rdittman

I have thought about this too, and I also had a PFO (which is what Lenny seems to have had) that was corrected because they thought that was the main reason for it. Regardless, I know so much more about prevention than I did before my stroke, and feel fairly confident with my health regimen and the doc's checking me out now and again, that I am determined to not worry about it. That will only raise my BP, and as you know, that is not good for stroke prevention.

Thank you everybody for your kind comments. Again, my story is to never give up hope. Here I am typing with both hands, something I couldn't do 4 months ago, and typing roughly about as fast as I did before the stroke. Never, ever give up hope that recovery can come. I know that God healed me, and am confident that He can do the same with anybody else, whether it be stroke related or other ailments or disabilities. Yes, I worked hard in the past 3+ years to gain movement, keeping my affected limbs as limber as I possibly could, so there is something to say of perseverance too. Keep at your exercises and also keep the faith. Blessings to you all.

It has been very long since I entered a blog, so now is the time. After 3+ years in a wheelchair or using a walker, I am now on my feet and operating fairly normally, if that is what you call it. My movement started coming back about 4 months ago, and though it was surprising, I feel it was truly from God. What a blessing. I still have a little bit of tendinitis from lack of use over the past several years, my CPS still flares up, a little spasticity in my affected hand and I have had a couple of weird seizures or TIA's since this movement has come back, but I'll really take that over the lack of movement. The most recent CT scans show no evidence of the previous stroke or anything abnormal. I am now able to walk for many miles, though running is out of the question at the moment. I don't think I want to run anyway. Hard on my already damaged knees. I go swimming at my complex pool. I've tried bowling too, though I wound up spraining my hand as the result of trying. The hand is almost OK now. Since I was right handed, and that was my affected side, I am able to write and do things with that hand again. With the new movement, I am able to get in a good exercise routine, along with getting physical therapy, and have been steadily losing weight. I am eating better as well, as a choice to get healthier. I have dropped almost 40 pounds in the past year, and 15 since I got my movement back. I really feel so much better with the extra weight off. I also have a new lady friend, and she has been a great coach and cheerleader, keeping me on track, as I do with her and her weight loss and exercise routine. To all my friends at StrokeNet, I just want to say to never give up. You never know if any deficits you have may be reversed at any time. Sometimes surprising things do happen. God bless you all, Bob

This last month has been a period of ups and downs. In general, I've been OK, but there seems to be a bit of lethargy creeping into my life. I'm tiring easier again, like right after my stroke. I have my days when I feel great though, and they are good days! Maybe my energy level will get better as summer approaches. I always like sunshine and warmer weather, as most of us do. I noticed last winter I went through the blahs too, so I'm pinning my hope on warmer weather. I'm still keeping busy. I helped out at church last week with a group of homeless people we invite in for a meal and a warm nights sleep in the auditorium. We also feed them breakfast. I was talking with several of the homeless. Some just want to be left alone, and some do not. Still, I made an effort to talk with some of the loners. It is obvious to me that some want to be out of their situation, and others don't really care. I talked to one young man. He was hoping to get into a group home in about a month and get some employment as a mechanic. It reminded me that some are really wanting out of their situation and contribute to society. Most of these people have abused their bodies with drugs and alcohol, though they must be clean and sober when we invite them in. It was a good experience. Knowing that a single wrong turn in life could put any one of us in their situation. They are people, and need to know that their life has value. Our goal is to help them along the way to independence and get them off the streets. I just finished audio files for Steve for a Powerpoint presentation he put together for Strokenet. It is about 20 minutes long and I'm glad he asked me to do it. I'm hoping he will make it available here for all of us to see, but it is really aimed at stroke survivors and caregivers finding supplemental and/or alternative means for support. I assume it will be aimed at hospitals and the medical profession, and to local support groups as well. All in all, it seems a very good overview of what this organization is about and the benefits of online stroke support. I'm still running the radio station. I put some effort over the winter to beef up the equipment here without going overboard. Money is tight you know. I'm happy with the changes. Everything is running smoother and I have better control of the music rotations and programming. Of course some of the upgrade was to help my voice talent business as well. The new equipment will help me sound better and hopefully draw more clients. I do like the idea that if I have a bad day, I can still blow off work and attend to it when I feel better. I want to do something by keeping busy, and working from home like this gives me a flexibility I couldn't if I had to go out into the workforce. If I had too many sick days, I'm sure I wouldn't be around long. I would like to busier with the business than I am though. Everything takes time, and I certainly only work when I'm feeling well enough to do so. I guess I should be content. Patience, Bob; patience! The weather here is getting warmer, but it is teasing me. 76 degrees one day and 55 the next. It might sprinkle here later today, but Sunday looks nice; in the upper 60's and sunny. We might get a little more rain next week too. I'm wanting those 70's back. I know that when they come in earnest, they won't be here that long. It will then be 80's, then 90's and a few 100's most of the summer. Still, I like it warmer than colder. I don't think I could live in the snow belt again.

