Sunday Stroke Survival: Rain, Rain Go Away!

It's been raining here on the homestead for three weeks. I was thinking about building an ark. No, not really.  Living on the side of one of the foothills in north Georgia helps. It all runs down to the creek which is a 100 feet below us. But all this weather has stopped forward progress on the building/repairs we had planned on the homestead. Not that it's rained or stormed every day, but close.

We had a delay in the delivery of the new chicken /rabbit shed. So the chicks are still free ranging. We've had a delay in the regrading and installation of the new driveway. Nobody wants to slide in the slick clay including me. No electrician wants to play with rewiring the outside power box in the rain. If they did I'd be concerned. It would do no good to trench the replacement water lines, it would be filled in almost as soon as it was trenched. So we sit and wait for it all to be done.

Meanwhile, the wet weather has played havoc with my life. The cooler damp weather causes my spasticity to be worse. Does this happen with anyone else? Even with the Botox, muscle relaxers, and the dry needling. My arm draws up in a tight set of muscles and dares me to try and straighten it. When I try it cramps into a charlie horse. My leg is just as bad. I have to put my AFO and socks on first thing in the morning. I can't take it off until bed time or I won't be able to put it on again. Imagine trying to relax or nap with this thing on.

My shoulder on my affected side is painful upon movement. I think I've developed osteoarthritis due to the ACL tear and the rotator cuff injuries a year to five years ago. Fun fun. It just adds to my misery. I really don't mean to complain. It would help to know I'm not the only one out there with this going on. I still have animals to care for and a life to live even though it's raining.

Walking in mud and rain is never any fun in living post stroke. First of all, I'm walking with a cane. Even more so when it's rainy and slick. I've just had too many falls to walk around in the rain without it. I may be stubborn, but I'm not stupid. The soles of my shoes may be thick rubber (not really but you know what I mean) with deep treads for better traction, but that won't keep me from sliding. Well, they do to a point. But clog those nice treads with mud and all bets are off. Walk into a store with those high gloss tiles and BOOM. I'll fall in a heart beat without my cane.

This poses an interesting dilemma. I can't move my arm to put on a jacket. I can't use an umbrella because my only working hand is full of a cane...so what do you do? My daddy always told me that I didn't need to worry about getting wet "because poop floats." Yes, he was just being ugly in the comparison. He really didn't mean it I'm sure.

So all my life I've rarely worn rain gear. I would get wet, but I would dry. It's like saying " a little rain won't hurt you." But before, I could at least run to get out of the rain.  Not now. So I get soaked. I'll dry. But then again, I walk from the car into an air conditioned store. BRRR! A rain soaked sock under my AFO is very uncomfortable. It rubs and cuts even with the extra padding the brace maker put in. Then there is the clean up afterwards. Wiping the whole AFO in alcohol after drying it. Having my insurance only pay for one pair of specialty shoes a year doesn't help. I'm off my feet until all of it dries. No sense in putting on a dry sock and AFO if the shoe is soaked inside and out. But I'm tired of getting soaked!

I know Rebecca Dutton mentioned in her blog a couple of years ago about a strap up gollashes, but I can't find it now. So Rebecca ...help! At the time, I filed it away under "that would be nice, but not really necessary." This past month has proved the necessity to me.

I'm also looking into purchasing a rain slick that I won't have to put my arm into the sleeve, but can fasten one handed over the top of my affected arm. It may just mean getting one a size or two larger. The fasten easily one handed is the imperative. A zipper wouldn't be bad but joining the two sides into the zipper would be maddening. I would be exhausted by the time I finally got it fastened and zipped up to do anything else.

I know, Murphy's Law, that by the time I get all this new gear the rains will probably stop. But it won't truly stop. Even with last year's drought, it's has still been a very wet spring. I'll just be prepared. For as my mama used to say, "there will always be an again."

So that's it for this week. Remember...

Nothing is impossible.

 

Sunday Stroke Survival~ Therapist- Rah, Rah, Rah!

I've gone through the gambit of therapies before and since my stroke... aquatherapy, aromatherapy, chemotherapy, cognitive therapy, drug therapy, electromagnet therapy, hypnotherapy, psychotherapy, and radiation therapy just to name a few off the top of my head.

I coined the word ogologistitis too many years ago. Too many -ologist in my life (ologist= specialty and itis =infection or swelling) -cardiologist, psychologist, neurologist, dermatologist, oncologist, endocrinologist...you get the idea. Now I propose a new word therapitis.

 In this case I'm talking about physical, speech and occupational therapists. Things like getting dresses, getting out of bed, walking with a cane were all things I've covered in the past with past injuries so there was not much new to learn. Even most of the stretches and exercises haven't changed much in decades.

