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Definition: Eclectic(noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
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Saturday, June 21, 2014
Eclectic Stuff
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, aka Flooding the Brain with O
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| Joyce Hoffman The Tales of a Stroke Patient |
The refrain in Willie Mason's song Oxygen has a lot a
meaning for me.
On and on and on it goesThe world it just keeps spinning
Until I'm dizzy, time to breathe
So close my eyes and start again anew.
That refrain is about rejuvenation, a time of constant do-overs. For me, as a stroke survivor, it doesn't take much to make me happy. Give me air to breathe, a clean outfit with coordinated socks and the self-confidence, or as my grandmother used to call it, chutzpah, to get through yet another day. That's all it takes.
A lot of people are like me. Fifteen million have strokes and more suffer from other traumatic brain injuries (TBI) every year, worldwide, resulting in psychological disorders, memory loss, and function disabilities.
So I had the idea to research hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) because so many people were writing about it on social media sites as a way to improve the disorders, memory, and disabilities. There were personal accounts of people who tried it with success.
HBOT
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| Amy Shissler My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery |
HBOT stands for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. HBOT is when you lay in a tube for a few hours and breathe in pure oxygen. So your blood is saturated with oxygen. Currently, there is no evidence to support its use in treating brain injuries. EBP stands for evidence based practice. We used to have classes called EBP. They taught us how to research. In PT school, it was drilled into us that you don’t do anything as a treatment unless there is sufficient evidence(research) to back it up. Sounds good, right? Well then I graduated and started practicing in the real world. Let’s just say that the placebo effect is a strong, strong thing. If a stroke occurs when the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen, it makes sense that saturating the body with oxygen would help. I know someone who uses HBOT. He had a stroke in his early 30s like me. He is doing things now that the doctors said he would never, ever do. That’s always the case with a stroke though, especially a stroke in a young person. Every single scenario(which is a lot) I know of someone having had a stroke, that person has accomplished way more than their doctors ever said that they could. After my stroke, I was asked numerous times to participate in this or that study. For some of them, I just had to agree to let them read my notes, so I didn’t have to do anything. I don’t know if I allowed this, there is a period of time that is pretty foggy for me. I never actively participated in a study. My point in bringing this up is that when I got sick, the absolute last thing I wanted to do was further someone’s research. I just wanted to get better. I knew the importance of studies but I didn’t want to gamble with my life/health or possibly get a sham treatment. I’ve said this before, I’m SUPER CONFUSED. I don’t know what to think now. I really don’t. Read this. Thanks Dean.
Related articles
See the original article:
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Hyperbarics Here We Come!
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| Diane The Pink House On The Corner |
Good news today from Dr. Doom. We got the results back from Bob's PET and CAT scans and there's no sign of cancer! and, actually, no real sign of new radiation damage, either. I was worried about the former but actually wanting the latter--radiation damage would send Bob to the hyperbaric chamber and I believed it would do him a world of good.
So, what about the title of this post? Let me back up a bit....
In 2009, Bob received his first hyperbaric treatment a.k.a. HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy). At that time, his teeth had begun to fall out due to radiation damage from the cancer treatment he received in 2002 and HBOT is the FDA approved treatment for that problem. But a funny thing happened during his treatment. Most of you know that Bob had suffered a stroke (minor) in 2003 which left him with some minor coordination problems in his right hand/arm. During hyperbaric treatments, he totally regained the total use of his right hand/arm. It was nothing short of a miracle. I remember talking to the doctor in charge of hyperbarics at that time, and she told me that in some countries HBOT is considered an essential treatment for stroke survivors, often given immediately following a stroke, but not here in the good old USA, because the FDA hasn't approved it and insurance won't pay for it. What HBOT does is promote the growth of new blood vessels and, often in stroke, many of the actual brain cells are not dead but considered "dormant" because of the lack of blood flow. HBOT can promote the growth of new blood vessels to these areas and rejuvenate the brain cells.
