My husband had a stroke on 27th March with clots that affected the right frontal lobe and a non symptomatic clot on the brain stem. He also suffered a subarachnoid bleed when given a massive dose of thinners upon arrival in emergency.
He is still in hospital after 7 weeks, for the first few weeks he just slept due to the bleed.
Now he is really improving, he can walk unsteadily with a walker for a few mins, and his language seems unaffected, but he does get confused, agitated and upset. However it is his short term memory that is really non existent, he can’t remember what he ate for lunch a short while ago, who visited him yesterday, and is still struggling with the fact he is in hospital. I find that I have to remind him every day and sometimes every hour of the fact he has had a stroke and is in hospital recovering. He also fabricates things when he can’t remember something.
I realise is early days but have others experienced this and what kind of tips do you have for strengthening his memory.
Thanks
X
Hi @Babs03 welcome to the community. Sorry to hear of your husband’s stroke. As if having the clots wasn’t bad enough to then suffer a bleed too must have been really difficult.
Good to hear he is progressing well with his physical recovery. As you rightly point out it is still very early days for him yet. All.things stroke recovery do take time and over time his short term memory should improve.
It’s about trying to work the bit of the brain that is affected. You could try getting him to memorise little things like maybe a short list of items. Nothing too complex or long as he will tire easy. Also try some brain training games. Maybe try some crosswords, word searches etc with him.
Kerp talking to him. I know it’ll be frustrating to start with as you’ll probably have to keep repeating things but repetition is key in stroke recovery.
Hopefully he has also got some occupational therapy input. If not see if you can request some.
Best wishes
Ann
Hi @Babs03 and welcome to the community 
I’m sorry to hear of your husbands stroke, that is a traumatic experience you both and I’m sure it will take some time to recovery from the shock. While he is still in hospital you should take advantage of this time to take good care of yourself, eat well, take walks in this lovely sunshine while we still have it, and try to get a good night’s sleep. Easier said than done I know, but you’ll need your health and strength for when he does come home, so take advantage to build that up now while you can.
Time: give him all the time he need to hear, process and understand what you say. So don’t bombard him with a lot of information, just item at a time.
Patience: be prepared to wait for him to answer and don’t talk over him
Understanding: Tolerance! He doesn’t want to be this way any more than you do. He’s not being lazy or dismissive or thoughtless or fabricating anything because he just doesn’t have the capacity to do so. In fact, pay particular attention to any such fabrications:
Time, Patience and Understanding are what he needs right now.
Short term memory is one of the most common issues in early post stroke, difficulties remembering both with recent events and forming new memories. That’s because his brain has been damaged. And the first 6 months of stroke recovery all about healing and repair. The brain is doing its mop up and repair work, continually reassessing damage and gradually getting things back up and running wherever possible. So the brain is running a very reduced emergency service at the moment.
Because of this, your husband needs lots of rest throughout the day, resting is the best time for the brain to process and store all that it has taken in during the day. But it can only take in so much, and it’s not very discerning in what that may be or that just might be how it appears to be from the outside. His brain just doesn’t have the capacity or ability to store and recall, it’s too busy on the inside just now to keep him alive and functioning, and getting things back up and running as best it can.
I’m 4yrs post stroke and mine was minor in comparison to many on here. That first year post stroke was the worst for my short term memory. Just to retain a sentence to repeat was impossible. I’m just thankful for my very patient family because my memory was literally like sieve back then. I’d forget just as fast as a sentence was spoken. Appointment even written on a calendar were useless, even had notes dotted here, there and everywhere, but I had to remember to look at them, to read them, which I couldn’t.
So my family had to be my memory, my diary, my to do list, until gradually over a long period of time, I began retaining more information here and there, managing to hold bits of information for longer and longer. But I also had the additional challenges of not being able to read, write or speak. 4yrs on and I can remember an appointment 6mths from now, I can read a 6 digit code and retain long it in my memory long enough to key it in to a computer. Memory can still be a bit spotty but on the whole I’m happy where it’s at 
Time heals, you just have to be patient, tolerant and forgiving 
Regards, Lorraine
Thanks all for your replies. It has of course been a roller coaster ride for the whole family and we can’t even begin to imagine what my husband has been going through.
Will certainly use advice given. Is very much a case of being in the dark in our case, not much info has been given to us and we have actively had to seek help and information.
Take care
X
Hi @Babs03
Welcome to the community, I’m sorry to hear about husband stroke. It sounds like an awful situation to have the clots and then a bleed too.
I’m pleased to see you’ve already been given some great responses from the community, there is a wealth of knowledge here which will hopefully help you and your husband on this journey.
We have some information on our website about memory which may be helpful for you to have a read over. I also noted that you’re not getting much information, you might want to give our Stroke Support Helpline:0303 3033 100 a call to chat through your situation and see if they can offer any insights in to what to ask at the hospital and to make sure that everything is happening as it should.
If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community, please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.
Anna
Hi
My partner had a stroke 14 months ago and although he is recovering well in some areas he is also having short term memory problems. He does have the added complication of developing a condition since his stroke that also affects his short term memory. He was very recently seen by his rehabilitation doctor. He gave him three words to remember and asked him what they were a few minutes later. The first time he didn’t remember any so he repeated the exercise and the more he did it the better it was. As someone else mentioned its about repetition. I try and do things like asking what he had to eat earlier, which carers are coming to see him next etc. Some days are better than others. He still sleeps a lot some days too. Best wishes to you and your husband. Paula xx