:bouncing_off_wall: I have been wanting to write on my blog for such a long time now, but my lack of computer skills has prevented me from doing so. However, now I am doing so and today I' like to talk about progress. Progress is something vital to our recovery from stroke.

When I first started going to therapy, I decided that by hook or by crook I would walk again. My stroke was not debilitating in the sense that my mind or speech were affected. They were not. However, being diabetic in origin, I have generalized neuropathy and so since my nerves were affected, I am unable to walk.My muscles are weak. My back muscles are weak. When I sleep in one position, I wake up in the same position except when I ask my caregivers to move me. Some of my muscles have atrophied from lack of use. To top it all, I have some tendonitis and synovitis on my right shoulder, a condition that existed before my stroke and which I failed to address with proper therapy. So there I was confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk and unable to actually move. When I would sit on my wheelchair, I would actually fall forward and to my right because my back muscles were so weak that I had no control of my body. I could not even feed myself since I could not grasp the utensils on both my hands. I knew that there was a lot of hard work in store for me.

Well, I set my mind to it! I went to therapy religiously 3x a week. The exercises that I did were painful and agonizing but they paid off. Now, I am walking. Yes, I am being assisted by my therapist and caregivers but I am walking! When I first stood up using the parallel bars, I stood for a maximum of one (1) minute and it was agonizing and excruciatingly painful. Today, I stand for 40 min. without pain. Now, that's progress! Today I can grasp the utensils and consequently I can feed myself. Now, that's progress! Today, sitting on my wheelchair I can actually straighten my back and I no longer droop forward. Now, that's progress! I am even typing my own blog. Now, that's progress!!

So, never give up. Recovery is a slow, painful process but it comes. It does not come overnight but with hard work, it will definitely come! :Clap-Hands: