RSS Feed For Stroke Survivor Support Forum http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:15:26 +0000 60 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16423 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:15:26 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16423 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16421 He has been doing well in therapy but recently has acquired a blood clot in left calf. He has been released to go back into outpatient therapy and is on blood thinners. I wondered if anyone had the same problem and what was done. I am worried about the clot and hope the body will eventually help dissolve it. Hopefully, this too will be history soon.]]> Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:14:40 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16421 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16388
My recovery thoughts awhile back was that the longer you recover, the more you would improve in flex hand and fingers? I'm going into 7 years post stroke recovery, but this is the first time I encountered this kind of pain with my hand! My weak leg is not much better but more tolerable!
I exercise it daily, in fact my whole body. Maybe it's my time to hurt excessively if I'm the only one?


Love you all!]]> Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:26:13 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16388 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16379
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/stroke/poststrokerehab.htm]]> Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:34:20 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16379 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16376 ) are all "pins and needles", as if my circulation was cut off and they had "fallen asleep" -- except, of course, that they don't wake up...

Imagine how it feels when your sock is wrinkkled under your foot, inside your shoe. My left foot has felt like that for more than seven months now. Occasionally I take my shoe off to check, but my sock is always smooth and flat.

Under the arch of that foot, it feels like the tendons which flex and splay my toes are clenched, stretched almost to the breaking point. They're not really -- again, I check and find nothing.

Anyway, last night I was undressing, getting ready for be. I stepped out of my slippers, getting ready to take my pants off, and stood in my bare feet.

I could feel the texture of the carpet under my left foot.

That doesn't sound like much, does it? But between the pins and needles and whatever the tendons are doing, there have been such powerful sensations inside that foot that this is the first time since the stroke that I've benn able to feel anything delicate or subtle outside of that foot.

It's one small step for a man -- but it's a step!

David]]> Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:07:35 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16376 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16348
I arrived at the monthly meeting of our "Central Services Classified Senate". (Central Services is the division of our college district that includes things that aren't broken out by campus to a specific college, and that includes our IT organization which I work in. Classified employees are those who are neither faculty nor management. And senates are the bodies which make up our "shared governance" mechanism....)

There was a sign-up sheet for those wishing to (a) be listed as attendees in the minutes, and (b) receive credit for participation. A couple of columns of miscellaneous unimportant stuff, a column of names sorted by last name, and a column of signature lines, some of them filled in.
The name at the top of the list began with "N", so I asked around where page one was, since my last name begins with "G". Everyone insisted that there was only one page.

After several confused minutes, I discovered that the "miscellaneous unimportant" stuff to the left consisted of two preceeding columns of typed names and signature spaces, and there was my name in column 1, right where it belonged.
So I got to explain to a roomful of people that this was a known effect of my stroke (a few hadn't heard and didn't know why I had my rollator there), and I learned that my boss's predecessor (whom I've never met) had had a stroke after retirement that had left her with no peripheral vision to the left....

(To get from my office to the meeting room, I have to cross campus by either of two routes, each of which involves two descents by elevator since my office is near the top of the hill and that conference room is near the bottom. It's not easy to get my rollator (or a wheelchair) there, but it's far enough that I'm reluctant to rely on just a cane.)

David]]> Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:59:07 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16348 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16340
Fast forward a year, after a visit as I am on my way out, he informs me he checked my coverage and there is a $15 co-pay. A little annoyed at this sudden change, I start paying a co-pay. Really not a big deal, just annoyed that he and his staff didn't really check when I started coming over a year earlier.

Ok, fast forward to yesterday, as I am leaving, he asks his office lady to schedule me an appointment for a Neurologist as I am showing signs of blood inflammation again. He hands me off to her and sort of jokes with a giggle about her showing me the bill. That peaked my attention as in 2 years, I have never once been sent or shown a bill. He bills my insurance company right?

Ok, so the appointment is made to see a neurologist and his minion shows me a bill for $550 and asks me to pay, saying they are not "in network" and only 80% is covered. The rest is up to me. I was a bit taken back, there has never been a bill, why is there one now? She has me sign a finical responsibility agreement dated as of yesterday. I tell her well this is unexpected and I need to check my budget, I will get back to her.

