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Happy 1st year Post Stroke Anniversary to me!!


Tinamomof2

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Today marks my 1 year post stroke anniversary! Yeah! I made it through the year with no more strokes, mini strokes or nothing!!

 

I am happy because I read some where, during the 1st year after stroke the chances of having another one is 35%--I have been worried about that.

 

This anniversary means so many things, good and bad. I wouldn't wish a stroke on my worse enemy, it is terrible, awful, catastrophic, etc. I have learned a lot from having one though. And some things, I didn't have a choice of learning.

 

I spent a night in Intensive Care, a week in the hospital, six weeks in a acute rehab, 3 months in home-therapy and 7 months in outpatient therapy. Took a break over Summer to enjoy my girls, we stayed up late, slept late, went swimming (they did) and just enjoyed life together.

 

My Church is a rock to me, they have been so kind and have done so much. I loved it before and have been a member now 28 years. During this last year, I see where they really did "have my back".

 

I lost my entire left side and still have to "lug" it around. My shoulder is a little subluxed, which is still painful some ways I move it. I have movement in my hand and fingers, they are not functional. I wear a AFO on my leg from the time I get up until I go to bed. I wear a splint on my arm every night to help with spascity.

 

My stroke happened when I was 46 years old, I dread the thought of how my body will be in 20 years.

 

I can walk with a quad cane for about 5 minutes. I never lost cognitive skills, never lost speech for which I thank God!

 

But I did lose most of the sensation on my left side, it is still gone and my neurologist says it will probably never come back. Makes it hard when you can't feel.

 

One fortunate thing I found was this web site! The people here are so exceptional and helpful! I have learned so much! Thank you to everyone who reads my blog! Writing one has been so therapeutic for me. I think it was Asha who said it is therapeutic for the soul--she was absolutely right!

 

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Congratulations Tina - the biggest milestone now behind you. Great that you are able to review and consider the past year. Have a better understanding of what you are dealing and the work you have to do.

 

But, honey. You made it! Time for a little celebration - maybe dinner out with the kids, nothing fancy, just a small YAHOO!

 

You done great! As my Bruce says. Debbie

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Yep, we have all sweated our way thru that first year, whether as a survivor or caregiver!   You have that under your belt now and can just move on to year 2 with your concentration on strenghtening and stretching.   Congrats on your first year as a survivor!   :)

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Tina :

congratulations on your first stroke anniversary, first year is the hardest, start celebrating those anniversaries now. once you start celebrating those anniversary, you start looking forward to it. Having young kids makes huge difference in one's lives, and you can get used your new normal & start enjoying too. I am so glad you also found therapeutic joy of blogging. 

 

hugs,

Asha

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Happy  first stroke anniversary!   The first year is the hardest, and you have done wonderful.  Enjoy your family, those girls are growing everyday, enjoy because time does not go back.

 

Yvonne

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Tina, your stroke sounds strikingly similar to the one my wife had 11 months ago at the age of 67. She too needs an AFO to walk and wears a splint much of the time because of spacticity in her left arm. I now do almost everything for her. But, you know, I really don't mind. It's a lot of work when you care for two people (her and me) but it is work that makes you feel useful. Dearly loving the person for whom you care lessens the burden, too. I'm sure that the person you lean on these days probably feels much the same as I do. 

I also understand your anxiety about having a second stroke. My own anxieties were aggravated by the fact that my wife's doctors were unable to pinpoint the cause of her ischemic stroke. Atrial fibrilation is the most common cause so they ran all kinds of checks on her heart, including a 24-hour Holter monitor, but no Afib showed up. So the only clot-fighting medication she was taking when she left the hospital was a daily dose of baby asprin which is the norm when there is no Afib. Still, we weren't satisifed so we made an appointment with the head of the stroke program at a university medical center about two hours away. That doctor prescribed a Holter monitor for a longer time, reasoning that some forms of Afib occur infrequently and won't show up in 24 hours or even 48. My wife was supposed to wear that monitor for 30 days but on the eighth day an episode of Afib was detected. With that, the university doc took her off the monitor and put her on an anticoagulent. We opted for one of the new kind of anticoagulents rather than the older, cheaper Coumadin because they are far easier to manage and don't require frequent blood tests. Now that we know what caused my wife's stroke and are taking strong steps to prevent a second one, we both feel much less anxious. We know she could still have another stroke but we think we've lowered the risk a good deal.

Shifting topics just a bit, in the weeks since we moved back into our house we've made a lot of adjustments, most of them small, to make things easier for her and to allow her to do more things without assistance. I thought some of these might work for you too if they interest you. My wife was always very independent so anything that reduces her dependency even a tiny bit gives her a big boost in spirits. Among the things we've done are: (1) installing metal pull-down grab bars on the right side of each of the two toilets that she uses. Most folks use some kind of grab bars but the high-grade metal pull-down kind that we had installed are really good and strong; (2) adding toilet seat "risers" to those toilets, which were already the taller kind. These risers made the toilets 3 inches taller and thus allow my wife to get on and off them with no assistance; (3) using a transport chair that has a potty rather than the much lower and far more awkward bedside potty that the hospital provided for wee hours use;  The chair kind is far safer and easier for her to get on and off of in the middle of the night; (4) buying a bed cane and a couch cane to help her get in and out of bed and her favorite chair; (5) replacing our old standard box springs with a low-profile kind that reduced the height of our bed by about five inches, thus making it far easier for her to get into bed; (6) buying 3 quad canes rather than one so that there is always one waiting for her when she gets to the end of whatever staircase she is going up or down; (7) adding 2 and a half inches to the width of a bathroom doorway by simply installing a special hinge that allows the door to lay flatter against the wall when it opens. The extra width made it possible for her transport chair to get into the bathroom where she showers.

These were all minor inexpensive adjustments we made but they add up to a big boost in my wife's independence. They gave me a boost too because there is comfort knowing that my wife doesn't always need me standing by for even the most routine needs. We also did some pricier, more obvious things such as installing a chair lift to get her upstairs and installing custom-built railings on each side of the stairs leading into our garage but I am sure most folks know about those products. Some of the other ones aren't necessarily known by folks who could benefit from them.

Finally, for what it may be worth my wife also had some left side numbness in the early going and she had difficulty chewing and swallowing. She had severe left side neglect, too. However, all of those problems have since cleared up. So don't be too quick to accepted your neurologist's prognosis about your own lack of feeling. In truth, medicine is not an exact science. No one can predict with certainty how much the brain will heal and how long it will take. Even the old one-year rule of thumb has been pretty much discarded for the most part. So don't give up hope. You are still young, you know.

Congratulations on making it through the first year without any new difficulties. And good luck as your recovery extends into its second year and beyond. I wish you nothing but the very best.

 

Ron

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