Distractions, Disablements, Displeasers, aka Aah! There Are Others, Too!

Joyce Hoffman

Mar 3, 2014

I have my contact info in my blog. So I was not surprised that I recently received an email from a lady named Grace, and this is what she said:

Hi - I like your blog, but it's hard to read because of the "ink stain" (the wallpaper of your blog). As a stroke survivor, any visual distraction can be hard to deal with.

Thank you, Grace, for that comment. In an effort to satisfy all my readers, I changed the wallpaper.

Here is what my blog looked like before:

Here is my blog now:

I chose the first wallpaper because it made me feel like I was a columnist for the newspaper again. I chose the latter wallpaper because of Grace.

Snow and Strokes Do Not Mix Well Together

Rebecca Dutton
Home After a Stroke

March 4, 2014

I grew up in Chicago where the schools were closed only two times in twenty years for snow. In the twenty-five years I have lived in New Jersey I have been telling the wimps who complain about bad weather that in Chicago they throw a first grader out a first story window when it snows.  If you can see the top of the child's head school is open.  But I have never seen snow like this winter in New Jersey.  We have had a major snowstorm every week for six weeks.  When I saw big pile of snow blocking my car I panicked.  The photo does not do the pile justice -- it is eight feet long and three feet high.  The shadow you see on the far left is my car.

When I lived in the city, going to work involved digging my car out of the snow cave the snow plow created by pushing snow up against the side of my car.  Coming home from work meant finding or creating a snow cave big enough for my car.  Fortunately my trailer park has its own maintenance staff.  Our maintenance man uses a backhoe to move snow that has piled up.  See the snow piled on my lawn that Joe did not cart away.  Moving a big pile of heavy, wet, ice-encrusted snow is too much even for an able-bodied caregiver.

See the original article:

Snow and Strokes Do Not Mix Well Together

in

Home After a Stroke

#PaddyPower & #Pistorius a Brilliant PR Strategy?

Kate AllattA Rocky Stroke Recovery

March 5, 2014

They say no publicity is bad publicity.

We all know who PaddyPower is now.

Wall to wall publicity & exposure in all traditional national and international media & online.

A good marketing stunt I have to conclude whether you agree with it or not.

Now you’ve all heard of Paddy Power!

Pistorius a better looking OJ?

This is nothing to do with stroke but the whole thing has entertained me on my dog walk today!

See the original article:

#PaddyPower & #Pistorius a Brilliant PR Strategy?

in

A Rocky Stroke Recovery

Monotony

Amy Shissler
My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery

Mar 10, 2014

Thanks for a great weekend Barb and Tom!

Everything about post-stroke life is very monotonous. Everything.  When I first had the stroke and for about a year and a half afterward my speech was incredibly monotone and I had an insanely flat affect.  I couldn’t express emotion.  I had emotions -and lots of them – but to the outside world it didn’t appear that way.  I think the only emotion the world could see was when I cried.  I cried all the time.  Now things are very very different.  I’m able to be very expressive.  My external voice matches my internal one.  For a long time, it did not.  During the first year or two after something like this, no matter where in the brain your injury was, I think something similar to this might be a problem not because of the area of the brain that was injured but because there was a major brain insult.  But I’m not a brilliant neurologist so I don’t know for sure.  I was not affected cognitively at all but it sure seemed like I was that first year because my brain as a whole was injured and recovering from being very swollen.  My brain just wasn’t right.  I mean my brain is still not right but the effects are much different now that I’m chronic.  But I wasn’t dumb or a different person, I was injured.

See the original article:

Monotony

in

My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery

Why Dynasplint Is Half Dead (and All Dead for Survivors)

Peter G. Levine
Stronger After Stroke

Friday, March 7, 2014

Do you have muscles tightened by spasticity?

Sarcomeres are the small units in muscle that contract when your muscles contract. (Great image here. Look at the bottom right corner.)  Sarcomeres will increase in numbers when muscle is put through a prolonged stretch. Increasing sarcomeres is how muscles are lengthened. Lengthening of muscle and increasing sarcomeres increases flexibility. Which is a good thing because we can talk about neuroplasticity until the cows come home but if your arm (or whatever) "won't go that way," all bets are off.


