Ruptured AVM

My wife had a AVM rupture 3 weeks ago and she went they surgery and VP shunt. From past 2 weeks she has opened her eyes but not responding. Is she really seeing or just staring. Not sure what’s he is staring did anyone if u/loved one went thru this.

Currently her blood pressure (188 - 77) and fever(104 - 96) is all over the place.

Thank you

Hi Ash,

I don’t have any relevant experience or advice but I am sure others will respond who can share their story’s. However I just wanted to say, I am thinking of both of you and sending lots of wishes and love. It is still early days at this point and your wife has gone through an awful lot in a short period of time with the rupture and op. she is probably on alot of medication still and dealing with swelling and recovery from it all so it is hard to say whether she is fully conscious or not yet. However I’m sure your presence and support brings her alot of comfort. Id say it is a good sign that she opens her eyes though even if she’s not recovered enough to talk or respond just yet.

Very best of wishes,

Corrine

Her blood pressure is getting normal and also fever. She is breathing on her own from yesterday. As you said I am thinking her brain is slowly becoming normal.Docs as very positive coz of her age (36) and no other medical issues.

Thank you for the wishes

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Hi Ash, sounds like a step in the right direction. The common thread with these things and any type of rupture and/or procedure is patience. The healing process is slow, I experienced this after my rupture just about two years ago. Mine was minor compared to what your wife has experienced. This is a great read that helped me understand some of what I went through, My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. I’ll be thinking of your wife and you. Take Care, John

Ash

It is great to hear your wife is breathing on her own and that she is stabilising. Over time there will be more and more recovery developments and your doctors positive perspective is even more encouraging to reassure you :relieved:

Keep us updated on how you both get on, we are all thinking of you :star2:

Corrine

Docs want to move to rehab next week, the rehab. When we visit her we trying to lift her arm and leg and massage her feet and fingers. When she is awake it’s hard for us to do anything coz she holds it very tight.

Ash,

From what I know, recovery from a bleed takes a long time and it is very very early days for your wife. @hope81 s sister sounds like she is going through similar things to your wife.

I don’t know if when she is looking she is seeing or not, or whether she understands everything but my advice is to encourage her that it is normal to lose a lot of function with a stroke but it will come back. I remember someone saying some time ago that during their recovery, they couldn’t move and they couldn’t speak. If ever that happened to me, I would want people to tell me it would return.

Very best wishes

Richard

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Hope81 is my brother in law, when I was reading the post I thought wow there’s a case similar to mine and was excited and then I thought it’s just like my wife’s then I asked him it’s him. We are trying to get the same answers.

Currently her blood pressure and fever is under control she is on low dose of Precedex® (dexmedetomidine hydrochloride). They are ready to move her to rehab on Monday.

Thanks
Ashok

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Wow! Well, I thought it sounded similar!

Have a read through the site for recovery stories. You can use the magnifying glass on the green ribbon to search for specific terms, e.g. “recovery”. I am sure that you’ll see some diversity in recovery stories – it is very difficult to find people with the same situation, as it depends very much on where a bleed has done some damage and what surgery to undo that damage has achieved – but you have to have hope and positivity. There is nothing to be gained from being hopeless and everything to be gained from taking positive steps.

It is a very slow progress.

One warning I would give you in searching for recovery stories is that the web site was moved from one platform to another in summer 2016 and a lot of people who were members here prior to the move didn’t stay with us, or never really worked out the new platform. So if you find a conversation that is earlier than Aug '16 consider that the people corresponding may no longer be active members and may not reply to old conversations restarted. In general, I would say don’t restart old conversations but where you’re not getting useful info in current conversations, it’s fine to ask one or two older threads how they got on. Hopefully, you won’t need to ask as I hope you’ll find some information using the search facility.

Very best wishes

Richard

Good Morning,
Currently wife is in rehab and she is stable and calm, physio therapy team will come and evaluate her.

Rehab sounds like the first steps to real recovery, so is a great thing.

Keep us posted from time to time how she is. It could help future members and I hope others will continue to offer their experiences if you keep this conversation current, near the top of the list.

Wish her all the best from me… all the way from the UK. :heart:

Richard

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Do they have your wife in a medically induced coma?

No more sedation, just serquoel and some beta blocker. Her blood pressure and heart rate is looking awesome. Today I felt she is more awake and I believe she is listening

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Nice to see steps in the right direction, it is a slow process. Have been thinking of you folks, and wishing you the best. Take Care, John.

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Hi Ash. What area of the brain was her AVM in? My daughter had a very serious rupture in January 17 and her recovery was extremely slow but she is doing quite well. Her AVM was in her cerebellum but the bleed also compressed her brainstem which caused a prolonged period of unresponsiveness. Unfortunately my daughter needed a tracheostomy and Gtube for a few months. She also began opening her eyes approximately a week after the rupture for very short periods at first. I also remember wondering if she could see and I found the staring off very disconcerting. After a few weeks she began to move her eyes a bit and very slowly (months) her gaze became normal. It turns out she did experience extreme double vision for a long time but she couldn’t tell us until June when she started speaking again. So, try not to be too worried by the staring. The rupture is a huge insult to the brain and it can take an agonizingly long time for swelling to subside and healing to occur. You’re right to assume that she’s listening. Play her favourite music. Play recordings of friends and family wishing her well and read to her. It all contributes to helping her feel safe and her recovery. Just so you know in my daughter’s case, she has almost no memories of her time in hospital until around late March and even then it’s very spotty. I am praying for you, your wife and your family.

My heart brakes for you and your wife! Let us pray that your wife opened her eyes as possible a START of future recovery, I hope? My best advice is PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, because that DOES work more than I thought in my younger days! Tell your wife: The Power From WITHIN & the Strength From ABOVE, anything IS possible!

She is having fever from allmost 15 days except few days in between. Anyone whose recovery had long bouts of fever. Doctor says CT scan looks good.

Wife is doing same but stable. Her vitals are good now, but I see she is clenching her wrsit/fist more in 2 days than before. Very tight

2 months have passed by after her AVM operation. She opens her eyes, but no response to any stimulus. Doctor says she can recover or there is chance that she might not recover. But her CT and MRI scan shows less impact on brain.

Anybody who went through similar recovery. we are worried as to when she might recover her cognitive skills? please help

Good Morning ,

Today for the first time she did respond when the Physical Therapist asked her does did hurt and she said “YES” (hoping I heard it right and she did say purposefully). It’s been exact 9 weeks for today she had her AVM ruptured.

Yesterday they removed cuffed trach to cuffless trach and they are trying to cap the trach but she is not doing well with capping so docs will see is there any obstruction but she is doing well with speaking valve.

Physical therapy is going on .

Thanks to everyone and I will update as I see the progress

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