Hi everyone! I am new to the group!
My 65 year old mother had a ruptured aneurysm on Christmas eve 2014. She spent a month in the hospital and has been in rehab hospital for another month…with no release date in sight. She works with a speech, occupational and physical therapist every day, but is not able to care for herself yet. This has been such an emotional journey for my sisters and I, and I think mostly because we don’t know what to expect…should she be further along in her progress? Is this normal after 2 months? She has a very difficult time communicating her thoughts and staying focused. Is this normal? Any insight would be appreciated! Thanks
sounds like you, your sisters and your mom has been through a lot. I don’t think there’s any hard and fast guideline to how fast someone progresses. We all do it in our own time. Your mom’s brain has to recover from the damage and then learn to reroute the signals. I’m going to guess your mom is still exhausted which may be another explanation for the inability to stay focused. Also if a lot of people are visiting at the same time and then carrying on multiple conversations, like big families do, this could also be overwhelming. I had to have tv, radio, etc all quite and one person speaking at a time or I would get a horrible headache.
Here’s a webinar from BAF that might help. http://www.neurosurgicalatlas.com/patient-resource-center/brain-aneurysms-and-subarachnoid-hemorrhage-what-the-caregivers-need-to-kno/%20
Thank you so much. She is definitely exhausted and it seems to go in waves. One week we will see quite a bit of progress and the next week, all she does is sleep and is pretty unresponsive. And how does depression play into all of this? She can’t communicate her feelings but to me, she seems down. My mom and I are very close and it feels terrible that I can’t do more. I know she will heal in her own time…
When you say can’t communicate - what do you mean? There’s so many different levels - is she verbal?
She can speak but has a very hard time communicating her thoughts. Almost like they are on the tip of her tongue but she can’t grab the word she wants to say. Does that make sense? She doesn’t speak in full sentences just words here and there. The speech therapist is using an iPad as therapy. Showing her pictures and having her say the word that matches.
And she was diagnosed with Aphasia…not sure what that means in regards to recovery and if that’s common.
Aphasia is vast and varied but basically boils down to losing the ability to understand or use words. It can be total or partial and depending on which language area was affected is what type the aphasia is, sometimes. It is what you describe your mother’s language as being. There are two basic language areas Broca’s and Wernicke’s. The general belief is they control different parts of speech. Also known is that the brain can find a different way to get the knowledge processed. I don’t know if Aphasia is common. I have it. I still lose the word, but can give definitions for the word I want to use. In the beginning, my friends and family would all guess at what I was trying to say. I often used the completely opposite word or used a word inappropriately. It is frustrating because the brain knows what it wants to say, thinks it’s saying the correct thing and then you see everyone’s faces. Talk to her speech and OT to see what they suggest can best help your mom. I will never forget how safe I felt with my Speech Therapist. She did not answer for me, gave me time to find the word, sometimes suggested I write it down. She used flash cards and I had homework to take home every night. I found I could write a word that I couldn’t say. I also found myself sleeping for hours after working with my speech therapist and most of the next day. Oh and she would turn down the lights, just using a light bright enough for her to write her notes, like a bankers light. Once or twice she made the room dark and my words could come back. And then there were people here who forgave my short comings and helped me with the word if I gave them the definition. It gets better with time and practice, and a little help, well maybe more than a little 
Thank you so much…that really is helpful and it’s nice to hear from someone who has been through it!
Anytime Nicole! Oh and if you do a search on this site for Aphasia, you may come up with a lot more information. Search is at the very top right hand side.
Nicole...yes...I was discharged with receptive (Wernicke's) aphasia and expressive (Broca's) aphasia...the first is how we comprehend incoming data; and, the expressive is just that...by some level..
Global aphasia relates to both verbal and written...the reading/comprehension is extensive for me...and I do not know exactly how that relates to an aphasia...nor which aphasia...
Anomic (anomia) is seeing/remembering faces/names...in that, I was OK for the long-term) I just could not talk clearly to them...or read their gifted books...(had no memory of faces w/hospital, except one presumably (or purportedly) was a hospitalist...no conversation...A friend sitting with me at that time, said he asked me if I had pain...and, when I did not answer, he left...and, she had to call him back...
There are numerous other named aphasias...
Then, learning-to-long-term memory, to my knowledge, has not been termed aphasia...tho it seems to me as I stumble thru words...I have what was termed...loss of reading comprehension... Which to my practicality suggests an aphasia... if it has its own name it is missing my memory... Long after hospitalization, I spent 14 months in vision therapy...which was successful in regaining reading comprehension...tho am so slow... my usual 1 hour is now yet in the 4 hour range...
I read/type/outline/study...and, can still forget it until I run back into it ...or research/study all over again...the same subject... It is a difficult thing for me..
Ninty days, post discharge, I was given the initial neuropsych testing...My reading ranged from 2 years to 13.8 years...(they base setting these ranges on age, education...whatever else) thus, this comparison is adjusted by a qualified psychologist ... his report also ref'd several times of no apparent auditory issue; and, "the sensorymotor exam was deferred"... SS Disability did not rely on the med input; and retested me heavily...
Nicole, does your mom well recognize and attempt to talk with you? Have the docs or speech therapist suggested anything like this to you? Bringing in pictures of family functions/etc...where you can see her eye shift and/or a smile?
In any event, suggest you may want to research aphasias...ad, specifically ask questions of the speech-therapist and/or the psychologist or neurologist who should have been involved in the ecisions made of your mother's status and recommended therapies...
Best of luck making a list of questions...w/space for responses to you, on your mom's status/prognosis...
On recovery, she may need more at home... and, that will qualify under what is paid for by Medicare/Med B...or whatever her facility/insurance is...
There is also a Group of those over 60 which may be helpful to you...Offhand, I do not remember if there is a group for families... I think, also there is one for spouses...
Prayers for you, your sisters for your mother's recovery...
Pat...
Nicole Piccoli said:
And she was diagnosed with Aphasia...not sure what that means in regards to recovery and if that's common.
Thank you Pat! My mom does recognize my sisters and I…we also have pictures of her grandkids on her wall and she knows them as well. She does not initiate a conversation but will try to answer, if she is asked a question…usually with a one word answer. She did read a couple of words for me, this weekend…they were 2 big words, alone on a page. Too many words in front of her gets confusing. My mom did a lot of knitting/sewing, and when we show her pictures of previous projects, she remembers doing them. But again, she doesn’t initiate any of this…almost, out of sight out of mind…