There are new therapists and new innovations but muscles work the same way. I'm not knocking the practice. My physical, speech, and occupational terrorists are the best at what they do and are my cheerleaders rooting for me to achieve. It's like the U.S. Army slogan, Be all that you can be" from the 80s. They have a vested interest in me getting better.

Last month, Rebecca Dutton posted about her therapist sometimes break her heart. The key word is sometimes. I can relate. I've have fabulous therapists and some not too great over the years. I tend to request the fabulous ones by name when going back. I'm willing to bet she doesn't put up with slack-offs or ho-hum attitudes anymore than I will. Therapy is hard work. You need a cheerleader for encouragement.

Rebecca, before two devastating strokes, was employed as an occupational therapist. Now, the knowledge is not wasted, it never is. But she has a new empathy for stroke survivors because she is one too. Although not practicing on any patients anymore, other than herself, she has the never say die attitude same as me.

That's part of the reason I follow her blog and email her when I have something weird go on. We've developed quite an on-again/off-again relationship. Not to mention the facts that she can see it from both sides of the streets and has experience borne of years of trials while I'm still a newbie at stroke. Yes, I've been the nurse who saw you through the crisis, but it's people like my physical and occupational therapists who deal with the aftermath.

Where my job was to never a dull moment, their job is mundane day in and day out...repetition, repetition, repetition. Although Forbes magazine lists them as hottest job trends for the coming millennium, I couldn't do it. I'm too much of an action junkie, fast pace, and high stress. Just look at what I've accomplish in over half a century on this planet.

My hat's off to all of them. While I'm constantly out of the box with my thinking and creating my creativity talents to full use, I've got nothing on these dedicated folks. To keep patients motivated and trying to get better is an almost thankless job. You get people moving and doing for themselves, and then they are gone to be followed by a thousand other faces during the year.

But that's the nature of the job. Me, I don't forget who helped me to get here. I send cards and messages back and forth. When I can I'll bake or make them little goodies. Even if I haven't seen them in years! Forgetting where you came from is the quickest way back.

For my old therapists and case workers from Savannah, I made them a Halloween feast. My daughter who lives there helped me and drove me up there to deliver it. Although it wasn't quite Halloween yet, they were shocked. For my PT who just had a baby girl, I gave her a diaper cake before I stopped therapy last year. Now I'm breaking in a new one.  Alright, I didn't make it, but my eldest daughter did. After I talked her through it. Even my Dynasplint rep got one. She had her "Prince Charming" just before Christmas.

Now St. Paddy's day coming up, it's leprechaun hats for all. Little bite sized cakes for whomever wants one. I'll even include the therapists and staff who I've never worked with. I appreciate all of them. Who knows, I may eventually have to.

Yes, I've got the double whammy of ologistitis and therpistitis, but I'm smiling through it all.

Don't say "I can't" and not do. 

Say, "I can't right now, but I'm working on it."

Friday Fun~ What I Have Been Reading

I've been behind on my reading lately. There's only so much time I can spend during my day actually reading a book. Reading has fallen by the wayside with my therapy routine, husband's care, and writing...not to mention the seemingly fifty other things I do during the day. Most evenings I carry my book or e-reader to bed with me and fall asleep without finishing a page. Gone are the days I could kick back in the tub and read. I could, but getting out of the tub would be a royal pain. I know I've tried it. I guess reading in the tub will be postponed until I get my step-in tub. <sigh>

Mostly, I've been reading chapter edits from Compuserve Books & Writer's forum, and books about stroke recovery. Neither of them I'll review here. But I want to touch on  two gems I've run across. Some of the books are self-published and well written, or traditionally published.

Rebecca Dutton's book is the one I'm reading now. Rebecca pops in here from time to time. My Last Degree is a compelling look at a occupational therapist's stroke recovery. The shoe on the other foot as it were. It's one thing to know what you know, but quite different when you experience it like she's had to. After I had my stroke, Rebecca's was the first stroke survivors blog I read. She's like me. She'll squeeze a penny until it screams for mercy.

Mark Ittleman's book, The Teaching of Talking has been an invaluable help in assisting me with my own recovery. He is also part of the Stroke Survivor Tattler's group. I read this book before I noticed it was him in the online group.  No, that's not the only reason I joined.

His "Ittle Principles" broke it down to basic information that even I, a nonspeech therapist, could understand and go, "Ah ha!" Now there are some parts that are strictly for therapists, all in all, it helped me understand how to recover my speaking skills beyond the hospital based therapy involved.

As you can tell both books deal with stroke recovery. These two were the best out of the twenty I've read or reading so far. I got anotherbook in the mail from Amazon today, "How to Conquer the World with One Hand...and an ATTITUDE" by Paul Berger. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Remember to balance work and play for a better you.