For KathTN
Hello-I feel a bit on the spot over mention of TIA...my only experience with them is from observing what my mother-in-law (we called her Moggy) went through and reading up on them on the internet..a TIA stands for Transient Ischemic Attack...the transient meaning that it is a form of mini-stroke, as rummy explained, whose effects do not last long. I think they are usually the result of a blockage in a blood vessel which starves that area of the brain of oxygen temporarily...I don't think that the TIAs cause vascular dementia. What you need and deserve is good information and from what I've seen on this sight there is a gold mine here for you--even better you'll have the help and experiences of the others here--wish I had found it when we were caring for Moggy! What a very unhelpful nurse you had over the CT scan--almost making you feel like you should not insist on proper diagnosis as much as possible and the chance to try to see if a medication can make any difference. ( In the states, the neurologist assessing my dad and mom ordered MRI scans ..I don't know what the difference is between the CT and MRI scans??)
In case it helps you I can share what I remember of Moggy. With Moggy I noticed that on days she reported that she 'felt lazy' she would also feel nauseated and very sleepy and for that day and the day after she would get confused over every day things and then get back to normal. As she was on tablets for blood pressure, thinking of TIA's was more a guess on my part to explain what we were observing and we had to guess as neither Moggy nor her GP really wanted to look into it so don't depend on my guesses--google it and see if anything is like what you are seeing. After quite a few episodes over a few years and all this taking place while she was in the mid to late 80's it was hard to know which of her memory slips and confusions were normal for her age...things like saying of a familiar route 'we've never gone this way before' or 'oh a new roundabout' at a roundabout in our home town...conversations not remembered, losing her way in bridge game (she was a master and teacher of bridge all her life). Then one evening I was sitting next to Moggy when she had a TIA while we were both out for the evening--she slumped over to one side as she lost the use of her right side but she was still alert and had no idea anything was wrong. I called her name a few times 'Mum, mum are you all right?' and I swear the glare in her eyes meant 'of course I'm all right don't make a fuss' there we were..two old girls both with strong wills..was I nice? No. I told her,'Mum, you are slumped over and you are not talking' the next look said 'Don't be so stupid there is nothing wrong' so I asked her 'OK then, give me your right hand'..well she was amazed when she couldn't move it. After 5 minutes or so she was able to stand up and while friends stayed with her I went and drove the car right up to the church door by which time she walked to the car with only a little help--as we headed down the A40 from Ealing to Hillingdon Hospital she was able to speak clearly enough to plead with me to take her home as she was desperate to go to bed and sleep. She really thought I was making up what had happened because she had no memory of it at all. By the time we reached the hospital there was no outward sign of any difficulty--all the effects of the TIA had passed in under 2 hours, but as her blood pressure was extremely high she was kept in for observation and so was in the hospital when she got hit the next day by a major stroke....this does not mean that if you have TIAs you will one day have a stroke...just the same, having TIAs and strokes does not mean that you will one day have vascular dementia. I am uncertain how this is all medically connected..I can only say for sure that Moggy had it all and it seemed the vascular dementia was a condition that was either caused by the stroke or was made more noticeable by the stroke.
Physically Moggy made a good recovery from the stroke over a few months, but her speech and writing and word skills and self-care skills all were taking longer. 5 months after the stroke my husband agreed with me that Moggy was not progressing any more and was actually starting to lose skills we thought she had regained...but it was all so much guess work and observation over time--I began to be with her for more and more time until 8 months after the stroke, I was there from before the homehelp left in the morning until it was time for bed in the evening. At that point I wrote a list of the daily things Moggy was struggling with to take to the consultant...who looked at the list and said that these were all things to be expected for Moggy's condition! I thought her condition was 'post-stroke' so asked the consultant 'what condition?' and then heard for the first time that the condition was 'Vascular dementia'.
Again, remember that dementia and strokes and TIAs are not like a broken bone--they are conditions which are difficult to diagnose sometimes and unpredictable in the effect they will have on a person. I can learn something from having taken care of Moggy that will be helpful in caring for my parents but my Dad is quite different from Moggy and I am having to watch and guess and learn all the time. In a way, Dad's family are all becoming experts in 'Dad with dementia'...we know the people and places that were important to him in the past, we know that he doesn't like broccoli but agrees with me that a good hot cup of coffee in the morning is the Elixir of Life, we have had to rush outside to see the clouds in another blue sky day and experience the pleasure that beauty in nature gives him, we are the ones who most appreciate his response to the neurologists question of 'What is your wife's name?' 'oh that one D..Dot..DOTTIE!' 'How many wives have you had?' Dad looks at the doctor like he must be out of his mind, straightens his back and raises his finger for emphasis 'ONE!' we are also the ones at a loss to explain why he thinks someone came and snatched his credit card out of his hand but we are the ones who know to look in pockets, books, bedside table and the sock drawer before calling the company to cancel the card...of their children, however, I am the one who most often knows why he is kicking a cardboard box around in frustration....BOSSY BOOTS HAS STRUCK AGAIN..yes I have been telling them 'no don't do this, put that down, come here, time for blah blah blah'...unavoidable sometimes, and it does pass for both of them and me too eventually.
I've run out of steam...I hope some of this helps...it breaks my heart, its taught me alot about myself that I NEVER wanted to know, and the process of caring has both worn me out, changed me, and stitched me so close to Moggy and now my Dad and Mom. Tell us more about how the CT scan and diagnosis procedures go for you.