pprovost

Stroke Survivor - female
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  1. pprovost

    Weight Watchers

    By pprovost,

    Well, I am facing the music now as many stroke survivors are doing. Being disabled is a reason that some people gain weight after a stroke. I have decided that being overweight is NOT for me. Having never had a significant weight problem before my stroke, I scorned the masses who went to their weekly WW meeting in hopes of encouragement on their journey. My Mom has attempted several times since I was very small but only to give up and gain more weight. My stroke gave me a big wake up call in that I realized I had inherited some rather dangerous genetics from both my parents who had weight issues, my dad eventually passing away from heart failure at age 74. Now I am retired and have time to take care of my health so I started to follow many of the popular programs in our pop culture today. only to get bored and go back to my learned habits. I was really lucky to recover my ability to walk albeit I wear an AFO and use a cane and have a great deal of spasticity on my left side. BUT I can walk! My first instincts after the stroke was that I needed to find a way to burn the energy I was consuming or else walking may become difficult in the future. My staircase became my gym for a month or two until my rehab was done and I could confidently take walks on my own in our neighbourhood. We have bike paths which make walking quite safe from traffic.
    We also have severe winters with lots of snow.Sidewalks are rarely visible from December until mid- April and if we get freezing rain they are hazardous for anyone. This meant I would have to find a way to walk indoors somewhere. In Canada we love indoor malls and St. Bruno has a beauty. Two floors and two elevators with a few coffee shops to have a cup of jo after a 30 minute stroll around one floor, My municipality provides handicap transportation from my house to the door of the mall for less than 3$. It is really a no brainer.
    Now the logistics have been dealt with, I have everything I really need to stay healthy for life.
    My Mom has had some real success with Weight Watcher this last year and has been trying to coax me to join so I figure that because I have been getting poor results on my own, I would be stupid to not give it a try.
    August 28th I signed up. I have lost 5.6 pounds in little over a month. I feel health returning with all the fruits and vegetables that I now eat. This weekend is Canada's ThanksGiving and there will be much to deal with so I expect that I will be hitting some rough waters before my next meeting next Tuesday. At least my seritonin levels have been replentished by the glorious Indian Summer we are enjoying this week. I can do this. I survived a stroke so losing a few pounds is just another challenge among others I will have at some point. Nothing to sweat about. Small stuff indeed.
     
     
    Wish me luck
     
    Pat
  2. pprovost
    Stroke Survivors are typically courageous. I had the courage to show up at WW even after a weekend of festivities that clearly went beyond my usual consumption of several days. My longtime friend, Lee, came to St. Bruno for her annual visit to Quebec. This involves much eating out and little home cooking, lots of deserts and sleeping in. Saturday night we had a great dinner in a bistro that the husband of one of Carl's collegues at work opened last winter. I wisely chose to have salmon with a salad entr
  3. pprovost

    Colonoscopy

    By pprovost,

    :Clap-Hands:
     
    Well, I have survived the big procedure with much help from the strong medication they gave me
    The prep is way worse than the procedure and they even let me wear my shoes and AFO. They did remove a polyp which means that even if it is not cancer, I will be screened every year. Now that I know what to expect, this scares me much less than a mamogram.
     
    I am now motivated to take care of my nice clean colon by eating lots of fibre and water and exercising regularly. I will get the results of the biopsy in a month. The doctor was not overly concerned and neither am I.
     
     
    Getting old is for the birds. ''Am I getting wiser?''
  4. pprovost

    Colonoscopy

    By pprovost,

    Never get old! I am not that old by it seems that one's fifties are a virtual minefield for nasty tests and procedures to detect cancer. My father's lucky early detection of a cancerous polyp puts me in a higher risk for colon cancer so now that I am over 50 I must be screened every 5 years. This involves a colonoscopy. So today is what I am told is the worse part of the procedure. I have to take two doses of Pavik-Salax this afternoon and this evening to clear the colon for tomorrow. i will park myself in my office which is close to the upstairs bathroom. I have made a good leek boullion ( Thanks for the recipe Mireille Guliano, author of French Women don't get Fat ) It is a rainy day so I won't take my walk outdoors anyways. Perhaps I will get a few chapters read for the Second Book Club selection. Then there is always Mahjong games on the computer which really waste time easily.
    I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about tomorrow. Will I be over the effects of the laxative and will I have control over my bowels until the procedue is finished? When one is paralysed on one side, it is not easy to have 100% control on anything and this freaks me out. Before my stroke I could run quickly and never had to rely on anyone for assistance. Now I am playing a tape over and over on how I will strategize worse case scenarios like attaching my hospital gown with one hand ( I will just have to ask for help on this one) Part of stroke survival is learning to clearly and assertively articulate one's needs. I used to be a natural introvert and even now giving commands in a louder voice is stressful. Delegation is a stretch but I suppose this does build character in the long run. Well, I need to start psyching myself up so I will write later on to report on how i am surviving the magic drink.

