Mitch04

Stroke Survivor - male
  • Posts

    145
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About Mitch04

  • Birthday 09/04/1946

Shared Information

  • Stroke Anniversary (first stroke)
    12-29-2009
  • Interests
    Photography (I have a website at www.jmprphotography.com), current affairs and politics, reading, writing, cooking, and the Kyneton Men's Shed of which I am chair.
  • How did you find us?
    Google Search

Registration Information

  • First Name
    John
  • State
    Victoria

Mitch04's Achievements

Senior Member

Senior Member (4/10)

  1. Happy Anniversary Mitch04!

  2. Happy Birthday Mitch04!

  3. Mitch04

    Pizza day.....

    I agree with always moving. I walk at least 30 minutes each day, rain or shine, and do a series of daily stretching exercises. I try to walk at least 7,500 steps each day. And I agree with all the comments above. :-) Finally, yes....the brain is an odd-ball organ, and it WILL eventually...but ever so damn slowly....change its mind and start correcting itself or find a new way of doing something.
  4. Mitch04

    Pizza day.....

    It's the second to last day of my pain course.....and the class is making and cooking pizzas. What this has to do with my pain confounds me. But I am making one, anyway. Instead of a tomato base, as everyone else is making, I have decided on olive oil and garlic...just to be different. As the pizzas bake in the ovens, the OT is questioning us in our pain.... I tend to be the odd person out, as I am the only stroke survivor doing this "Guinea pig" course. "Guinea pig" course because this is the first one of its kind undertaken by Victoria's Western Health. My pain is unlike that of the others, who have specific ailments, ranging from degenerative spines through to work related injuries. My pain is not so much a physical injury, I reckon, as a psychological one. The stiffness, or spasticity, is ile an insidious creeping ailment that gets worse with each week that passes, and I have no idea as to why. The neurologist simply tells me that after three years the brain started to repair itself, but is doing so in a bad way. But how do I reverse it, and get it back on track? The people here reckon that by bombarding the brain with different exercises and stretching methods, it will eventually reverse. But how bloody long will it take?????
  5. Mitch04

    Broken Hearts

    I feel for you, Sarah.
  6. I am about to start week 5 of my intensive exercise and talks about chronic pain, and after four weeks of three days a week for 6 hours each day I am still not sure it is helping greatly. But I must remain positive, and I DO admit the course has increased my motivation to stretch and exercise on a daily basis. I will report more fully next week once I have completed the course, although I will still have to return for assessments on a monthly basis.
  7. Mitch04

    Life goes on....

    Hmmmmm....maybe..... :-)
  8. Mitch04

    Life goes on....

    Thanks, Yvonne and fking for yr comments. Yvonne, the two ex's sound similar...no class, no style, and no nothing....althnough Mia's does have plenty of money which he spends like confetti. But ultimately he will have no happiness and will prolly end up like several of his relatives...a sad and lonely alcoholic. I am tentative about my tentive exercise classes. Melbolurne is a cioty of some 4 million, and doing battle morning and afternoon with its peak hour traffic, and attending three 5-6 hour sessions every Mon, Wed and Fri for five weeks hardly sounds like fun!
  9. Mitch04

    Life goes on....