Oxygen Helmet for Stroke
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| Dean Reinke Deans’ Stroke Musing |
This should easily be able to be repurposed for stroke, I'm sure with a good neck seal you could simulate HBOT, although I have no idea why you would want to. A failed HBOT trial here.
Peter Levine talking about problems of HBOT here: Stroke and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
Or maybe mimic high altitude which has been proven to be useful for angiogenesis. Training the Brain to Survive Stroke.
From a Great Disorder blog; Focus! Focus!
See the original article:
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Stroke and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
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| Peter G. Levine Stronger After Stroke |
SSTattler: Re-publish Saturday, February 22, 2014 Stroke and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Stroke Survivors Tattler.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is something that's often touted to help stroke recovery. HBOT involves the breathing of pure oxygen while in a sealed chamber. The oxygen is pressurized at 1-1/2 to 3 times normal atmospheric pressure.HBOT is used medically for the effective treatment of:
- decompression sickness (commonly known as "the bends")
- severe carbon monoxide poisoning
- certain kinds of wounds, injuries, and skin infections
- certain infections
It may work but the ducks get in the way...
Misconceptions
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| Barb Polan Barb’s Recovery |
In stroke - and probably every - recovery, misconceptions suck. Poking around in old computer files just now, I ran into a Word doc called, "Barb's re-entry plan." In it is an optimistic and completely misconceived view of me returning to my job as GM of the newspaper. I created it in December 2009, just a month after having the stroke, when I was clearly in denial about the magnitude of this interruption of my life. At the time, I thought stroke was just something a body and brain healed from, not permanent damage. The formula for recovery was: Work harder than you have in your life, keep up with current therapies, listen to your therapists and "never, never, never give up." And my thought was," Easy-peasy, I can do that." For example, in the re-entry document, I made three assumptions, based on unsubstantiated claims by medical professionals: 1. Barb will recover 100% of pre-stroke capabilities. 2. Majority of recovery happens in first six months after stroke. (by May 12, 2010) 3. Half of recovery will occur in first three months after stroke. (by Feb. 12, 2010) One of my milestones: By March 12, 2010: 1. Will pass driving assessment. 2. Will be able to go to the office one day per week. Reality: I passed my driving test Dec. 12, 2011. Oops, I was nearly 2 years late on that one, and I'm not sure I did the math right at all. In fact, although people indicated that I would not be able to drive for a while after the stroke, no one told me that the RMV does not allow a person to drive for 6 months after any episode that involves a loss of consciousness, stroke, paralysis or seizure; also, you are required to turn in your license or the RMV assumes you're still driving and tries to revoke your license. Why couldn't anyone tell me all THAT? It doesn't seem very challenging info to remember. As for driving to the office: so far, I have driven a max of 45 minutes and am intimidated by the thought of driving the whole hour and 15 to the office. (128, easy part of the highway; then 128, hard part; Mass Pike for maybe 6 exits; route 9, an easy part; rotary in Westborough, where there are a lot of horn-honkers). Another silly projection was: By May 12, 2010: 1.Will be able to handle all managing editor and GM responsibilities remotely. 2. Will be able to go to the office at least two days per week. 3. Will perform competently as GM. Ha! By that date, a replacement ME had already been on the job for a month, and my pathetic struggles as returning GM were just starting. My boss, to his credit, responded to my plans (I probably sent him a weekly "re-entry plan" while I was itching to get back), consistently ... "Why don't we wait and see what happens?" But I KNEW what was going to happen - everyone had told me that I was going to recover completely because I was "young." And that most recovery takes place in the first 6 months. Separately, those two "facts" might be true, but added together, I found them to be dead wrong. Even though I did everything I was supposed to ... work hard, listen to therapists, and never give up. That was the easy part. The hard part has been ridding myself of those misconceptions - or assigning them to some other survivors, not me. A "young" stroke survivor to me now means the yoga instructor I met in Newburyport who had a stroke at 13; even she still had spasticity on one side. "Young" is not me at 52. Recovery in the first 6 months has to do with the penumbra area of the stroke - the parts that were slammed (oxygen-deprived), but not killed. My understanding is that penumbra recovery has to do with calendar time, not hard work. All of the misconceptions have taken pieces of hope from me as the milestone dates whizzed by; at first, the milestones were all in the future, where they fueled optimism. Now that they are behind me, I recognize them as nonsense fed to all of us to steer us toward a commitment to hard work and persistence. Got that. I understand optimism. I understand the part hope plays in my life. I know the medical professionals were compassionate people providing the information they had at hand, trying their best to answer my persistent questions. That I melded disparate information into a blueprint for my recovery is all on me, not them. But I am so disappointed.
