Sunday Strke Survival: Urinary Incontinence Retraining

No, I don't wear XL

So it begins again! Back in October, I talked about my routine of changing my diapers with the cooler weather. Well, here it is almost the end of January and I'm just so over it! The circus act of changing my diaper, undressing and dressing and all of it. It's time t retrain my bladder.It started when I found urinary pads abut the same price as my diapers were. On a fixed income, price for these incidentals is important. While I still had a bag of of diapers left, I was buying them by the case, I bought a bag these urinary pads. I always found them too expensive to buy them before I found the Seni brand at my local grocery store. They were the same price

of my usual Always maxi pads and my diapers. I decided to give them a try. I'd use my diapers at night and on trips out until I got farther into my retraining program.

I started with Elevator, Kegel, exercises to strengthen my pelvic floor muscles and watching the clock. I set the alarm on my phone for every hour. I've been at it a month now. It's still a hit or miss as far as making it to the bathroom in time, but the urinary pads absorbs urine quicker. With doing just the Kegel exercises, my pelvic floor is getting stronger, but with the lack of feeling in that area is still problematic. The 3-second warning that I have to urinate (tug around my navel) remains the same. I'm not sure how to fix this. For now, I'm ignoring it by using the clock.

Fluid intake monitoring is also part of retraining my bladder. I have to be careful with this because of my kidney problems and episodes of low blood pressures. Yes, the low blood pressure blessing still continues, but it's a double edged sword. Especially at night when it's normal for blood pressures to drop. For me, the drop is dangerously low (40s) even with the medication.

Each month, I'll add ten minutes to the timer as long as I don't have an accident. So that's the plan. Let the retraining begin. I'm thinking like this is a Olympic event rather than what it is...retraining my bladder function yet again. It's whatever I tell myself to get through this. With each new stroke I have setting me back some, the term relearning gets old fast. The do-over gets tiring, but I keep at it. Why? Because, I'm too mean to die, too stubborn to give up, but must most importantly my life is in God's hands. As such, I'll continue to live this life as fully as I can.

Nothing is impossible.

Sunday Stroke Survival: Relearning Something New

As time goes on living post stroke, as survivors, we are constantly relearning something to stretch the envelop of our boundaries. Life is not lived in a stagnant vacuum. Unless you want it to be.

Initially, you relearn the basic stuff (walking, talking, bathroom) because it's well basic stuff that allows you to be an adult again and have some moderate control in your life. Having control is powerful. But relearning, is tough and that's an understatement. It will make you angry, frustrated, and feel like quitting. But the alternative is worse for your sense self worth and self image.

I guess that's my real blessings in my post stroke recovery process, my stubbornness and pushing the envelop have always been my blessing/curse. I believe in living an EXTRAordinary life in spite of what life dishes out. I pray for the same for you. I am also well versed in thinking outside the box as any good writer is. All my life experiences, although very challenging, has stood me well.

This week's challenges had to do with the new angora rabbitry building. While I could just leave it with plain, paper backed insulation, I wanted walls. Not only wall, but waterproof wall that I could spray cleaned when the bucks decided to mark their territory. Even with apple cider vinegar in their water, rabbit urine stinks...think aged, but diluted cat urine.

Mel and I went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore last weekend and happened upon plastic, florescent light covers.The ReStore is always our first stop in searching for anything. The proceeds go to a good cause and what I really love is that it's cheaper. Both Mel and I saw these two CASES of light covers (50 2x4 panels) and you could see the light bulb blinking over our heads...waterproof walls!

We also got a kitchen sink and counter tops for the butchering station and a work surface inside the rabbitry. We also got a few odds and ends for the homestead. I walked away with everything for under $75. Keep in mind that these light panel covers sell in the regular large box stores for $175 for 20, I got 50 of them for $45. I think we did pretty well in the "get it cheaper" department. Heck, one of boxes was still in a sealed. The other one was opened so you could see what was inside.

