Lots of people want to know what happened to the lady in my previous post, so tonight I spoke to the nurse who was looking after her.

The patient continued to be unable to talk, although (perhaps sadly) she could understand everything that was happening to her, and around her. She was also unable to use the entire right side of her body. It seems that the stroke was caused by an infarct (or clot) in her brain, and not the more life-threatening cerebral bleed. She went to one of the better wards in the hospital after spending some time in the resus room, during which her husband constantly stayed by her bedside. The nurses looking after the pair of them felt a lot of sympathy towards them, and I think they all fell a little in love with the husband.
I mention that the nurses looked after the pair of them, because that is what good nurses do, they look after everyone affected by the illness
Sometime later today or tomorrow she will have a CT scan of her brain to determine the extent of any infarct, and then she will start the long road to a hopeful recovery.

I used to work in a medical ward, and we would have a lot of stroke patients. Unfortunately there is no magical medical treatment for a stroke once it has taken place - instead it is a long gruelling slog through physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy. It can take months to recover some function, and for many they do not recover at all. They remain chair, or bed bound - and are discharged into a nursing/care home until they succumb to an infection that kills them.

Unfortunately, given the type and strength of the stroke this lady has had I would not hold much hope for a recovery. Miracles do sometimes happen, and I suspect that this entire woman's family will be praying for such a miracle.