Sunday Stroke Survival: Touchy Feely- Stretching the Limits

I hope y'all had a fabulous Christmas and Santa brought you all you wanted. I pray y'all have a safe and blessed New Year.

Just out of the hospital this past summer, I had horrible balance. It was carry my cane everywhere or do the touchy feely thing with walls and furniture. A major part of the problem was I was never given PT in the hospital. I went from prone in bed or sitting in bed to discharged home. Let me tell you, standing up that first time without help was scary. I'd only been in bed for almost two whole weeks. I wobbled a bit as I commanded my legs to hold me

Playskoll Webbles

up. Webbles wobble, but they don't fall down, but people do. No I didn't fall. I may be impatient, but I'm not stupid.

The paperwork for discharge had been signed and home care instructions were issued.  I had waited two hours for the aide, and Mel and I were ready to go. I got to my feet and the bed alarm went off. The nurse rushed in, but I had to get dressed to go home.It was three steps to the commode. With the bathroom door opened, the nurse couldn't help me. I made it and plopped my hinny on the seat. I had Mel pass me my clothes and shoes. I got dressed.

Luckily the handicap rails were on the correct side for me. Have you noticed this problem? You got a 50:50 shot, right? For me, it 75:25 of the rail being on the correct side in any given handicapped bathroom. I'd choose wrong and the rail is on my right affected side which offers me no assistance. Pulling my pants up was a acrobat feat worth paying for, but I accomplished the task. Getting into my shoes was problematic, but they always are. My cane wasn't in sight. The staff had stowed it in this closet. As I was emerging out of the bathroom, my aide appeared. "Honey, I told you I'd help you."

Months passed. Where I once was walking inside the house with no assistance, I found I was having to touch or hold walls to keep my balance. Coming off the antipsychotic drug helped, but I was still having issues with balance. A reduction of the seizure med helped even more. I was only doing the touchy feely thing in wide open walking, with stairs, and any place that wasn't level. Physical therapy helped restore my confidence in my feet and legs. Eventually, I was able to come off the seizure meds entirely. Almost instantaneously, I was able to walk upright again and have my balance back. Almost entirely the need for that touchy feely instinct is gone.

She's carrying a leaf in her mouth. Goofy dog!

I still touch a piece of furniture or wall if I have to step over a household animal, or brace myself firmly against a tree when the 80+ lb Kassity comes barreling down the hill straight at me. Even a non impaired person would do that. She's all energy and forward momentum. She doesn't jump on me, but stops and leans on me to be talked to and petted. But even that would throw me off balance without my cane. Yes, I'm now back to walking without my cane outside.

Now, it was a question of strengthening. It's taken forever (just 4 months) for me to get three-quarters back to my old self. I've got to get that last quarter plus to be ready for spring planting and pruning five months away.

This week, I was out on the property picking up kindling for the wood stove. That's one of the chores I do around here. About 50 ft behind the house is where our ravine begins. In increments, this slope drops 600 ft down to the spring fed creek which borders our property on two sides. Well about

5 or 6 ft down, I see some choice dead fall branches. The slope was less than 45 degrees. I puzzled out a route around the small trees and bushes to get down there and get back up the slope. The branches would make quick work of the 38-gal trash can full of kindling I had to fill. So I went for it. I was stretching my limits for sure, but I was feeling good and froggy.

We use junk mail and tree twigs and branches to start our fires with. Waste not, want not. When it's been dry for a few days, I'll fill the (3) trash cans with this kindling. So anyhow, I traverse down this slope. I'm holding small, small knee high undergrowth and testing my footing with each step. I was under no illusion that the bush would stop me from sliding, but that little support bolstered my confidence to climb farther down.

I might note here that it's a 45 degree or greater angle slide down to the creek below (about 660 ft). I'll add, if I didn't hit a tree on the way down. I sure didn't want to do that - let alone the climb back up again. I may take chances, but I'm not stupid. Maybe a little insane, but definitely not stupid.

About half way down, I started a another pile of my candidates for a pile. I stuffed them under my affected arm now that I have limited control of my shoulder again. I climbed to where there was a pile of limbs I saw from the top. Looking up from where I started I felt a wave of self accomplishment, but the real trick was making it back up. I gathered branches and twigs and tossed them up the slope as far as I could... about a foot with all the undergrowth. I repeated this process until I had the pile licked. I made my way up to the pile and repeated the process until all branches and limbs were up on semi-flat ground at the top.

