Strokes

[Pouzar99]

16 days ago I was awakened in the night by a phone call telling me my very healthy and athletic 25-year-old daughter, Rachel, had suffered a major stroke in Berlin, and was being treated in a hospital there. I will not have to explain to any parent on FISO what the next few hours were like.
After a few frantic hours the phone rang and it was Rachel calling me from her hospital bed!! Although her stroke was a 5 on a scale of 6, she was already as articulate and coherent as ever, and had feeling and some movement on her left side. The following day she was able to walk with assistance. The day after that she was walking without assistance. Before long she was out of the stroke ward and walking up and down the five flights of stairs to the lobby, and hopping around on her left leg, the one that was paralyzed during the stroke.
For the past week she has been staying with her mom in a hotel, waiting out the required time until she can fly home, next Friday, Dec. 14th. By now she is running up five flights of stairs, doing sixty pushups in sets of 20 with a 60 second break between sets, etc. Her recovery is literally 100%, although there is a small amount of brain damage.
The question is - What caused the stroke? The German stroke specialists ran every test they could think of and found absolutely no underlying causes. I am aware that the very rare strokes suffered by healthy people in their twenties are generally caused by trauma, a specific incident if you will. There is a possibility that the fact they were demonstrating choke holds in her Ju Jitsu class the night before could be the explanation but the doctors saw no signs of trauma when they had her on the operating table and inserted a catheter they used to break up the blood clot in her brain. It is also possible she hit her head on the mat at some point, but really it is all really speculative so far.
Rachel's mother, my ex, insisted on flying directly to Germany because she speaks German fluently and Rachel made it clear she didn't want both of us there, as together we are stress inducing. I tried to convince her to switch places after a week, when Rachel moved to the hotel, but she refused to leave without her daughter, which I understand, though I am closer to Rachel, who lived with me before moving to Europe 4 years ago and will live with me when she returns. So it has been hard. VERY hard. But we talk almost every day on Skype for hours and seeing her laughing and joking in her typical feisty, crazy beautiful way is deeply reassuring.
The German doctors want to do a video interview with her apparently because the case is highly unusual, her recovery is barely believable and the cause largely unknown. When she gets back she will be seen by local specialists who will have the German records and try some more tests of her own.

[WilBert]

Wishing her home safely pouzar. Sounds like she's been extremely lucky.

[sted]

Was it a stroke Pouzar or a TIA? She's recovered very quickly from a full CVA.
You might want to ask about thrombophilia screening to see if there's an underlying reason for clot formation.

Just in from the pub. So excuse me.

Hope she gets better. Sounds like she's well on the road.

[Beerfuelledman]

Wow. Thats a horrible and fantastic story rolled into one.

Continue to GWS Rachel.

[Pouzar99]

Cheers. No, it was a full-fledged major stroke. 5 out of 6. Not one of those mini ones. She got to the hospital very quickly, which is crucially important, and received the highest level of medical care possible. Likely her youth and extreme fitness helped as well.
She woke up in her Berlin flat with a headache, headed for the shower, collapsed because her left side was paralyzed, and couldn't get up. She tried to scream for help but couldn't do it very effectively so started kicking the wall with her right leg. One of her German roommates, Maria came, called her brother who is a doctor and he told her to call an ambulance, which came quickly and rushed her to the hospital.
Until we understand the cause it will still be deeply disturbing even though she looks and sounds fabulous. She left the hospital with perfect scores across the board except for a minor loss of coordination in her left hand which needed a little rehab and seems 100 per cent now as she walks around her hotel room throwing and catching a ball with her left hand.
Needless to say I have been having a lot of trouble focusing on anything else.

[bluenosey]

Wishing her home safely pouzar. Sounds like she's been extremely lucky.

It does sound like she's been fortunate but hey, that's great news . There's enough bad luck in the world. In a way, it's good to have a warning sign although I appreciate it's come as bit of a shock. I presume the Doctors will carry out a brain scan until they understand what has happened ? You mention about her exercising but it may be sensible not to overdo it. Anyway, here's to hoping it's nothing too serious and everyone can get back to normal

[Jonathan]

Wow Pouzer. That was awful. Best wishes to your daughter and your family to get through this.

[tommymooney]

Wow Pouzer. That was awful. Best wishes to your daughter and your family to get through this.

+1. Must have been a tough few weeks.

[Surprised]

What an awful phone call to receive. You must have gone through hell but thankfully she recovered well.

[barry]

What an awful phone call to receive. You must have gone through hell but thankfully she recovered well.

+1, and I hate doing "+1" but that's exactly my sentiment.

[Pouzar99]

Thanks everyone again. Rachel and her mom fly home via London early Friday morning, arriving in Edmonton just after 1 p.m. local time (8 p.m. UK time).
Flying is shaky stuff for stroke victims but it will be over three weeks since the stroke and she will be taking special medication as well as her daily aspirin. The German doctors have given their approval. Hopefully their medical judgment is as cool and clinical as their penalty shooting! My affection for Germany has gone way, way up I must say.
I don't like to think of the flight across the ocean but it should bring her home to a mega dose of pure father love. The immediate crisis has passed but the nagging issue is the cause of the stroke of course, which the doctors in Berlin could not unravel. Hopefully Edmonton doctors will have more luck.
Until that is resolved a lot of the anxiety will remain. She tells me she wants a heavy bag and boxing gloves for Christmas presents. I said, okay, as long as the doctors approve. She then sent me a video of a stroke victim pounding a heavy bag! Rachel may be the most determined, independent and stubborn person I have ever known. I believe she gets it from her mother.
To top all this off, Just as I am trying to handle this crisis, I find out my law school star son in Toronto is suffering from Melbomian Gland Dysfunction a serious eyelid problem that results in constant pain and is staggering to finish the term!! He will be home on the 19th. Should be a helluva Christmas.
I hope all my FISO friends are having far less stressful Yule times than I am. I have been supremely fortunate health wise throughout my life and until now so had my three kids.

[murf]

Glad to hear this has turned out fairly well and you'll be able to see for yourself before christmas..

I've known three people have strokes in recent years with a range of outcomes, all much worse than this.

[Pouzar99]

Rachel has been back for two days. I admit that I cried after that first hug at the airport, minutes after seeing Obama cry about the Connecticut massacre on a TV beside the gate she came through. Tough job being a parent.
Her and her brother Sam chowed down on take-out pizza while watching 5 hours of UFC Australia Friday, and Sam and I cooked chicken and 5-cheese pasta for dinner while they watched UFC Seattle Saturday night. We also went for a nice walk and she had great fun playing and jousting with Betty the cat, who is reluctant to give up top female status in the house. I didn't have much luck with preparation for my last exam, Monday, but what is a dad to do?
So life is getting back to normal, though I am hoping that Alberta doctors will be able to give us at least an expert opinion about the most likely cause of the stroke and what behavior must be avoided. The German doctors have already told her no liquor or Cigarettes for the rest of her life. Easy advice to follow as she barely ever drank and never smoked tobacco. She has an appointment Monday with her family doctor and we will see how things go from there.
Events like this kind of clarify what is important.

[tommymooney]

Glad to hear things went ok. Good luck with the Doctor next week.