Sunday Stroke Survival: Post Stroke and Techology

No, this post is not about changing technology in prevention nor treatments for dealing with post stroke issues. But that would be a good post also. It's about my post stroke brain function after my strokes. You know how I always say, "Don't compare what you could do (prestroke) to your reality now? I'm gonna break that rule to make a point. I really missed by old brain at times like this. Before I killed bazillion brain cells with my strokes.

Prior to my first stroke in 2012, I was a very mechanical and technology minded individual. Learning how to use the newest version of a program was never an issue. I'd run circles around any computer program or device within fifteen minutes of loading it. I'd have a basic working knowledge. And then, I'd read the manual to find more bells and whistles that I didn't find in "playing" with it. I'd make programs sing and stretch the boundaries of its limits to make it do what I wanted it to do including changing the programming. Yes, I was a computer programmer once upon a time.

All of that came to a screeching halt with my first stroke. This is one area with adapting and changes, I've had real

trouble with. It's all due to the killed off brain cells and cognitive function of my brain with aphasia. Something gets lost between knowledge, understanding and function. Now I despise newer versions, or total format changes where I have to start from scratch to know how to operate these systems and devices. Most times, I now have to ask for help just to do the basic things. It's maddening, irritating, frustrating, and it hurts what little pride I have left.

First, Pogo.com was bought by EA Games. EA Games deleted a bunch of games which I used for cognitive recovery and reinforcement citing changes in technology made these games were being either reworked (new programming) and ultra High Definition technologies or they were gone forever. My husband and I used the yearly membership dues as part of our wedding anniversary present to each other for also 16 years. Since his death, I continued with the membership because of the cognitive therapy. Well, my membership is due for renewal next week and I've decided to stop it. All the new bells and whistles are too distracting when I'm trying to focus. They can keep the ultra high definition and new programming.

Now Blogger is changing formats again. They've added several bells and whistles over the years but not a total

revamp. Even with the changes, you had an option to go to the "Classic" blogger set up. Recently, they release the "New and Improved" Blogger. The difference is its a convert or leave and there is a deadline.  So now, I've switched over. I honestly dislike the new format. While it has cleaner lines and less junky looking, there are so many hoops to jump through simply adding a picture. You know me and pictures. It's a gotta have it thing. I guess in the long run it will get easier. The idea of learning a new blogging software, but that would be just as maddening. I've been with Blogger since the 1990s.

I use labels to catalog my blogs for SEO. I used to be able to type it and the categories (100+ in here) I've used in the past would scroll down so I could just click on the appropriate category. Now, there is a check box. I have to scroll up and down the list and check the word. This takes a lot of time. You just can't type the word either. It doesn't show up under labels. You have to add a label, scroll down and find it, and check it to add it to my saved labels. The scheduler is about the same. Now, I used to open up the "preview" option which opened up in a new screen. This allowed me two screens to edit my post with. It now longer allows this. I'm having to switch screens, previous page arrow twice before I can edit. Oh, I have to switch it back to draft mode when I edit. It gets very confusing to know where I am and remember what and where the edit needs to be. This new Blogger is not old, brain damaged folks friendly.

Everything I used to know where it was and how to do things has moved or changed so I have to stop and figure out how to do it. Or, it has been deleted from the program. The only thing that hasn't changed is my blog looks the same. The CSS hasn't changed, but I have no access to the hmtl anymore. Some if I want to do a special format for a section, I can't. Or, maybe they are not using html based program at all. I dunno.

Thanks for reading my rant on living post stroke rant. Have any suggestions?

Nothing is impossible.

It just seems that way sometimes.