were suprised to be told that she had been off the cpap machine for 4 1/2 hours that day....previously she had struggled at 1/2 hour..As of today she has been off the machine all day....and hopefully by Monday will be off all night as well. this is just a huge step.....Yesterday and the day before she was so tired when we went to see her but today was like a completely different person...She was so alert and understood what we were saying it was quite amazing...Still very frustrating for both of us as we cannot understand (bar a few easy words) what she is saying....So today was a really good day...I know that tomorrow may not be as good but we will take each day as it comes.. Also the nurse asked her today if she would like her catheter taken out and I can tell you I have not seen such an animated response as she nodded quite gleefully. Like I said today was a good one.....hopefully we will have a few more....Thanks again everyone for your support..

Thankyou so much everyone for your support. Mum is 72 years young, a very fit and active lady except for macular degeneration. Mum was a carer all of her life she looked after my great grandmother who was bedridden after a stroke for eighteen years. She also looked after my grandmother who had a stroke, my father that suffered with cancer and my Uncle Bob as well. It is the one thing she was absolutely petrified of happening to her as she knew the outcomes. It is like everyone says....one step forward and a couple of steps back. It is such a frustrating time as we feel like we are living in limbo and none of the doctors or nurses can really tell us anything. We visit Mum every day even though she is in a hospital nearly an hour away. Its so hard to come to terms with, as she was our heart and soul, our everything. I'm really glad I found this sight as it gives so much more information and support that any other site etc I have visited. Thanks again, regards Karen

Hi, have just found this great site...am in Australia and not enough info to be found. I will try to keep as brief as poss. My mother had a grade 5 subarachnoid haemorrhage on 29/8/08. She went into seizure and fitted and lost consciousness. We were told that she had a 10% chance of survival. She was transfered to an ICU and when we went to see her the next day, she recognised us and whispered to us even with breathing tubes in. She was coiled that day. Went into vasospasm 2 days later which was fixed with balloon catheter. Suffered massive lung infection. Has had a trachy put in. She was in ICU for 17 days and then was transfered to HDU where she still is. Since then my Mum has been extremely agitated, hardly sleeping, very confused, she is now on a cpap machine and on the few times she as been nearly cognitive speaks,(even though we cannot understand what she is saying because of the trachy) laughs and smiles etc. She has also had a blood clot in her lung and been put on heparin to prevent further clots. My sister and I would be very grateful for any information regarding the chances of Mum ever coming back to us again. thank you karen