When you are discharged from the hospital, if you are sufficiently recovered and have family members who can help you convalesce, you may go directly home.
Your home wasn’t designed to accommodate a stroke survivor, so it may need some modifications. Furniture may need to be moved — or in some cases even removed — so that you have a clear pathway from room to room and even within a room, particularly if you’re using a wheelchair or a walker. Bathrooms and showers may need to be refitted with grab bars on the wall so that you can more easily get up and stand. One study showed that nearly 40% of stroke survivors suffered a serious fall within a year after their strokes occurred.
Your treatment will very likely continue at home. A physical therapist or other health care professional may come one or more times a week to treat you and to assess your progress.
If your team determines that your condition still requires extensive therapy, your doctor may send you to a specialized rehabilitation facility where you can continue your recovery until you are sufficiently independent to go home.
Some stroke survivors are so afflicted that they need ongoing nursing care, on a low level basis or even 24/7. Such patients may go from the hospital directly to a nursing home.