The brain stem controls all basic activities of the central nervous system: consciousness, blood pressure, and breathing. So after a brainstem stroke some patients will be formerly diagnosed with Locked In Syndrome. This doesn’t necessarily mean a death sentence for the individual which results in the fatal pneumonia, like the poor chap in depicted the film – The Diving Bell & Butterfly.
Over time, these symptoms could result in being mild to moderate and short to long term. I believe it is possible to positively influence the future patient outcome and prognosis, especially if therapeutic therapy is offered early in ITU (as opposed to only passive therapy), the health professionals remain open-minded about the improvement possibilities early on, the loved-ones are proactive and informed, but most importantly the patient is physically able to try to concentrate cognitively to work hard on improving.
If you don’t believe me why don’t you read this…
‘Hi Kate!
I’m approaching you on behalf of my boyfriend, or husband to be actually. Hope you have time to read my message!
My name is Rikki, I’m 29 and from Finland. Last summer, 5th July to be exact, my boyfriend Tommi suffered a massive brain stem stroke. Only symptoms he had were a headache day before and nausea. When we went to ER doctors suggested Tommi might be suffering from vertigo. CT scan revealed that it was not the case. Tommi basilar artery was completely clogged. Doctors tried to dissolve it but failed, and after that they inserted a microscope netlike tube structure inside the vein to keep it open. For a moment it seemed to help, but Tommi did not wake up after the operation and new CT scan showed that the vein had clogged again.
He was rushed to a new operation and doctor told me that he had to think very hard what he would do, or was there anything left to do. After some painful hours doctor managed to dissolve the clog a bit so that Tommi survived. When he eventually woke up however he was in complete locked-in state.
I saw that ‘Tommi’ was present when I looked in his eyes. ‘Tommi’ has two boys, X 12 and Y 10 who are really close to me, from previous relationship, it was Alex who asked Tommi to blink twice if he hears us and means yes, and blink once if he means no. After couple of weeks the alphabetic board was introduced. I became quite fast speller, but then again nobody else, including nurses and doctors did not know how to use it. First weeks were really hard, ‘Tommi’ had sepsis and pneumonia but survived. When he’s condition was stable he went to a rehabilitation center in Helsinki. It has a good reputation they treat people with spinal cord injuries, brain damages and also stroke survivors.
Rehabilitation lasted 6 months and I was with ‘Tommi’ the whole time, every day, trying to help him as much I could.
‘Tommi’ is very determined and stubborn person. He says he is going to walk by next autumn. This is of course not what doctors or therapist told him. When we went to rehab ‘Tommi’ had regained some movement to his head. Rehabilitation concentrated in the beginning to improving communication. All sorts of buttons and switches were introduced to Tommi so that he could use Computer, communicator and also electric wheel chair with them. Tommi wrote to me that they could all be thrown into trash can because he is going to speak and move around in a wheelchair using his own hands. I was in a minority believing that.
Today Tommi speaks and uses his hands to move around in a wheelchair. His tracheostomy was removed in January. He is going to get electric aids to his wheelchair that help him when his arm muscles tire. His speech is still sometimes blurred by phlegm that was a real issue in the beginning, but that is a small problem. He has activity in his muscles all around the body, they are weak of course but still there’s action. Therapies still go on and were living in a temporary apartment at the moment. Our own home is being renovated so that Tommi can move around there in the chair. We are planning to get married next autumn.
I would like to thanks you for telling your story (Running Free). I found your web page – www.fightingstrokes.org – when I tried to look for information about locked in syndrome. When you google locked in syndrome and recovery there is not a lot that comes up. But your story was there and it gave us hope! I told to Tommi that it is possible to recover, and he is proving me right. I did not talk to him about all the other horrible stuff I found while googling. And I did not think about it myself, instead I thought about your story.
So thank you, on my and Tommi behalf! You are very strong and inspirational person!
I wish you all the best and hopefully spring is as sunny there as it is here there too!
Yours, Rikki
Ps. If you have time, it would nice if you could write something to Tommi as a sort of surprise.. I almost forgot where could I safely buy your books? They are not sold in Finland!
The moral of the story is that there is always…
Kate Allatt
Imagine being buried alive, where you can think and feel normally, but move absolutely nothing? You can hear & see everything going on but you are unable to communicate you can understand anything to anyone? Well I recovered, thrived and now inspire others, globally. I’m the founder of Fighting Strokes Trust. My first of three books - ‘Running Free' - is internationally published. I work passionately and voluntarily for my charity. I’m a keynote speaker, educator and patient health advocate. Finally, I pioneered a large stroke research bid which we hope will aid upper limb stroke recovery for others. I write blogs regularly – Stroke Recovery Tips & arockystrokerecovery - and I’m delighted to be posting blogs on talkhealth which specifically aid all types of stroke recovery – both physical & emotional recovery. My blog posts will be monthly and I always welcome your comments and feedback. A few of my notable media credits include: BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine, Globo TV Brazil, RTL Germany, BBC WORLD SERVICE, BBC Breakfast ABC Radio Australia, The Sunday Indian Times, Victoria Derbyshire podcast, , BBC The One Show, ITV This Morning, , the Voice Russia. ‘No promises, just possibilities.’
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