OK. So how might you increase the number of sarcomeres? One way that many clinicians think works is called "dynamic splinting." The idea is that you'd wear something that would hold you in a position that would stretch you. If you could wear it at that posture for 2-3 hours, the clinician would "dial in" a more "aggressive" range of motion. Over time you'd gain sarcomeres which would allow you to have more range of motion.

Sounds groovy, right?

It works for, say, marital artists who want flexibility so they can KICK ASS.

Dynamic stretching ROCKS! Sometimes!

You stretch, you get a longer muscle, everybody's happy!

But yeah. That whole science thing gets in the way. Don't you just hate science?

It turns out that the way to elongate (add sarcomeres)  "normal" muscle is nothing like the way you'd do it in spastic muscle. To stretch spastic muscles so they gain length, the stretch must be held at least 48 hours. And dynamic splints are not kept on for anywhere near that long; a few hours, max.

And here's another little interesting tidbit. The 600 pound gorilla of dynamic splints is a company call DynaSplint (get it?) and they've had a little bit of trouble lately. The kind of trouble where they may have defrauded the Federal Govmint. And they laid off 500 workers in one day. Which makes sense since it was a DynaSplint salesperson that was the whistle-blower that brought the whole company down. Which then triggered their bank to stop their operating budget.

And while I have no idea of any of those problems are warranted, one thing I do know is that they are fraudulent in another way. Again and again they claim that their splinting systems help folks with spasticity. They also claim they increase muscle length. Don't buy it!

See the original article:

Why Dynasplint Is Half Dead (and All Dead for Survivors)

in

Stronger After Stroke

Human Planet - Web Exclusive Series Trailer - BBC One

Monty Becker
Stroke Survivors Tattler

Uploaded on Jan 11, 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/humanplanet

Human Planet is an awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, heart-stopping landmark series that marvels at mankind's incredible relationship with nature in the world today.

Uniquely in the animal kingdom, humans have managed to adapt and thrive in every environment on Earth. Each episode takes you to the extremes of our planet: the arctic, mountains, oceans, jungles, grasslands, deserts, rivers and even the urban jungle. Here you will meet people who survive by building complex, exciting and often mutually beneficial relationships with their animal neighbours and the hostile elements of the natural world.

Human Planet crews have filmed in around 80 locations, bringing you many stories that have never been told on television before. The team has trekked with HD cameras and state of the art gear to film from the air, from the ground and underwater. The result: a "cinematic experience" created by world-class natural history and documentary camera crews and programme makers.

Standard YouTube License @ BBC

Why I Hate Aphasia...

Diane
The Pink House On The Corner

Sunday, March 9, 2014

This, just one example from last week:

Bob: Too low.
Me: You need a boost? (meaning, to be pulled up in bed)
Bob: No. Too low.
Me: If you're too low, I can boost you up a bit. Not much, but a bit.
Bob: Nooo. It's too low.
Me: What's too low?
Bob: Too low!
Me: What is too low, sweetheart? I don't understand.
Bob: (making a gesture with his hand, holding it first up higher and then down lower) Too low!
Me: I know what "too low" means. What is too low?
Bob: (getting frustrated) TOO LOW!
Me: (also frustrated) WHAT IS TOO LOW?! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!
Bob: (smacks the towels, neatly arranged, on his bed) TOO LOW!
Me: The towels? The towels are too low? You want more towels?
Bob: (smacking the towels, again) NO! TOO LOW!
Me: Do you want more towels? I can get you more towels.
Bob: NO! Towels! (smacks the towels again)
Me: What's wrong with the towels?

Granny's Advise

Jackie Poff
Stroke Survivors Tattler

Yes, our grandmothers still had genuine knowledge of staying naturally healthy!!!

My granny lectured me about her practical knowledge:

• “For better digestion, I drink beer,
• for loss of appetite I drink white wine,
• with low blood pressure red wine,
• with high blood pressure cognac,
• and whenever I have a cold, I drink Vodka.”

“And when do you drink water?”

“I have never been that sick!”

The End

Barb Polan
Barb's Recovery

March 2 / 2014

As many of you know, I’m writing a book about my recovery experiences, a book about my pilgrimage to return (I hope and expect) to rowing and other physical activities that I have lost the ability to do, the ones I miss.