    Tomorrow we go to Melbourne for a few days. Moochie goes to kennels, and tomorrow night we attend a dinner in the Docklands to raise funds for a Cambodian organisation…The Ponheary Ly Foundation, which works towards increasing access to formal schooling, improving school retention, and strengthening the quality of educational experience for children and youth in northern Cambodia. My brother and his partner represent the organisation in Australia. Then on Sunday we are all having a family luncheon after watching grandson Jack play football. Might even be up in Kyneton at our cottage. Meanwhile, in Kyneton, the Men’s Shed has met with BUPA (a national health and aged care organisation) about jointly building a new Shed….and preliminary talks have gone well. BUPA has the site and $160K, plus a design/project team, builders and maintenance people, while we have up to $100K and a wealth of talented but retired tradesmen. So far everything is looking great. And on May 30 I start my intensive exercise regime. So things are all go for the Mitchells. I’ll report back soonest on how I am going. And I may have some fascinating news about daughter Mia and her boorish ex shortly.
  10. Men's Shed's are a peculiarly Australian thing, and were established firstly in rural areas after a spate of male suicides. They are a male only domain, and aim to help the well-being of men, male physical and mental health, and matters such as cooking and looking after one's self. They are generally large tin sheds that contain a workshop (benches, table saw, band saw, in fact all types of power saws and hand power tools, welding equipment etc) office, lunchroom/meeting room, and toilet facilities. There are now more than 1,000 such shed's around Australia and the Kyneton Men's Shed is the second or third oldest. Sadly, we have to move premises and need land on which to build a new shed. We located an existing shed that been vacant for more than 4 years, but for reasons that escape me it is not available to us, despite its being ideal. A meeting of our local MP, Mayor and shire CEO determined it was not for sale....perhaps because the asking price is $400,000 and we currently have a mere $100,000! Do we fight to it, despite this? Or do we look at other possible vacant land sites? We have a meeting later this afternoon to decide. On other matters, I have a mtg with my OT this mornining, possibly the last before I start my "Guinea pig" three days a week 5 hours a day intensive exercise course for almost 6 weeks. Then Jules and I will drive to one of Australia's largest and best nurseries, Poynton's, as a sop to her for accompanying me to Sunshine Hospital, a round trip of about 150km. And finally, thanks to the three ppl (Asha, Yvonne and 1Canesfan) who commented on my previous post. I do appreciate your comments which, in part, spur me on to continue with this blog.
  11. Yep. Some days are diamonds, and I had one yesterday. We were down in Melbourne and leaving for Hedgerow Cottage, Kyneton, and I chose to go to Dan Murphy to buy some wine. Purchased 8 bottles of red, white and rose, all under $12 and came out with a bill for $64! Drove back to daughter Mia's house where we stayed for 3 days (Mia was in Singapore for a conference) to collect Jules and Moochie, our dog. And Jules announced she wanted to go to a bakery in North Melbourne! So after packing the car and sorting out our destination on my iPad, we set out for Queensbury Road and Beatrix, the bakery. OMG! And what a wonderful boutique bakery. What amazing food. And what amazing staff! We shared a baguette stuffed with chicken fried in a yummy Japanese sauce and called a GoGo, and for dessert we shared a potato brioche doughnut and a large slice of strawberry sponge cake. And we washed all that down with coffees....some of the best coffees we have ever had. Then we returned to Hedgerow Cottage, arriving on a chilly but sunny afternoon. After unpacking the car we opened one of the bottles I had purchased....a French rose, and sipped it as we ate a variety of cheeses, cold meats, pickles and savoury biscuits. Yum. And we ended the night watching the fabulous footy match between the Richmond Tigers and the Sydney Swans.....won by the Tigers by one point....kicked after the final siren! Yep. Some days are likediamonds.
  12. Jules and I have just returned from Melbourne and are settling down in front of a blazing fire while it rains cats and dogs. The trip down to see the children - for Mother's Day yesterday, Sunday May 8 - was not a great success. We got down to Melbourne on the Saturday, and Mia asked me if I could take the two grandkids, Jack and Gus, to the shopping mall, help them buy a card each for she and Jules, and try to instill in them the need for respect and understanding. It all harks back to her ex and his family, who have never communicated, never acknowledged birthdays or special days, and have a me, me, me mentality. I was somewhat successful, and as well as the cards we purchased some small gifts to give each mother. Come Suday, and they did at least give the gifts, and showed some understanding of what Mother's Day is/was.....and at least showed a little respect. But it was short lived. I worry about Mia and the lonely life she seems to be leading, and what a burden it must be to have two wild 7 and 9 year old boys and no partner to help bring them up. And I think what a total *beep* the ex is, and what an absolute c--t he is. My son, Nick, who suffers from depression, was typically angry and short tempered, and didn't wish a happy Mothers Day to Jules....and neither did Mia. But we all caught the train into the city and had a latest lunch at the Arbory, which is adjacent to Flinders street station and the Yarra river. But the underlying feelings were ones of sadness, anger and happiness, depending on what we were discussing/talking about. Of course, all this doesn't do much to assist my condition. Some weeks ago, I answered a series of questions prior to being accepted into this intensive exercise program, and my psychologist has interpreted my answers as indicating that I am at the extreme level of stress. Personally, I have disagreed with her, but mayhaps there is a grain of truth in it. Mia's separation has been stressful, I guess, and maybe I have not clearly understood how it has affected all those involved, including myself. Things came to a head when we arrived home....Mia had to lie down, Nick muttered about never coming over to her place again because all she did was play with her phone while the two boys played with their handheld tablets. So the 48 hours was a mixture of highs, lows, sadness and soul searching. Anyhow, I am rambling. I have a doctors appointment in 45 minutes and will get results of my blood and urine tests.....maybe I will report back when I return at around 5 pm. The cholesterol count was ok....4.7. The urine test was not great and I must drink more water.
  13. Thanks for your wonderful words, Sassy!
  14. Thanks, Sue and Elizabeth. I'll try to be more regular. And, Elizabeth, I have to use a left handed spinner knob. Its a condition of my licence.
  15. It has been ages since I last blogged, and to tell the truth I haven't had the heart to write anything. But two regulars in here both emailed me today and urged me to make another entry. The last time I blogged - if I recall correctly - my delusional son in law had left my daughter and her two young sons 2 weeks after the family had moved into another home, which had a whopping mortgage. It transpired about 10 days ago that he had taken up with his equally delusional 37 yo girl friend (who has a young daughter and a live-in mother) and she has discovered that she is pregnant......by accident! What this has to do with stroke board heaven only knows, but it helps me if I let off a little steam about the ex and his slutty little gold digger. On to other things.....at the end of this month I start a one month to five weeks intensive exercise course that will run to three 5-hour sessions a week. I'm looking forward to it. And I'm not looking forward to it. But it has been specially designed to help ease my incessant pain and spasticity. I have had interviews and lengthy discussions in preparation for the course with an OT, physio and psychologist. The only drawback is that I have a 80km 90-minute drive in peak hour traffic in both directionsj, and I will most prolly have to do it alone. I generally don't drive further than 5-10km these days due to my partial paralysis in my right side and the other effects of my three strokes. Anyhow, it's good to blog again, albeit briefly, and I shall try to make my entries more regular....