My 68 year old father had an ischemic stroke last October. He is very lucky as he was not taken to the hospital hours after the event. They got him on blood thinners, did physical and cognitive tests. It is a traumatic brain injury and looked grim and awful as he just seemed like he was in a fog and it was tough for him to focus. As the days went by they scheduled surgery to clean out his carotid artery that was 60% blocked. That surgery went great and had the 90% blocked artery cleaned out about 1 month later.

As mentioned, the stroke cases are unique. My father was able to walk, talk and function fairly normal. His strength and endurance was affected as well has short term memory and speech. Not slurring speech but mostly finding the right words. So after a few weeks, we gave him crossword puzzles to get him to focus and get his brain thinking deeper.

Until about May time frame, he was improving quite well but seemed to hit a lull. His mood was up and down, lack of self confidence, and poor sleep. He had a 6 month Neuro check up and my mom asked about some sort of sleeping pill that was not over the counter. She prescribed Trazodone https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a681038.html#:~:text=Trazodone%20is%20used%20to%20treat,that%20helps%20maintain%20mental%20balance and man what a difference. He sleeps better, way better mood, improved speech and memory. Occasionally you can tell that he has been going at it too long throughout the day and simply needs to go to bed.

I am happy to help answer questions from my perspective. Also, I find it a travesty that there is no good solid recovery programs or plans. Yes, each case is different but if you have a shoulder or knee injury, you go to physical therapy. In the stroke world, it's almost like that once you get stabilized, they send you on home without much direction of what to do next.