After completing the first draft (and going back through it scores of times polishing), I sent it to the best editor I know for input. She did a meticulous job line-editing it, and included comments (Kathy: please forgive me if I get this wrong, but it’s what I understood your email), all of which were very valuable. All except one that was a little off-putting: “You might want to reconsider the ending.” I took a deep breath and kept an open mind.

Remarkably, that comment turned out to be the most valuable of all. Here’s what happened:

Re-reading it with an eye toward narrative flow, I was on the look-out for a wrong turn, and when I reached the end and found a mish-mash of pasted-in paragraphs, non-starters that I had neglected to remove, I thought, “Bingo.” I then removed them, so that the end was all cleaned up and the way I had intended.

The next time I read through, when I got to the end, I realized that that was NOT the ending I wanted, that I had arrived at the wrong conclusion, that I no longer believed the conclusion to be true, that I really needed to “reconsider the ending.”

I had ended with the observation that the stroke survivor had been given a second chance and now had the opportunity to rebuild a life, to do a reset. I suggested examining his/her life and keeping the positive components, while rejecting the negative ones. “Jettison the negative,” is the common phrase. This includes rejecting friends and family members who are unsupportive or critical; eliminating negative thoughts and remaining positive; and recognizing blessings and expressing gratitude.

While those are good suggestions that might be a good first step for survivors inundated by negativity and struggling to breathe, I actually don’t believe it’s a mature, self-aware response to pain. I don’t find that a quest to reject everything negative from a life solves problems; instead it shuts a person down and guards against opportunities to grow.

And it’s not what I’ve done in my own post-stroke life, so why was I giving that trite advice to others?  Instead, my response has been to try to counter, rather than reject, the negative.

This pilgrimage of mine, my trek toward recovery, has encouraged me to meet frustration, anger, and insults with kindness, not my own anger and resultant rejection. To remain open and communicative, not shut down. It has worked for me – I am happy and well adjusted, although not complacent or accepting of my limitations.

I’m still working hard to get back to rowing those gig boats. It may take me the rest of my life, but that’s what I’ve got.

See the original article:

The End

in

Barb's Recovery

“Repunzel,” The Teaching of Talking

March 12, 2014

We are here in Brighton, England.  It is a wonderful city that now feels like a cross between Greenwich Village, San Francisco and New York City.  But let’s get on with the story…

Last night as I was completing an article for publication, I heard a voice calling out at full volume:  “Repunzel, Repunzel, Let down your hair!”  I thought it weird that I should be hearing a plea such as that from the other side of the court-yard.  But then, I thought, “This is England, and I believe the story originated here.”

Repunzel

(A True Story…Only the names

have been changed to protect the innocent…)

After a brief Google search on Wikipedia,  and recalling the story from childhood days,  it was learned that Repunzel was a German fairy tale, and was written in about 1812.  It involved the story of a young child who was given to a wicked enchantress when born to keep the father out of jail.  He found a special plant in the enchantress’s yard that helped his wife conceive a child.  The enchantress promises not to report him to the police in exchange for the child.

The child who was named Repunzel grows up to be a beautiful young lady who is then imprisoned by the enchantress in a castle until a prince finds and rescues her.  He calls out to  her “Repunzel, Repunzel, Let down your hair!”  She does.  He rescues her and they escape.  And…”they live happily ever after.”  (Please refer to the story or to Wikipedia or Google if you want more of the details to the story .)

I have not figured out yet whether this true life experience had any deep or personal significance other than knowing there are many people with speaking difficulties who are locked away inside their bodies, unable to speak in their homes without skilled speech therapy care.  In many circumstances aide is not available or affordable.  Therefore the only one left to rescue the person from a world of silence or misunderstanding is a loved one or parent who can learn to intervene by learning methods of speech and language stimulation and providing this at home if appropriate for the child who has not learned to speak or for the adult who has lost the ability to talk.

“Caregiver, Mother, Father, Loved one:  Learn to Stimulate Talking!”



Mark A. Ittleman, M.S., CCC/SLP
Speech Language Pathologist, 
Author: The Teaching of Talking (our website and place you can order an autographed copy of Teaching of Talking).
Facebook:  Please like us on:  teaching of talking
e mail:  markittleman@teachingoftalking.com

Catherine Bracy: Why Good Hackers Make Good Citizens

Published on Feb 25, 2014

SSTattler: The term  - noun "hackers" or verb "hacking" was used by computer software people (for years) to "break it" or "leak it" or ... and to "fix it" so that is "correct" and "publish it". There is no hacking mischief at all...

