Hi,
My husband had a severe stroke August 2024. Unfortunately he is still not able to sit unsupported, he leans to the left. Therefore he is unable to stand/walk so needs a hoist and carers to assist with personal care.
Has anyone had any experience where over time sitting balance has got better and maybe know if the person was eventually able to stand/walk?
Also my husband gets confused from time to time.
Says we have an upstairs and we live in a bungalow.
Thinks he can walk from time to time, when i say he cant yet he doesn’t like it.
Please has anyone got any experience of this?
Thankyou Joanne
4 Likes
There are no guarantees but there is hope. I could stand when I came home from hospital after two months they kicked me out.
I say I could stand my next move was sit down or fall over.
I got a second hand laptop and amused myself by coming on this forum.
Every now and then I’d fall over managing to get to my bed and pulling myself onto it. A few days with bruises and pain followed. I was a pretty hopeless case.
Then one day I shocked my wife walked two steps picked up and put on my dressing gown then walked two steps back and sat down.
I kept walking a couple of steps and falling over. Got quite good at it. Had some spectacular bruises. Then I was given a zimmer frame could just about get to the kitchen and back.
After chatting on the forum here I bought something called a rollator, which is a sort of walking frame with wheels a seat and a carry bag. With that I could get about the house downstairs.
Don’t get too excited. It took more than a year closer to two. There were ups and downs. It wasn’t just a series of triumphs but I certainly made progress. I had made some friends here on this forum too.
I’m sure you would be glad to see those changes for your husband and I think you could.
I’m in my fourth year after stroke, I’m still disabled and I have still have far to go but my life has opened up in ways I never anticipated..
I assure you there is always chance for improvement.
A lot of folk are now in a better state than I.
However I have a life, it is rewarding and I do have some fun.
I’m glad to be alive, my wife says I’m a pain but she’s glad to have me and I’m glad to have her.
What more can I say.
You are not alone, there is always someone around here to share your experiences with.
You are someone affected by stroke.
That is a truly dreadful shocking thing but you can rise above that and find your way forward.
You will get encouragement, a listening ear, advice, sympathy and more from this great community. It is a great resource.
keep on keepin on
5 Likes
Hello Joanne @cherry2865 - nice to e-meet you. I did not get to welcome you to the community when you first posted last year. Normally, I like to say hello, good evening and welcome to new members of this community.
Anyway, let’s see what we can do for you.
Firstly, I have read Bobbi’s reply and as usual, @Bobbi is spot on with the way he shares his wisdom and experiences 
I can fully concur with all that Bobbi has said and I just want to add that you may have read other posts on this forum and one thing that is often mentioned is time and rate of recovery. We all recover at our own pace and that is normally driven by a number of things including severity of the stroke, other comorbidities, pre-stroke health condition and current level of support e.g. physio etc.
You know the answers to some of these things and then you might be able to appreciate that Chris, your husband will be trying his best and may well feel frustration and anger and other emotions, all of which is normal. That is what stroke does. You too will feel a whole host of emotions but hopefully you can both learn to understand the causes and deal with it.
Put simply, Chris has a chance, a good chance to recover and lead a reasonably good quality life as Bobbi has explained in his response. He is now less than a year in the post-stroke recovery stage and he may have made progress but you are not able to measure it, or see the results because the improvement is the lower part of the iceberg if you like. Stuff is happening but you are not able to see it yet. Then you will begin to see improvements because we are coming out of the water to see the iceberg above the water.
Recovery times are relative and depend on individuals.
My Mum was also unable to sit up un-supported but with repeated exercises, she is now strong enough to support herself.
What exercises has Chris been shown to improve his coordination and upper body strength?
Does he sit our in a chair?
Can he sit on the edge of the bed with you supporting him?
We used to sit Mum on the edge of the bed and then hold her, make her comfortable and sit her upright and then slowly let go but being there to bring her back into the upright position if she started to fall to one side or the other. It took a while and she would rock sideways and fall backwards but by repeatedly doing this she grew stronger and her cognitive senses became stronger and so she was able to sit unaided on the edge of her bed.
Wrt standing, that is something we are still working on - ours is a long story which you are welcome to read as it is well documented on this forum and you can search for it using my user name.
At the moment, Mum can sit perched on the riser recliner chair - that means she is nearly upright, and her weight is partially on her feet/legs and partly on her bottom. She needs to be supported and we need more specialist help from physio to get her to bear weight and then to walk.
We’re working on it.
If we can do it, your husband Chris can do it.
Look out for physio and exercises you can do to help, but be patient. Do not give up, it will happen when the time is right for you.
Namaste|
4 Likes
We are all familiar with the fact that stroke affects the arm, leg and face. It can also affect the large muscles of the back.
In addition the brain has both a knowledge of the position of all parts of the body and a perception of vertical. Stroke can affect both of these.
In my case it took about 2 months to recover my back muscles and vertical knowledge.
Strangely I still don’t have horizontal, even if I am lying flat I feel as if I am on a slope.
3 Likes
Hi there
I am a year on this coming month July 2025 and I couldn’t walk talk well or move my left arm I’d tip to the left! No matter how hard I tried. I was disabled before the stroke ; and used a 4 wheel rollator. It was difficult and I had to be surrounded by cushions, now I can sit up without leaning to my affected side, I can open my hand move my fingers and grip. It does get better there is hope if it’s backed up by working at it and reteaching the brain. There is no expiration on our brains, we just need to learn all over again like all babies and children do, they struggle and one day they sit up without falling over, I guess what I’m saying is….there is no end date we learn and expand as we go…
2 Likes