  5. pprovost

    Emergency measures

    By pprovost,

    Last night we had a reminder of january 1998 ( when Quebec experienced the storm of the century) The power went out during a big Thunderstorm and we had no power from 9 pm until 2:30 this afternoon. We thought that after the bgig storm in '98 we were prepared to face anything. We had no power for 2-3 weeks and temps were below zero F for several days.
    last night we had only one flashlight that worked, no extra batteries for portable radios. We got off easy this time ; our neighbours won't have the power back until tomorrow because the storm broke a large branch on a huge tree and it has fallen on the wires. Until that has been fixed they won't get power. I felt very fidgety todayt being out of touch with the internet. Could I have a problem?
    I just finished my library book that i have been engrossed in for the past two weeks The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a great read and I will miss it until i can find a new page turner.
     
    Tomorrow my agenda is clear. I have some mail to take care of as well as my usual correspondance. I can hear Carl, heaving out the stuff from the fridge that we don't want to eat after a power failure in 80+ weather. This weekend we will do a big load at5 the market. I love the summer produce that is fresh and well treated. I feel healthier just looking at it.
  6. pprovost

    Gardening

    By pprovost,

    Louis Lacoste came over yesterday to gather information for the herb garden I want in the back yard. Carl wants to do it in stones rather than treated wood. It will cost more but he is feeling abundant lately so I won't discourage that trend. Looks like it will be about a 2 ft high wall in a kidney shape which will enable me to pick out weeds sitting on the wall. This should be fine so long as I have access to all parts of the bed form either side. It will be great to plant tomatoes and basil together and have ready supplies of fresh herbs to cook with. I will have to be careful to restriuct growth of mint plants that I want for teas. Mint can really get rampant if left to wander. I need to brainstorm for plants I want or need: chives, catnip, thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, savoury, parsley, dill, coriander, nasturtium, mint, taragon, gaarlic chives,
    lemon balm,. I guess i will need a good sized : bed. $$$ :big_grin:
  7. pprovost

    My aching back!

    By pprovost,

    This week I am feeling about 100 years old. I don't know what I have done to cause my back to feel like I have been through boot-camp for the Cirque de Soleil I know a guy in my town who turned 100 and is more fit than me. Makes me think about my strong genetic pool. My family are long livers many have lasted into their 90's. If I am creaking around like this for the next 40 years I will need to take up bungy jumping by the time I am 97 to offset the mental illness Ii wil have most likely developed by then.
     
    Ever since my stroke I have been focused on the future. I suppose having stroked at a young age is the cause of my preoccupation with the years ahead. I am into planning our retirement. Carl is 56 and could possibly retire at age 60. Voluntary Simplicity seems to be the way to go. Getting on this bandwagon has made me more aware of what I consume that brings very little pleasure into my life. I have started going to the library for my books instead of buying them online. We live in Quebec and because only 10% of the Population are English speaking, 90% of the books are in french. Canada's library situation is in dyer straits and funding is extremely sparce at best. Needless to say My french vocabulary has improved since I have been a regular visitor to our municipal library. I am becoming aware of sustainability as well and have been musing various uses for styrofoam, one of the few things we cannont throw into the recycling bin. Perhaps I can use it instead of pebbles into my plant containers instead of gravel to ensure proper drainage. We have had so much rain this summer that my potted herbs have been floating in the pots.
    All this constructive thinking has made my back pain less bothersome so I will finish the grocery list I was making before getting distracted on the StrokeNetwork message board :yadayada:
  8. pprovost

    Back pain

    By pprovost,

    My back still hurts but I do have an appointment this month with Izabella ( my doctor) I have a hunch that the pain is the sciatic nerve and that my limp may be irritating or pinching the nerve because I can feel pain around my hip and down my thigh. I have had many leg spasms due to a painful corn on my baby toe that I am working on healing with the help of my shoe maker who stretched my shoes to allow more space and less rubbing . I really hope we can find a solution. Since my stroke my shoe width has gone from AA to D.
    I am quickly becoming a duck out of water LOL
     
    :uhm: