Blood clots in the brain? help!?

Question

Hi,
My grandma was admitted today to a hospital and they believe it is a blood clot in her brain. From a CT scan, they noticed a blood clot in a part of her brain and this was due to a car accident a couple months ago. She was brought in unconcious and i went in to talk to her with my mom and brother, yet she didnt recognize any of us :( ! She could somewhat respond to what we said, yet she hallucinated the whole time. She thought she was eating soup with a spoon and kept asking for choclate to us. Randomly, she would mention past memories as if she was still living them. When the doctors asked her what year it was she said 1936. BAsically, she doesnt know where she is, what year it is, cant recognize us, its like she is on some redic drug and in a dream world. What is wrong with her? Is there any hope? I am so stressed out and depressed about this : (.

What are the chances of her living thru this?
Will she get her mind back?
I feel so helpless. Thanks

Answer 1

well first of all sweetie depending on where exactly the brain clot is she might of had a stroke (aneurysm, "blood clot") depending on age and how she was before (healthwise) she might just come out fine maybe a little paralyzed but who knows for sure. do some research on blood clots you can find alot of interesting things there. just keep on reminding her of who you are, and where she is and hopefully in time she will remember. just what ever you do dont disagree with her just go along with whatever she is saying becasue you can really confuse her. just go with the flow of her mind and when she is done talking throw in "HEY GRANNY ITS JOHN, REMEMBER WHEN WE MADE COOKIES...." or whatever. remember just go with her flow. i hope i helped you. good luck with grandma.

Answer 2

Strokes come in two varieties, like someone else said: A bleed or a clot which cuts off the circulation. A clot comes in a couple of varieties as well: thrombus and embolus. A thrombus usually happens over a long period of time where a blood vessel is slowly blocked until blood can no longer flow. An embolus is where a clot breaks loose and travels to the brain, where it lodges in some spot and blocks the flow of blood. It sounds like it could be an embolus. Emboli most often come from either the heart (where there may be a valve problem for instance) and pass thru the carotid artery to the brain. Or it may come directly from the carotid artery if the patient suffers from cholesterol problems. Plaque will often build up in the carotid, clots form and break off. Typically, they will look at her heart to see if that is the culprit and look at her arteries to see if there are occlusions. There are many ways to stop those problems once they know where it came from. However, her prognosis really depends on where the embolus lodged in her brain and for how long that area was without circulation. Trouble speaking can occur in two different areas of the brain. One is supplied by the lower part of the middle meningeal artery (Wernicke's area)and one by the upper part (Broca's area). When you say trouble speaking, is is just nonsense, or is it just difficulty getting anything out at all? Those questions alone can help you identify the lesion. Those two are also supplied by the internal carotid, so that could be the problem. It's way too early to tell if there is any long-term damage or what the survival rate is. There's also one other possibility. Sometimes when there is a bleed, there is clotting of that blood and it needs to be removed. Based on your description, I'm not sure if that is the case. Where the paralysis, and a better description of it could also help localize the lesion and determine the cause. I just don't really have enough information to help you any further right now.

Answer 3

Well they could of had her medicated, so that could be part of it, and as for her chances well , i don't have any idea how old she is, or how good of health she is in, and if she normally has good health, they will tell you all of that at the hospital. I would like to know if when she was in the car accident if they had even did any cat scan or anything like that, cause it seems strange that this did not show up sooner if it was just a few months ago, she could of had this even longer. If they don't expect anything wrong in the brain then they don't look, i have known childern that died over night without anyone ever knowning that they had had a tumor. So it really depends on a lot. Pray and get her on pray lines they do work, and i hope all truns out well for you all, i am sorry to hear about that. God bless and take care, and believe in pray.

Answer 4

I am so sorry to hear of this difficult time you are going through. Know that your Grandmother is not in pain and that is good. I wish I could tell you everything will be fine but that wouldn't be honest. A lot of people like your Grandmother have the same thing happen to them. In many cases doctors are able to break up the clots and correct the problem. It depends on the location of the clot. I am sure they will give her the best care possible. I know how helpless you feel, please know I will pray for you both and ask God to keep you both safe.

Answer 5

Yes she has a chance of recovery. There is a drug that can be adminstered shortly after an "episode" like this and your family should ask about the drug given after a stroke. also these conditions are common with a brain tramua. The things she is talking about are probably long term memory thoughts and therefore obviously imbedded in her mind, and therefore easier to remember during a trauma. Your family should have a neuro surgeon looking at her rigt away. Also be careful about her hands and feet, make sure they put boards under her hands-tape them to it- to help keep them straight and shoes with good ankle supports to keep her feet from turning in. Get a rehab person up there asap. DO NOT LET THEM GIVE YOU A HARD TIME ABOUT THIS. If you have to ask for the nursing supervisor to make sure stuff is getting done then do it. You should have a social worker from the hospital working with you on all of this--they are paid to do this and it is her right as a patient. There is also a patients rights writ you should have. Your grandmas age will be a factor in her recovery but with your help she should be able to come back to you. She may be diminished by her experience but when she can smile at you again her slight imperfections will seem like nothing at all in comparison to not having her at all.Be careful if she's on a breathing tube--infections happen quick and hospitals are not a clean as you think. Hang in there and get everyone to help you that you can, yell,scream and demand on her behalf, even if God forbid things don't go as I hope they will for you and her, you'll know you put up the best fight you could for her and I believe she will too.KEEP TALKING TO HER,SHE WILL HEAR YOU AND FIGHT TO BE WITH YOU. I 've been there, my husband experienced the bends fron scuba diving and the doctors screwed him over and he and my family have been paying for it for four years. I wish I had asked your question then maybe things would be different now. I wish you and your family the best of luck and I will hope for the best for all of you. FIGHT FOR HER

Answer 6

I'm sorry to hear about your grandma. I believe that they can give her a drug to thin the blood and release the clot. If that doesn't work, they may have to do surgery to remove it. I hope she's ok.