The light panels are fine they way they are. But it wouldn't be me if I left them plain. I noticed while on side was textured the other side and was smooth. Yes, very easy clean up with the smooth surface out. But, I couldn't leave well enough alone, could I? Being this EXTRAordinary person and all. Remember, I once laid an intricate a mosaic patterned floor in my storeroom in my other house. We needed color in our rabbitry especially since we would be spending greater than a few hours grooming our angora rabbits in there. People often discount the value of color in the work space. Be assured, I never do.

So how do I break up the frosted, whitish clear light panels to add color? I knew this would be a challenge being left with only my left damaged hand to work with. What could I do that didn't involve fine motor skills. In the old days, I would have painted murals on the walls and ceilings tiles. I just don't have that kind of dexterity in my left hand. It still had to be waterproof too. I could just glue the panels up and then roller paint the whole thing, but then choosing one or two paint colors that we both liked was problematic.  Besides, it's boring!

Then I remembered stencils. You didn't have to be exact with that. I could just pounce color on. If I used acrylic paints, it would be waterproof. But what design? There's as many stencil designs as one could imagine. I fell into creative mode and it really felt great!

As usual, I brain stormed the issue. Our homestead is cockeyed. That's why we call it the Cockeyed Homestead. Both of us are constantly thinking outside the box.
We are...
1.  Quirky to the point of whimsical.
2. It is a rabbitry not our living area.
Simple is better if I'm doing it, and neither of us is into elaborate, extremely elegant.
Colorful, but not distractingly so.
It needs to show up well on videos.

What do you think?

Well, I Googled images for inspiration. I ran across an appliqued quilt pattern that fit the bill. It will be perfect for the rabbitry. It's an easy design and I can make the bunnies different colors while the hearts stay red and the inside of the ears can be a lighter shade of the bunny. The inside of the ear is the tear drop shape you see in the picture. I printed out the picture making it standard paper size and transferred it onto cardboard. Yes, I know they make plain stencil sheets, but I have an abundance of cardboard since the move up here and it's free. Hello! Nothing is cheaper than free. I had Mel cut them out because I still don't do well with curvy cuts with scissors or in this case an Xacto knife.

From a coloring book

To fill in some of the blank spaces I use 4" carrots. It's just another pop of color. I positioned the rabbits (3 to a panel) sort of straight. I'm cockeyed in more ways than one. I turned the carrots this way and that in the blank spaces. Not so many that the panel appeared too busy. She asked why I was stenciling the panels behind the cages too because nobody will see it. "Doh! So the rabbits have something to look at. LOL!"

I'm just having fun relearning how to paint again. Although I never used stencils much (I preferred free handing it) before my strokes, I'm enjoying the creative aspects of this now. Just like using a loom to knit. Living post stroke is all about adapting to the changes of circumstances and doing. By choosing acrylic paints, soap and water removes all my mistakes before the paints dry. All I needed was a basic primary (8 colors) set of paints. Although I did buy a larger white and black paint to blend with. I outlined the designs with black Sharpie to make them pop. Oh all right, I had Mel do it because she has a steadier hand. But to see the finished product, you'll just have to watch the video which should be posted next week over on the Cockeyed Homestead YouTube channel.


Remember...

Nothing is impossible.

Saturday Saunter~ Inspiration and Games Progress Report

 Yes, I know it's Saturday. I purposely leave two days a week blank for whatever strikes my interest. Initially, it was planned for Thursday and Saturday no blog writing so I could have two days off during the week without a regular blog post. But that is subject to change...like today.

On the "Today" show this week there was an interview with a lovely, elderly couple. She had aphasia from a brain bleed. He was using flashcards at their normal daily jaunt to the coffee shop and helping her with her relearn the alphabet. Thank you, Rhonda Hand for sending me the link. Today Show click here to watch it.

A stranger thought it was inspirational of a man teaching his beloved. He took a picture and posted it online. It has gone viral with almost half a million hits. Although in the video the word "aphasia" is never said, people with this condition know it by that name.

