stroke and renal disease

[Everlasting]

    Does anyone have any info. on the rate of kidney failure individuals having strokes?  Yes my partner, Victor suffered one yesterday -- too soon to know what the final picture will be.  My greatest concern is finding the right in-home nursing care and wether or not he can remain living outside the medical community eg nursing home living.
  I so much fear the future for Victor!  I was informed that the stroke will likely remove him from the kidney transplant program and that dialysis will be his only choice.
   Before this development we were researching stem cell therpay and will hope that it will be a choice for Victor.
    Any suggestions as to what to do and where to go would be very much appreciated.  I am feeling so, so helpless
Everlasting

[KICKSTART]

I can offer no help or suggestions , but hope Victor makes a good recovery and my thoughts are with you.  KS  x

[LightLizard]

sorry to hear about this. did victor have a pre-existing heart condition? that is, before the need for dialysis? dialysis is hard on the heart, they say. i know that mine is in trouble now, after almost 3 years of dialysis. i'm slated for a new aortic valve, as soon as i go into crisis. ( when i'm short of breath, passing out and feel tightness in my chest, they'll book an O.R. - they say)
i've heard and read a lot about stem cell therapy 'moving ahead' - but, i have yet to hear of anyone being treated with the therapy, so i'm starting to feel like someone is blowing smoke about all that.

as for victor. there's probably  good chance that he will be bumped from the transplant list now, depending on where you are and what the economy is like where you are. they told me that there can't be any forward movement toward a transplant until i get my heart issues resolved. i'm hoping that the artificial kidney ('AWAK') will be available soon, and i think there's more chance of that than a transplant, for me anyway, and perhaps victor, too.

good luck.

LL

[Restorer]

As far as what I know, the risk for stroke goes way up if blood pressure gets high. Fluid overload in a big factor for that. I'm surprised I haven't stroked out yet, having very high blood pressures at times.

[Rerun]

I know that a stroke is very real for dialysis patients.  Dialysis is life support.  We can function and live a life (not normal) on dialysis.  Add a stroke to that and it would be not fun.... unless you have a chance for full recovery from the stroke.

So sorry you have to be the decision maker.

                                                                 

[Jean]

I so wish I could help, but I dont know a thing about it. Just wanted to let you know I am thinking of and praying for both of you. 

[kristina]

Hallo, Everlasting,
I am so sorry, I was not well and just read your input.
I am very sorry about Victor's stroke and feel for you both very deeply.
It must have come as a terrible shock for you both! And so unexpected.
Did Victor suffer from uncontrolled high bloodpressure? Which side of his body is affected?

When I suffered a stroke, I was half-sided paralyzed on my right side,
unable to speak, walk, eat, or look after myself etc.
The most important thing is to support Victor emotionally because of the deep shock he is in.
Another important thing is to try and start physiotherapy as soon as possible.
(Please avoid getting into any stress about it, the point is to take the stroke as a fact and go from there. I know how very difficult this is).
At first it might be almost impossible to do any physiotherapy, but every time he tries a little more - very, very gently - it might go a little easier,
giving him a fair chance. The earlier this process starts going, the better the chances to recover from the stroke.

How old is Victor? When I suffered my stroke I was only 38 years old and it came as a traumatizing shock.
Before the stroke I was working very hard on building my career and then all of a sudden I found myself unable to speak or even look after myself.

My mind and my thoughts were buried in my body and I found myself unable to express myself and the stroke came as a horrible shock.

My husband read up on strokes and bought me a tiny (37cm x 10cm) little battery-adapted key-board with head-phones.
He brought it to Hospital and I started to play little tunes and "got my right hand slowly involved again".
I did not realize it at the time (I was too traumatized and in shock), but I was doing intensive physiotherapy, training my hands,
my coordination, my combination-skills with that wonderful little battery-adapted keyboard.
My husband also read in a book that crochet helps the hands and mind as rehabilitation after a stroke
and so I worked on some crotchet-curtains for our windows at home and this was also extremely helpful as a rehabilitation.

Some Universities have developed very helpful "Multifactoriell Training for the Intellectual Functions"
to assist Rehabilitation-programs after a stroke. I have used them to rehabilitate and with the help of my husband
these programs assisted me very well to train my mind back to its former intellectual self again.

A stroke is like an earthquake to our system. Everything is upside-down, body and mind need to settle again and these
Rehabilitation-programms are very helpful to assist the mind and body to settle and build up again.

Getting back to walk again: at first I needed a wheelchair, of course,
but then I started to use the wheelchair as something to hold on to whilst walking
and it worked & assisted me to "get on my feet again."
It is a very long and painful process, but it is possible.

I am thinking of you both and send you my best wishes.
Please let me know if I can be of any help and please give my regards to Victor.
Kind regards and best wishes from Kristina.
 

[billybags]

Hope your Victor makes a speedy recovery, and you take care of your self as well.

[looneytunes]

Everlasting, you are a Godsend to Victor. 

My brother in law suffered a stroke, affecting the right side of his body.  With intense therapy which was started within a week, he has slowly made progress and is now able to talk, walk, and take care of his physical needs. 

I'll be praying for you both.

[Jie]

I was told that most death of dialysis patients are due to heart. Heart attack definitely is not uncommon for dialysis patients. Hope Victor has a good recovery.   

[Inara]

Finding the right care center is crucial at this stage.  Most centers have intensive therapy available.  Go to medicare.gov to find out which is rated the best in your area (assuming you're in the US).  But, please, ask around, also.  Just because a facility doesn't have 5 out of 5 stars doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad place.  It only takes one bad employee to screw up the ratings for an entire building.  And it's easy to look great for a few days when the inspectors are there!

I work prn at a nursing facility that is AWESOME.  I've seen the therapy department there work wonders with stroke victims.  The building is old and looks horrible from the outside.  It's in such a bad part of town, they have round-the-clock armed security guards.  On "paper", they don't look great because of one nurse (who has been fired, thank goodness), but in person, they have a staff that really cares and works their behinds off for their patients. 

If your partner is still in the hospital, you'll probably be approached by many centers.  I encourage you to go tour the facilities. Ignore the "bonus" junk, like plasma screen tv's in the room, cable, etc....it's nice, but that isn't what matters.  Ask how long the nursing staff has been there.  Go after 3pm and ask to speak to the supervisor.  Find a nurse and ask him/her, "Would you put your mother in this facility?"....therein lies the truth.  I would never work anywhere I wouldn't put my family. 

My personal advice is to worry about the transplant list later.  Work on getting Victor back on his feet and getting BOTH your spirits up! 

Keep us updated.  I'm so sorry this happened to your partner!