Wow, it has been a long time since I've blogged. Well, time flies when you're having fun! I've been busy with my radio station and my voice talent business. I've been adding new equipment as money allows and upgrading the software. The station is much more stable now, and for that I am very happy. I'm still trying to build clientele for the voice talent business. This is going to take some time, as all new businesses do. I am going to persevere though. When I'm feeling poorly, I can always put it on the back burner. This in contrast to an outside job, where I would not be my own boss, and would need to report to work regardless. I have too many bad days and I can't chance that, at least for the time being. I had a small stroke again a month back or so. It scared me a bit, but it left me with no more deficits. They weren't positive it was a stroke or TIA, but that was their best guess. CPS still get me down the most. I've had some terrible bouts with it this winter. I wish that it would go away, but I think that it is just going to be a lifelong ailment. Today isn't too bad though. Yea! I have been doing a little website building too. I re-designed both my radio and voice talent sites, and I took on a project for a Christian Music Festival. Faithfest is it's name, and it gets underway in early June in New Ulm, Minnesota. These folks at Faithfest are wonderful people, but this is just their second year, and they are learning a lot on the fly. I was happy to get their site up for them. There is still much to do on their site, but I am waiting on more information from them. In the meantime, the site is up. They have 10 artists/bands signed up, and it looks like it will be a fantastic event. I think I'll go check out the boards. I haven't spent much time on the site recently, just doing my chat host duties. I feel like I've neglected Strokenet, but I'm here today. Off and runnin', so to speak.

Well, this is the month I get my first SSDI check. Yea! It has been a long and painful process, but I am starting to breathe easier knowing I'll have some income coming in soon. I have been living on the generosity of my church and friends for several months now, and I'm feeling like I'm a bit of a burden to them. I will be eternally grateful to all that have helped me during this time. I went to the doctor a few weeks back because my blood pressure was shooting up and I got concerned. I think the stress of living like I have had to do is paying a toll on my BP. I'm on medication now to lower it, though it seems to not be working just yet. I love my primary doctor. He is a great guy and I never mind waiting at his office until he is able to see me. I can expect a simple visit to be roughly 2 hours at his office, but in my mind I never regret the time spent waiting, because he always takes the time to explain everything and readily answers questions. I just picked him randomly from my old job's insurance book when I needed to change my primary doctor after moving to Sacramento from the San Francisco Bay Area several years ago. Boy, did I get lucky. My last three visits he has not even charged me, knowing I'm without insurance and little resources to pay. I'm still able to keep the Internet radio station I operate afloat. I am very happy about that, as I came close to shutting it down several times over the past three months. I put a lot of effort into the website and the programming and hated the thought of taking it down. I've had just enough money to keep it going, and the threat now has passed with income rolling in. This hobby has kept me busy and I have been truly blessed by being able to learn new skills and putting them to use. The weather here is a bit back and forth now that fall is here. When the weather changes, my CPS kicks in and I wind up with more down days than during the summer months. We had a front push through last night and I am feeling it today, though the burning is not as bad as the last time weather rolled through. I have been unable to find any medication that gives relief, have tried many, so I learn to live with it. I have the need to take care of a couple of things before hosting chat today, so I'm wrapping this up now. As always, keep looking up!

My how time flies when you're having fun! I actually have been fighting with various state and federal agencies for some time now trying to acquire benefits that are due me. I guess if that's supposed to be fun, well then that's what's been occupying my time. I am now approved to receive SSDI benefits. It only took 10 months. I think at times they like to drag their feet to see if you give up on the process. I have prevailed though. Yea! I had to go to a couple of exams they required; a general lookover and a mental acuity exam. I guess that was what pushed it through, as I was approved in less than a month after the exams. I know I did poorly on the short term memory part of the exam. I haven't had the best memory since my stroke. I can remember things from long ago, but cant remember why I was headed to the kitchen for something while on my way there. I have learned to laugh at myself about those moments now, but at times they can still be frustrating. I have produced a few Public Service Announcements for the StrokeNetwork for radio stations. Currently they are airing on Internet radio stations only, but it is exposure for the site. The spots are positive and upbeat and do ask to visit the site and ask for financial support of the organization. It was fun putting them together. I'll probably put a couple more together in a month or so to give the stations running the PSA's a new and fresh sound then. I'm still running my own Internet station and having fun with it. I'm always looking for ways to improve it and my website, and I learn new things almost daily. This has been my most time consuming project generally, but a joyful one, unlike the persistence I've had in getting my claims for benefits approved, which wasn't that much fun. Anyway, the station has been gaining listenership and for that I'm appreciative. I need to clean the bathroom today. I take one area of my apartment one day a week and do a general cleanup. That way I don't get too overwhelmed and it makes life easier. So now I'm off to do my list of chores for the day.

Wish I could have been fishing with you. It sounded like a great trip out with lots of fish. Fishing used to be my business, and I miss it sometimes. No walleye in CA, but bass we have. Used to fish for Striped Bass in SF Bay, and bass in the local lakes. I was up on Lake Superior last year, and I am reminded how much it looked like the ocean on a windy day. A good lake to stay off of in inclement weather I am sure. Bob

I'm glad Firefox worked for you. It's a fairly nice browser. I use Opera on Strokenet. It seems to load faster than IE or Firefox. Opera and Firefox have problems with two personal websites that I have, and IE works best with them. You may think it overkill to have three browsers, but it works for me. Every browser has issues. IE7 has a lot of bugs yet. Hopefully Microsoft will get it sorted out someday. Bob