Hacking is about more than mischief-making or political subversion. As Catherine Bracy describes in this spirited talk, it can be just as much a force for good as it is for evil. She spins through some inspiring civically-minded projects in Honolulu, Oakland and Mexico City — and makes a compelling case that we all have what it takes to get involved.


   Standard YouTube License @ TED

RMR: Rick and Para-Nordic Biathlon

Published on Mar 5, 2014

Rick skis and shoots with
para-biathlete Mark Arendz
in Lake Louise, AB.

   Standard YouTube License @ Rick Mercer Report

RMR: Rick and Para-Nordic Cross Country Skiing

Published on Mar 5, 2014

Rick does high altitude training with Paralympians Colette Bourgonje and Brian McKeever.

   Standard YouTube License @ Rick Mercer Report

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Saturday News

Contents of This Week:

• Headline -  Neuroplasticity
• Comics   - ForBetterOrForWorse, Dilbert, Peanuts, Doonesbury
• Eclectic - Many articles from many guest bloggers
• Trailer  - RickMercerReport - Intelligence, humorous, politics...

Def'n: Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also: Synaptic Plasticity From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contrary to conventional thought as expressed in this diagram, 

brain functions are not confined to certain fixed locations.

Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, is an umbrella term that encompasses both synaptic plasticity and non-synaptic plasticity—it refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses which are due to changes in behavior, environment and neural processes, as well as changes resulting from bodily injury. Neuroplasticity has replaced the formerly-held position that the brain is a physiologically static organ, and explores how - and in which ways - the brain changes throughout life.

Neuroplasticity occurs on a variety of levels, ranging from cellular changes due to learning, to large-scale changes involved in cortical remapping in response to injury. The role of neuroplasticity is widely recognized in healthy development, learning, memory, and recovery from brain damage. During most of the 20th century, the consensus among neuroscientists was that brain structure is relatively immutable after a critical period during early childhood. This belief has been challenged by findings revealing that many aspects of the brain remain plastic even into adulthood.

Video: Neuroplasticity

Max Cynader: Enhancing the Plasticity of the Brain 

Published on Apr 26, 2013

Dr. Max Cynader is Director of the Brain Research Centre, and the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health at Vancouver Coastal Health and The University of British Columbia (UBC). In addition, he holds the Canada Research Chair in Brain Development at UBC and is Professor of Ophthalmology. He is also a Member of the Order of Canada (CM), Member of the Order of British Columbia (OBC), Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada (FRSC), Fellow of The Canadian Academy for Health Sciences (FCAHS), and a Principal Investigator in Canada's Network of Excellence in Stroke.

Dr. Cynader was born in Berlin, Germany in 1947 and obtained his B.Sc. at McGill University in 1967, and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. Following postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute, Dr. Cynader held positions at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and in 1979 was awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Fellowship of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council as one of Canada's outstanding young scientists. He attained the rank of Professor of Psychology in 1981 and Professor of Physiology in 1984, and held the position of Killam Research Professor from 1984 to 1988. On arriving at UBC in 1988, Dr. Cynader headed the Ophthalmology Research Group at UBC until 1998, at which time he was appointed Founding Director of the Brain Research Centre.

Standard YouTube License @ TED

Saturday Comics

For Better and For Worse
Lynn Johnston - 2014/03/02

"I can't make anyfing outa dis stuff...."

Dilbert
Scott Adams - 2014/03/02

"Thats like asking a chipmunk to judge algebra..."

Peanuts
Charles Schulz - 2014/03/02

"The World War I flying ace walks onto the field..." 

Doonesbury
Garry Trudeau - 2014/03/02

"... when I say we're tired of being demonized !!"

  
** I tried to get low or free price at the people http://www.UniversalUclick.com/ for the images for the cartoons. It was too high for Stroke Survivors Tattler i.e. we are not a regular newspaper and our budget is very low. Fortunately, you will have to do only 1-click more to see the cartoon image, it is legit and it is free using GoComics.com and Dilbert.com.
Note: Now SSTattler are running cartoons starting on previous Sunday.

Eclectic Stuff

Definition: Eclectic(noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

Sunday Stroke Survival ~ Neuro What?

