Stroke Survivor Blog

Today Steve had an echocardiogram which his new doctor (an internist) ordered. He thought the shortness of breath was not due to collapsed lungs, but to congestive heart failure with fluid filling his lungs. The echo confirmed that diagnosis, and it also showed that one heart valve is not working which is causing the swelling [...]

Last Wednesday I took Steve to the emergency room at the urging of his primary care physician who thought he had a blood clot in his leg. Steve presented with swelling in his right leg and severe shortness of breath. An ultrasound of the leg showed that blood was flowing and there was no clot. [...]

Steve went to an orthopedist on Wednesday for the pain he had in his right shoulder. Several x-rays revealed that the problem was caused by inflammation in a tendon rubbing against the AC joint. The doctor gave him a cortizone injection and it is making a difference. Even though he still has pain, it’s not [...]

Steve is in desperate need of prayer!! He appears to be regressing considerably physically and mentally. 1. He’s had four seizures since December, and each one does some damage to the electrical part of his brain. Last night he started on an anti-seizure Keppra, so I’m monitoring him for any side effects that may be [...]

Monday, Feb. 23, 2009 marked the one-year anniversary of Steve’s stroke. As I look back over the last year I am amazed at all that has happened. There were many successes and victories, challenges and setbacks. Frustration, hopelessness, discouragement and depression are emotions that Steve struggles with, so it is good that we look back [...]

For the last several nights Steve has been coughing and wheezing so severely that he can’t sleep, and neither can I. He saw the doctor this past Friday and she prescribed an antibiotic for a chest infection, but no inhaler for the asthma-like breathing. This shortness of breath is new since the seizure. In spite [...]

The pain Steve had in his left leg and ankle has disappeared!!! PTL! On Sunday he kept saying his leg was numb and he couldn’t feel anything. He was concerned about this, not realizing that the only sensation he had before in that leg was pain. Yet he can still feel it when it’s touched, so it’s not completely numb, just the [...]