See the original article:
in
Mama Guilt
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| Robin Rocky Mountain Stroke Survivors |
“Mama,” asks my four year old. “When am I going to have my stroke?” He always asks to see a photo of what I’ve painted in art therapy this week and makes encouraging comments, “I like it!” he exclaims. “That’s a really green tree!”
“Mahhhhh! Mahhhh!” my baby wails for me at night as my husband carries her to another part of the house so I can sleep.
“But I want you to go toooooooo!” my four year old objects. “I won’t have any fun without you!”
Mama guilt. We all have it. Mama guilt after a stroke is just a different flavor of a familiar sauce. I thought that the stroke would free me from it…that my needs are great enough that I would let go of the guilt and just take care of myself. It’s not that simple.
I try to keep in mind the edict of all the flight attendants who have ever given a safety talk right before the plane takes off…always put on your own oxygen mask before helping the person next to you. But every time I hear it, I wonder. If that moment came that there was no oxygen in the plane, would I really be capable of watching my babies suffer until I got my mask situated? I don’t know.
So I continue in the balancing act familiar to all mamas. Work, home, and personal life. In my case, “personal life” encompasses activities like pool therapy and a midday nap. But it really isn’t that different from the juggling I was doing six months ago. So much has changed and yet so little has changed.
In the end, I know I will screw up my kids somehow regardless of the stroke or how many hours I do or don’t work or how I manage to keep juggling and in the end, I know they will be okay. I love them dearly and they know it. I have to believe that love will cover a multitude of mistakes.
See the original article:
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Aphasia Does NOT Decrease Intelligence
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| Jeff Porter Stroke of Faith |
I stumbled across a pretty generic article about aphasia the other day, but I could see how these articles might help. Most people know very little about aphasia, which often affect how stroke survivors can communicate.
I'll tell you my favorite line after this excerpt about there is help for asphasia:
Aphasia occurs when a stroke or other brain injury damage and disconnect areas of the brain responsible for language, which includes not only speech, but also the ability to comprehend, read, write, and even gesture.
Approximately one million people in the United States have aphasia, and more than 200,000 Americans are diagnosed each year.
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Bumper sticker image
from the Veterans Administration
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Aphasia is sometimes mistaken for intellectual impairment, and so they are often ignored because they may seem not to understand, or "shouted at" as if they have a hearing loss.It's the very last line. One of the most aggravating part of my stroke recovery was that it seemed - just from my own point of view - that some people assumed that because I had difficulty in speaking, my intelligence was affected.
It was not.
So, I hope that at least one person will read that article and learn that fact!
See the original article:
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The Aging Political Brain: Hillary's Advantage
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| Bill Yates Brain Posts |
There has been significant public discussion on the topic of politicians running for office at an older age. I wanted to add a few comments to this discussion from a neuroscience perspective on the aging brain.I think there are three key elements in this topic. The first is pretty universal effect of age to produce a reduction in psychomotor speed.
The graph above shows norms for the completion of the Trails B Test by age. This test involves connecting an alternating number/letter series of dots in a timed test. The norms demonstrate that psychomotor speed as assessed in this test is relatively preserved until around 70 years of age and then decreases significantly and progressively.
How this task might effect day-to-day tasks for presidents and congressmen and women is unclear. However, it is a non-trivial issue that is an important aspect of the aging brain.