Jo Murphey
The Murphey Saga

Sunday, March 2, 2014

The first I heard about neuroplasticity was through a television commercial. Like most non strokees, I always looked for ways to utilize my brain to the utmost capacity. More than likely the same was true for you. I had no idea what neuroplasticity meant. I sort of assumed it meant some form of brain power training.



Standard YouTube License @  Lumosity

After my stroke, I heard the term again. Not from my rehab team, but from other stroke survivors. I still lived under the assumption that what you got back in the first six months was it and I needed to learn to live with the adjustments.

Synaptic Listening - How Neuroplasticity Might Work

Dean Reinke
Deans' Stroke Musing

Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Cellular Scale blog writes about  how to listen in on  neuronal synapses. This sounds extremely important if we are ever to know how neurons recruit neighbors and how neuroplasticity works. My theory on that is here:The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - neurons.

We absolutely need to find the answer if we ever are to make neuroplasticity truly repeatable. That would allow us to get a lot closer to 100% recovery. A Hop, Skip, and a Pre-synaptic Patch from The Cellular Scale.

Does your doctor or your stroke association have any idea how neuroplasticity really works?

See the original article:

Synaptic Listening - How Neuroplasticity Might Work

in

Deans' Stroke Musing

Face-Off

Pamela Hsieh
Rehab Revolution

09 October 2010

I’ve been a bit MIA this month for a variety of reasons, and I suppose this is what Motivation To Move’s head spokesperson, Scott Smith, is always talking about: when “life gets in the way.”

I have realized over these past years that rehab goes through waves, stages of intense purpose and drive, and then waning stages that take the backseat to whatever else you’ve got going on.

Yes, even I, the sole driving force of this website, have my uninspired periods, and unfortunately I’ve just had one. However, the important part is to recognize that and reignite the flame. Refer to my older post on energy renewal, if you’d like to (re?)read the basic principles of the phenomenon — but I’ll go on.

In this period I’ve hosted a couple of CouchSurfers (members of an international traveling organization that fosters cultural exchange for hospitality in all its forms), both of whom challenged a lot of things that during my growth have sort of defined me and my beliefs, and while sometimes uncomfortable and foreign, it was fine. And ultimately, beneficial, because oftentimes we can get set in our ways and habits until we are forced out of our own comfort zones.

Stroke Recovery, Stroke Rehabilitation: A Message to Therapists

Peter G. Levine
Stronger After Stroke

Saturday, December 24, 2011

There you sit, face to face with a stroke survivor. Only a few days ago he was a vibrant, energetic community member... employee... family member and now is sitting in front of you…. aphasic… hemiparetic …scared. The family sits anxiously behind him. They’re eager to get their loved one back and now they look to you. “When?” they ask. “How?” they inquire. And make no mistake, no matter who has talked to them before and no matter how blunt other health professionals have been, they hold hope for full recovery. Between their expectations and their slowly materializing nightmares, you are the last line of defense.

This is not a good time to ask, “Are my skills up to this?”

What if you simply want to do what is the best neurological therapy available? What if you want to treat based on the best available scientific evidence. What if you don't want to be influenced by the wide variety of competing schools of neurorehabilitation, each with their own books and seminars and cult of personality leaders?

Want to scrape all the BS away? Go here: meta-analysis.

Rewiring the Post-Stroke Brain

Jeff Porter
Stroke of Faith

Friday, November 20, 2009

A summary of a study done in the town where I live. Sometimes, you read about a report that mirrors your own experience. Like those studied in research on pushing the brain to find new pathways, I felt my brain rewiring itself for far longer than six months:

• Until recently, scientists believed that, following a stroke, a patient had about six months to regain any lost function. After that, patients would be forced to compensate for the lost function by focusing on their remaining abilities. Although this belief has been refuted, a University of Missouri occupational therapy professor believes that the current health system is still not giving patients enough time to recover and underestimating what the human brain can do given the right conditions.
• In a recent article for OT Practice Magazine, Guy McCormack, clinical professor and chair of the occupational therapy and occupational science department at the MU School of Health Professions, argues that health practitioners believe their clients need more time and motivation to reclaim lost functions, such as the use of an arm, hand or leg. With today's therapies, it is possible for patients to regain more function than ever thought possible, McCormack said.
• "Patients are able to regain function due to the principle of neuroplasticity, or the brain's ability to change, especially when patients continue therapy long after their injuries," McCormack said. "Therapists once believed the brain doesn't develop new neurons; but, now they know neurons change their shape and create new branches to connect with other neurons, rewiring the brain following an injury or trauma."

