I thought my walking was getting better but yesterday we went to a large shopping centre and I saw myself in a mirror. OMG I look dreadful. That was a shock I probably scare children! Now of course I'm very self concious about it which is probably making it worse. I watch other people walking around shopping and I'm jealous, I ALSO WANT TO WALK NORMALLY dammit. Great - now I'm feeling sorry for myself which is what I try not to do.
Being as off balance as I am at the moment, its no wonder I can't turn corners that well anymore. The other night while I was walking into my bedroom, I turned a bit too sharply and stumbled a little. Now, heres the strange thing... My left (affected) arm reached for the door and counter-balanced me. I didnt grab the door, my hand doesnt work for that to have happened but I was so surprised, I just stood there and looked at my arm!!!! Maybe my brain is reconnecting and has realised my left arm h
Well, I'm back. I had my op last Wed and am healing well. I have been in bed resting for 7 days and I think my body really needed it. In hindsight I came back to work far too soon and have been pushing myself too hard so I needed a break. I feel quite strong again and ready to face the world again!
I was lying in the bath on Sat evening and had an itch on my back. Have any of you noticed how your good arm can now reach the most difficult places on your body where once upon a time the bad arm would scratch no problem!! I almost ended up face down in the bath with the position I got myself into!!!!! Apart from that a very pleasant weekend.
As I've mentioned before, I have knee control problems. Somehow by managing to get the heel, toe correct, my knee seems to be sorting itself out. Now if I just practice this long enough, maybe I'll walk a bit better? I only have 4 months to get it right (21 Jan is my big day). Practice makes perfect right? Watch this space!!!!!!!
Yesterday while I was paying various accounts at the hospital, I was in the rehab centre area. Can you believe I had a lump in my throat? Through the windows, the day staff were waving at me and looked so pleased to see me, I really must go and visit and say hi to everyone - they were a great bunch of people. Only when I'm walking properly though! I hated going there on Monday mornings after my weekends at home and yet now it's quite a friendly place!! Can't believe I'm actually thinking of goin
I am going for some cosmetic surgery in a weeks time....sshh its a secret!!! Anyway, I'm really pleased with myself, I went to the hospital and sorted out the admission stuff ALL BY MYSELF!!!!!! Aren't I a clever girl?!!!!Silly how something like that is such a big achievement hey?
As I was hobbling to my car this morning, I started remembering a couple of moments. The first was my first bath in hospital. I was not enjoying the bed baths and asked my sister to help me bath. Well, it was hysterical! I don't know who was more wet, Judy or I The really strange thing that struck me today was that the whole time I was in hospital , I was not scared. I wonder why not? It didn't seem to bother me that my left side was not co-operating. I think I kept waiting for "things to come
Greg had to work late last night so I was home alone! It was quite pleasant actually, I warmed up some supper, had a nice bubble bath and climbed into bed. Nice to know that I can be alone!! I am exhausted this morning, I'm not sure why, I had a good sleep, but I am really tired and the day has just begun - ages to go till bed time!!!!! I wonder if my colleagues would notice if I had a cat nap?!!!!
I think Greg has realised that I don't need him to do EVERY thing for me. He has been absolutely wonderful, maybe just a little overbearing at times but wonderful nevertheless. I'm now allowed to take my car out the garage in the morning!!! And I don't get sent off to work with lunch anymore, I must sort myself out. I'm glad he's backing off a bit, I think he was stressing himself silly trying to think for me as well! He told me last night that I'm walking so much better (I must have been walkin
I've been battling with my knee control. I lock my knee when walking so I look like a peg leg! Yesterday I'm sure my knee kicked in and did what it was supposed to do, but then it stopped, so I got excited for nothing So its back to the drawing board. Oh woe is me!!!!!
At night after my bath I try put on my pajama pants standing up like I used to do in the old days, so after bath procedure goes something like this: Get out of bath safely, dry off, place bad hand on towel rail, hold on as tight as I can, try balance on bad leg while putting on pants. I was getting on ok, I use my associated reaction to help hold on ( my hand closes) and last night was actually quite successful!!!I've also taken to using my bad hand to hold my steering wheel, just so its not sit
Quickly" is no longer in my vocab!! When we are about to leave to go anywhere and I must "quickly go to the loo", Greg just smiles and sits down again!!!!!!
No, I haven't got thru my paperwork yet Going to get to it now.
My first full week back at work is almost up and I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be! I only have one problem - I can't seem to get organised, is this a common stroke problem? I used to be very organised at work, now I just can't seem to get through the pile of paper sitting on my desk. I had a talk with myself on my way to work today and said that today, I will clear my desk. Well, it's 10am and I need to kick myself up the butt OK, going to wade through the paperwork.
Have a good weekend..
This mornings OT session was a bit hectic. Shelly immersed my hand in a bucket of ice water which hurt like hell!! That was not fun at all. I was supposed to keep it in there for 3 mins but couldn't, it was too sore. At least my brain now knows its there!!!! I'm now using the TENS unit as often and as long as I can, I am really hoping for some response from this lazy hand
I'm not sure how to describe this. Since March this year, I feel like my life is divided into little boxes or rooms and as I pass thru a room the door closes and I'm in the next room. For example, there was the rehab room and boy was I happy when I no longer had to go back to the rehab centre, then there was the"organise lifts" room where I had to rely on friends to take me to OT and exercise, now I am driving again so that door has closed, lets not forget the AFO room, I am no longer wearing m
Whilst in rehab, one of the first things I learnt was getting in and out the bath by myself. I decided early that I couldn't have Greg helping me in and hauling me out again twice a day!!!!! So here I was last night wallowing nicely in my bubblebath (slippery!) when smart-Alec Vicky decided to try get out like I used to do pre-stroke. Note to self: Bubbles = slippery!!!!! The post-stroke way of getting out the bath goes something like this: Position oneself onto knees, Carefully stand up, Hold o
I've just realised that about a month ago I was worried about how I was going to walk on the beach in Mauritius in Feb ( I'm getting married 21 Jan and going to Mauritius for a week in Feb) - I was still wearing my afo then, now I can get around ok without it so who knows how much better I will be in 5 months time?
I only just worked out that one must "publish" an entry before it becomes live!!! Oh well better late than never. It's now Monday morning I'm back at work, exhausted already! Had quite a fun weekend, roll on next weekend! On Sat Greg (my fiance) went for a 9:00am dive while I slept in - what a pleasure! I eventually dragged myself out of bed and down to the dive shop in time for brunch. We just chilled for the rest of the day. Yesterday we went up to Pmb for tea and cake with Brenda and Johan. G
As from next week I will be coming into work every day instead of Mon, Wed Fri as I have done up until now. By next Friday I'll be a zombie!!! I should be driving as well Going out to supper tonight at Hot Rock with the Team Weather looks good for a good weekend.
A friend suggested I keep a journal to keep track of my progress, so here I am! What a journey this has been. What a mixed bag of emotions. I stroked on 8 March 2005, I was visiting my sister in Cape town when all hell broke loose! Got up as normal, didn't feel any different at all. My boyfriend was talking to me and apparently my answers were garbled. He took one look at me and called for my sister. My face had dropped on the left, leaving me looking VERY attractive! Between the two of them the
