My mother (only 58 years old) suffered a level 4 aneurysm in July of this year. She was in a coma for 2 weeks and hospitalized for 91 days. She currently is physically fine but not able to understand or communicate with us. Her speech is garbled and her understanding at about 50%.
This type of brain injury is pure hell on both the victim and the family. My fervent prayers are being sent to Senator Johnson and his family.
Prayers for your mom!
My mom had an aneurysm at 52. It burst. After she spent three weeks in a coma, making slow but steady progress while the doctors hoped to make her well enough and strong enough for corrective surgery, it burst again, and at that point all hope was gone. She never regained consciousness, and we let her go.
Because I went through that, I have a tiny bit of insight. When I'm faced with a big scary thing I don't understand, I research it. That's my coping mechanism.
An aneurysm, or a subdural hematoma, is what doctors call a "brain bleed." A "stroke" is when brain tissue dies, either because of a lack of blood or because of pressure caused by bleeding in the skull cavity. Not every bleed causes a stroke, though they're often treated as synonyms.
It sounds to me like Sen. Johnson had some sort of bleeding, or obstructed or impeded blood flow, in his brain. That got called a "stroke" along the way, but the real extent of damage is something we don't know yet. I hope and pray that the Senator will wake up some time soon and wonder what happened.