Sometimes, it's hard for stroke survivors to learn patience - myself included. I felt so much frustration on reading and writing, finding the wrong words when speaking. In particular, volume or tone was wrong, or I would mixup pronouns - calling a guy a "her" or a woman a "him." Weird.

On some days, I could even feel that I my brain had moved up one more notch. One in particular was very close to home. I was in much (St. James United Methodist, in Little Rock) and was during a hymn. I had felt like I could no longer carry a tune. But on that day, suddenly I gained some ground; I could have sworn that I felt it.

So in a house of worship, I lifted up my own little prayer.

Patience is hard sometimes. But this study gives some hope that even months and months post-stroke, rewiring is possible.

See the original article:

Rewiring the Post-Stroke Brain

in

Stroke of Faith

A New Hypothesis

Barb Polan
Barb's Recovery

25th July 2013

I generally don't start the day with a crying jag, but this morning was an exception: Yesterday I had a brilliant (I thought) idea ... since aerobic exercise creates an environment in the brain that enables neuroplasticity (the generation of new brain cells and function), and mirror therapy causes neurons connecting brain to motion so that I can recruit that a new area of my brain to control particular muscles, it made sense that I should do some aerobic exercise, THEN do mirror therapy. I was VERY excited about trying that this morning, and planned to row my typical two miles, then go downstairs to do my finger opening/closing mirror therapy. Unfortunately, I had rowed only a half-mile when I couldn't keep my hand/wrist attached to the rowing machine handle. Remember how I had trouble using the quick release gadget Tom had attached to the handle? Well, this morning I had the opposite problem - I couldn't PREVENT my hand from being released. So Tom sat next to me, re-attaching the gadget every 30 seconds or so; I knew that he wanted to be out on the back porch grouting the tile he had just installed, so we were both trying to deal with increasing frustration. Then Turbo brought his tennis ball over, dropped it next to me, sat, and started whining. I told myself that he was just trying to be empathetic because I was crying, but I could not convince myself and could only think,"Poor Tom. Here he is with 2 crying beasts, when all he wants to do is be outside grouting.What a way to start the day." I told Tom that I would postpone the attempt, that I would do better having my hand Ace bandaged to the machine (the old way) TOMORROW, and I would try out my theory again after that. So he went downstairs to grout, and I sat on the window seat feeling sorry for myself. Even if my approach ends up being flawed, I'll certainly be no worse off: I'll still get in my rowing and my mirror therapy, just in a different order than usual. Yes, I will try again tomorrow.

See the original article:

A New Hypothesis

in

Barb's Recovery

Stroke Rehabilitation - Neuroplasticity

Richard Burns
Live or Die: A Stroke of Good Luck

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Next up on the list of medical professioinals specializing in post-stroke rehabilitation are the Physical Therapists.  Physical Therapists specialize in treating the disabilities that stroke survivors may have  related to motor and ensory problems. They are trained in all aspects of of anatomy and physiology related to normal bodily function, normal bodily movement.  They assess strength, they assess endurance, range of motion, abnormalities in function and design programs of rehabilitation aimed at regaining those lost motor functions.

Physical Therapists help the stroke survivor to regain the use of stroke-impaired limbs, teach strategies to reduce problems of function and develop and practice exercise programs to help retrain the brain function....they call it neuroplasticity.  I call it rewiring the brain and the body to work and communicate together once again.  It takes time.  It takes hard work.  But the end result is worth it.  Because it works.

Physical therapy emphasizes practicing movements repeatedly, changing, rehearsing and planning movements, rehearsing complex movements that require coordination and balance.  Those who are weak or impaired can practice movements in hydro-therapy (water provides weight support and sensory stimulation).  And, perhaps the most telling new development is the therapist's ability to apply sensory stimulation to encourage the use of impaired  limbs on those parts of the body that have been previously neglected.

Where there's a will, there's a way.   There's help.   It's a continuing fight...and it's worth it.

See the original article:

Stroke Rehabilitation - Neuroplasticity

in

Live or Die: A Stroke of Good Luck 

Brain Plasticity Will Blow Your Mind

Rebecca Dutton
Home After a Stroke

February 6, 2013

SSTattler: Good article - you have to read it!