Aphasia is a loss of words very basically. When your brain knows what it wants to say but forgets the word or even how to form or pronounce it. The person suffering with this condition gets frustrated with those around them when they can't speak, read or write. Just yesterday you could, but then you ended up with a damaged brain and can't.

For me, I have very mild aphasia now where my brain can't find appropriate words for what I'm trying to say. My manuscript is chock full of XXX (description of the word) to be filled in later. Or type a word and put it in colored brackets. Eventually, I'll remember the word or think of a better word and fill it in. Even this blog is written days before it is published so I can go back in it and edit. I'm working towards my goal...getting my words back. This is tougher than learning English for the first time because I know I know what the word is but can't think of it when I want it. It's petite death for a writer.

I had some experience with aphasia before I had my stroke. My youngest daughter was losing words and loved to talk. She would be chatting away when she would stop and mentally search for a word. Then she would say, "It's yellow. It grows on trees and monkeys eat it." You would tell her banana and she'd continue on with what she was saying. Her aphasia was due to too much iron build up in her brain. Her condition is hemochromotosis. The build up was so severe a few years ago the doctors gave me the-anytime-now speech. The speech every loved one dreads to hear. So I'm not a total stranger to the condition. So thank you, Jenn for showing this woman how to work around her condition before she knew she needed it.

On to fun and games. As you know, if you've been reading my blog, I've been playing games online to boost my cognitive/aphasia shortcomings. My DH (darling hubby) and have a subscription to Pogo that we renew every year. Originally, I thought of it a way to keep his brain active. When I came home from the hospital, the games I usually played were impossible. That's when I first knew I had some serious issues to address. There was no way I could keep up and play in the leagues I belonged to.

After I was home for a few days, I realized I'd lost all my foreign language abilities. Trying to pick up where I left off in writing my novels increased the magnitude of the deficit widened like a canyon before me. I couldn't write. The words blurred in front of my eyes making no sense whatsoever, but it was something I could work on. I laughingly dubbed it my "dyslexic/ADD."

I knew I had spelling problems, sequencing issues, memory matching, not to mention anything that involved strategy. I started simply. No time limit because I wasn't used to using my left hand with the mouse. I didn't care if I made mistakes and got an ugly sound. I didn't care whether I won or lost. I was being proactive and trying to fix something that was broken, but I set a loss rate of three attempts before frustration started to set in. That way I knew I had three times to get it right before I quit. When retraining the brain it is important to set limits.

I started with Tri-Peaks Pyramid because it was solitaire. I could retrain my brain with higher and lower values in sequencing. Across the top of the screen a man will travel across for each hand you win and open up treasure chests full on insane items and tokens. To the right is a snake which climbs the column depending on how many cards in a row you can match up. It gives you 1X, 2X, 3X the total score. But at this point the score is irrelevant.

I looked at the turn up card from the deck to decide which number is higher and lower in the sequence. You only have one undo per game so you have to really think. In the beginning, I would have to repeat to myself the number which was higher or lower than the card facing up. After months of playing this game I can now do this without constantly reminding myself.

Scrabble and Qwerty is a word game which does not allow for words to be spelled wrong. The timer is optional something to shoot for. I have now reached level fifty ( the highest) in both games and have moved on to timed games like Word Whackdown and Boggle Bash. I still don't have the speed I once did and play on the easy level versus the hard level I was on, but I'm relearning.To relearn effectively there must always be a challenge.

For color definition and strategy, I play Poppit. I have a rough time distinguishing green from blue. You have to match the colors in two or more balloons. I did something the other day that in my four years of playing the game I've never been able to do before. I popped every single balloon! That's real progress.

Currently I'm working on number recognition with Bingo and have progressed from one card and a slow caller to three cards to medium speed.

It takes repetitive action to build new pathways. Push towards recovery, but not to the point of frustration. Time and scores don't matter. You will be the winner.