Fast forward 5 minutes as I am driving home I realize, "Wait, they made a mistake when I first started coming, never informed me they were not in network, they are just now catching up and are trying to charge me for that mistake.". I made a huge 180 back to his office and asked for a FULL explanation. At this point I am starting to get upset. I surmise to her that they failed to check if they were in network, never fully filled out the required paper work and this bill is for that time? She agreed they should have told me when I first started coming and agreed that if they had, I would probably have not hired Dr. Dohn has my General Care doctor.

At that point you can see my physically distressed about this new development. I told her I am NOT ok with this and that I want to talk to Dr. Dohn immediately. After 10 minutes he comes out and discusses this with me, IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE OFFICE. I rant that this is not ok, that it is highly unprofessional. He tells me he can meet me 1/2 way. At that moment, I am extremely upset. I say that its reasons just like this that people like me have a 2nd stroke. My arm was very tensed up, whenever I become overly stressed, my right side doesn't work as well. I was just in there because of new headaches and this doctor does this??

To say the least, I was very VERY disappointed. I trusted this guy with my life and he puts that at risk with trying to sneak a bill to cover their ass for the mistake of the last 2 years. Aside for being in utter disbelief that they are trying to do this, I never raised my voice. But it was very obvious I was upset and distressed.

Dr. Richard Dohn, you are FIRED!

Anyone else run into such incompetent business practices with a doctor? If they had been upfront, admitted their mistake and informed me from that day foward I needed to cover $20 and apologized for the mistake. I would very likely thanked them for letting me know and continued to employed Dr. Dohn as my General Physician.

End of my story.

It is my advice to avoid this doctor.


Richard Dohn Md Inc.
Family Practice
2505 Samaritan Dr Suite 304
San Jose , CA - 95124
408-356-8672
--
License: A 78898
License Type: Physician and Surgeon
Name: RICHARD HAI DOHN, M.D.

Address of Record:
3880 S BASCOM AVE STE 109
SAN JOSE, CA 95124]]> Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:20:45 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16340 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16326
It seems to me that everything he does is in slow motion. Both his reaction time and his movements. He's paralyzed on the left, he has left neglect, he's impulsive, and very impatient. When he's moving around in his power chair he's always running into things and pulling chairs, tables, etc. behind him when they get caught on one of the chair wheels. I know most of this is because of the left neglect. When I tell him to stop he keeps going as if I never said anything. Depending upon what's being drug around the house, this usually ends up with me getting angry and louder. The other day his recliner leg was caught on the wheelchair. The recliner started moving and I told him to stop. He kept going and the recliner knocked over a table which caused a glass of coke to spill, the lamp to fall, and everything else on the table to roll off, kinda like Dominos. When the table tipped I yelled stop again he just kept going. He later apologized and said he didn't do it on purpose. I know it wasn't on purpose so I felt really bad for yelling.

I'm never sure if he just just doesn't pay attention, he's ignoring me or if it just takes that much time for his brain to react and tell his hand to let go of the joy stick.

Any thoughts or suggestions from you survivors???

MJ]]> Mon, 16 Aug 2010 01:58:30 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16326 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16308 ]]> Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:46:17 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16308 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16290
Today for the first time since then, he walked 1 block by himself. He hadn't gone outside for 1 year because he's headstrong and didn't want people to see him not being his old self.

I live hours from my parents, so I was told by my mom on the phone and she said that seems to have given him more confidence.
He still has difficulty talking, but he's made A LOT of progress and the last couple of months we've noticed his memory has improved a great deal.

We've been through a lot as a family after his stroke, but it has bonded us and made us greatful for well, you know, everything and not taking anything for granted.

I don't participate much here, but I can't express with words how grateful I am for this site and the help I've had from you.
There were many times we'd wonder about something and I'd search here to find similar experiences and answers.

Thank you, thank you a lot.

Big hugs to each of you.]]> Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:58:46 +0000 http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=16290