New research on brain plasticity will blow your mind.  One amazing finding is that new stem cells are produced in the lateral ventricals of the adult brain (1).  What is even more amazing is how these stem cells migrate from the back of the brain to the olfactory bulb in the front of the brain (2).  Using time lapse imaging scientists have been able to watch stem cells latch onto a blood vessel highway and drag themselves to their destination.  First, brain chemicals push stem cells away from their birth place.  Additional chemicals stop the stem cells from getting off track along the way.  As the cells approach their destination more chemicals pull them in the right direction.

Will Smith's Mobile Home

Monty Becker
Stroke Survivors Tattler

Published on Aug 4, 2012

That's a great motorhome, it was built 2012 in Salmon Arm by Valid Manufacturing owner Gerald Clancy grew up in the north Shuswap and was an electrical contractor.






   Standard YouTube License @ Channel8ent

Stress, Stress and More Stress...

Diane
The Pink House On The Corner

Sunday, March 2, 2014

The other day, I find myself, tears rolling down my cheeks, on my knees, in the bathroom, mopping up water. This because, when the washing machine (in the laundry room) drained, the water backed up the sewer pipe and poured out the base of the toilet and flooded the bathroom. And I really did not need this...

This was also the second plumbing problem in February. The first being the kitchen faucet which would no longer shut off. I knew it just needed new washers, but the kitchen sink does not have a shut off valve and the water would need to be turned off at the meter on the boulevard and I knew you need a special tool to do this. Which I don't have. So I called a plumber, figuring, how much could a couple of washers and 30 minutes of labor cost? And I nearly fell over dead when the plumber tried to charge me $291.00! But, after 20 minutes of arguing with this guy, I got the price down to $171.00 -- but still, jeepers!

And now I was dealing with a new plumbing problem, which appeared much more severe.

I tell you, they say money can't buy happiness, and it can't buy love, but it certainly can buy the services of plumber.  Which can make a person, if not happy, at least less stressed out.

And what do you do when you just don't have the cash? or the credit?

Some ‘Mistakes’ Are Bigger Than Others! #Pistorius # Oscarpistorius #Stroke

Kate Allatt
A Rocky Stroke Recovery

Mar 2 / 2014


I make mistakes.

Even Amy Winehouse made mistakes, amongst her many good achievements.

Like easily losing my ‘stroke’ temper now (not that I can control this, nor does this verbal irritability ever manifest into any physical violence I hasten to add!!)

Or like expecting too much from other people just because my own work rate is so high, obsessive and intense.

Or being too overly task-focused. I’m often clumsy (or seemingly inconsiderate to other peoples feelings), as I steam roller ahead in pursuit of my personal and professional goals, where I am often blinkered to the bigger picture.

Or unreasonably expecting ‘normal’ people to be able to understand me, and others like me, more than they actually ever possibly can.

But I’m not a bad person, I mean some people make mistakes – deliberate or not – that are very serious, lifelong and with HUGE repercussions.

In Oscars Pistorius own words recently:

I is from Sas cat chewan!!!

Jackie Poff
Stroke Survivors Tattler

Helen Keller: “Life is Either a Daring Adventure or Nothing at All!”

Mark A. Ittleman
The Teaching of  Talking

March 3, 2014

Helen Keller (8 years old)

and Anne Sullivan in 1888

I read the above quote yesterday by Helen Keller and decided to put it on my face-book page.  Many of you know that Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan were two women I greatly admired. The above saying (The title of this post) struck a note with me, and captured my vision for the future and I hope it does for you, also.

Here was this deaf, blind person who could not speak.  She had an excellent model, Ann Sullivan.  Somehow the chemistry between the two enabled Helen to become one of the most revered women in America and around the world.  Ann Sullivan studied how to teach deaf children in college, and when she graduated found a job with the Keller family.  The relationship that started when Helen was just a girl lasted for years, and not only was Annie Sullivan Helens’s mentor, but she also became a life-long friend.  Imagine what it must have been like to teach a blind, deaf and mute girl to talk, read, and write.  I’d say it was quite daring, and adventuresome!  Back in those days parents would send their children off to private schools if they had difficulty hearing, speaking or learning.  Somehow the Keller’s hired Annie Sullivan.