I leaned on the propane tank and broke my prize up into about 12" pieces. I brought enough from my jaunt down the slope to fill the trash can. I closed the lid and happily rolled the trash can into the barn. Later, it would be divided into 5-gallon buckets and brought into the house. Each 5-gal bucket will start 5 fires. The trashcan will be fill ten 5-gal buckets. That's a whole lotta warmth in three of those trash cans. I'll fill all the cans before the snow starts falling and keep filling them until it does. We shouldn't need much after that because the wood stove will be constantly going.

I was too pooped to pop afterwards. I sat in front of my computer playing mind games and watched a movie for four hours before it was time to cook dinner. Well not exactly cooked. I opened two pint jars of beef stew I'd canned earlier in the year, but I made biscuits. By this stretching my limits showed me that I'm getting back to my old self again. Now for my next testing of my limits... you'll have to wait and see.

Nothing is impossible.

Sunday Stroke Survival ~ Yoga, Lamaze, and Yoda

You may have looked at the title of this blog and went huh? I wonder how she's gonna pull this one off. Keep reading and be amazed at my connective powers in tying yoga exercises, Lamaze childbirth classes, Yoda (the little, green guy from Star War) and make it relate to my stroke. I'm developing my own form of Jennifer Logic with this one. Allow me to convince you.

The discipline of yoga is one of focus, breathing, and stretching out
both your mind and body. I think we can all agree on that, right? It's a meditative force which allows you to relax your muscles and stretch them farther than anyone would have thought possible. I know you seen some pretty far out there yoga pics online so I won't add them here. But I will say that if you found some Kama Sutra sex positions beyond imagining, some of the Yoga poses are equally challenging.

Essentially you stretch your boundaries, and alter your reality of what is and can be accomplished. Basically mind over matter. Levitation is possible through meditation although I've never seen it. It's also about balance. Balance is a major stumbling block for most stroke patients. I Googled, after my stroke a year ago looking for alternative thinking about recovery, "yoga post stroke" and ran across 500K discussions about it. I skimmed about a quarter of them of them, but the premise is the same as I stated above. I do hold a degree in herbatology and aromatherapy after all. Alternative or natural medicine is my pet love. It also falls within my survivalist mentality.

Lamaze childbirth classes several decades ago, taught me the what was possible with focus and breathing techniques. Yes, I had all five of my children using Lamaze or natural childbirth. I even coached one of my daughters through two natural childbirth experiences. In Lamaze you focus on an object and breath in a controlled manner, and visualize what is being achieved with each contraction and promoting it happening.

Are you getting the connection? Now for the last one ...Yoda. In the Star Wars movie, where the Frank Oz Muppet first appeared, Yoda was this old Jedi knight who taught young, training Jedis how to be Jedis by using the force. In Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Yoda says to Luke...

Yoda: Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship. 

The fact that we are paralyzed does not matter. It shouldn't be our primary focus. Movement of our paralyzed limbs should be. Before the spasticity set into my paralyzed arm, my husband watched me in my sleep. He said I opened my hand, raised it from the bed and wiggled my fingers... an OT therapy move or what they wanted me to be able to do and visualized myself doing it.

He related this to me the next morning. In disbelief I asked him if he was dreaming. He assured me that he was coming to bed when he noticed the movement. He said he watched me repeat it over ten minutes. I knew he wasn't crazy, but try as I might, I couldn't repeat it while awake. He watched each night for a repeat performance and two of the night five nights he was rewarded with a show.

My hand and fingers today

As I said, this was before the shoulder injury and the spasticity set in. I was flummoxed and I emailed Rebecca Dutton about it, because my other therapists had never heard such a thing. She said if only our subconscious mind could communicate with our conscious one we wouldn't be paralyzed anymore. But even the subconscious mind was reviving pathways in the brain. That's the whole gist behind focus.

Picture is how my wrist, hand and fingers look today a year post stroke. Notice the fingers are NOT closed in a tight fist as they were earlier. Yeah Botox and last time around in OT. I'm still waiting on this new series of shots to work so I can begin again. But I digress...darn my "ADD/dyslexic" brain.

Focus all you mental powers on movement, relaxing muscles with focused breathing on outcome and achievement, and as Yoda says, "May the force be with you."

Nothing is impossible with determination.