A second important topic of discussion is increased risk of incident cognitive decline and dementia. Risk of dementia increases progressively with age. Using data from a U.S. population based survey, the rates of incident dementia (all types) rises from 4.3 per 1000 individuals for those age 65-69, to 12.0 per 1000 for those age 70-74 and 21.1 for those age 75 to 79.
Singing
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| Grace Carpenter My Happy Stroke |
I know that some people who have aphasia find singing very helpful. For me, singing is more frustrating than speaking, especially now.
For instance, the other day I tried to sing the chorus of Yankee Doodle. This is what came out of my mouth:
Yankee doodle wake it up,Just so you know, I sang this song before the stroke with my kids, and I have sung it approximately 63 times since the stroke. I have looked at the printed lyrics several times since the stroke. But each time I sing it, different words come out. (Here are the real words.) It's not a big deal except in church, where I worry about my mouth saying surprising things in a hymn.
Yankee doodle dandy
Mind ta ta ta ta ta ta
And let the girl be handy.
I have some guesses about why singing is harder than speaking for me. I still have mild aphasia, but I think the motor control issues I have--such as apraxia and dysarthria--come to the forefront when I sing. Sometimes if I slow the tempo down--way down--and have the lyrics front of me, I can get through it without making hash out of the words.
But sometimes I think this what is really going on: I have gremlins in my mouth. Often, they're sleeping. But they like music, and when I start to sing, the gremlins wake up and dance in my mouth.
#AphasiaAwarenessMonth
See the original article:
in
Sunday Stroke Survival ~ Aphasia, Wouldn't Dragon Speak Work?
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| Jo Murphey The Murphey Saga |
I don't know how many times over the past two year that someone has asked me if Dragon Naturally Speaking or some other speak instead of typing software would help me write my books. I know I'd be rich at a dime for every time I answered no. I wish it would.Yes, as far as not having to type everything with a keystroke onto the page, it would. Typing is a challenge one handed but doable. But my difficulties with writing are more complex.
7 Steps to Stroke Recovery:
A Video By The Stroke Recovery Association
of British Columbia
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| Gary Gray PEI Stroke Recovery |
SSTattler: Great YouTube for stroke survivors near the bottom... Thanks Gary!
This is a new tool to help long term stroke survivors with their recovery after stroke. There are more than 330,000 long term stroke survivors in Canada today. We want to help survivors to become part of their communities again. We also want to help communities embrace survivors to be part of the community again. Yes, there is life after stroke and we can all benefit because there is.
"We may begin as passive participants but with work and support we can soon be active participants within our communities". - Gary, stroke survivor since 2002
Follow the 7 steps to stroke recovery, work at it every day and NEVER, EVER give up.
With thanks to the Stroke Recovery Association of British Columbia.
“7 STEPS TO STROKE RECOVERY” EDUCATIONAL DVD
Posted by RecoveryAdmin on June 12, 2014
“7 STEPS TO STROKE RECOVERY” EDUCATIONAL DVD is now on YouTube at http://youtu.be/GHJL42xFuz8.
We will be loading each section of the DVD separately in the coming days.
If you like this video please donate to SRABC at www.strokerecoverybc.ca – thank you!
INTRODUCTION
Big Ballet
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| Rebecca Dutton Home After a Stroke |
I love dance so I watched a mini-series called Big Ballet on the Ovation channel. The show is about large women and men learning to perform the ballet Swan Lake. My intuition told me watching overweight people struggle would help me with a dilemma in my stroke recovery. Professional dancers who initially pooh-poohed this venture conceded the audience connected with the cast's performance. The 1,500 people in the audience clapped enthusiastically.
Who made this project possible? Wayne Sheep choreographed the ballet. He is a 5 foot 2 inch man who refused to leave professional ballet because he was too small. Monica Loughman is a retired ballerina who trained the dancers. Many of the cast had previous dance experience. However, they had to work hard to gain strength, flexibility, and endurance, learn the steps in the ballet, and learn to express the emotions of characters in a classic story of love and betrayal. Watching a brave group of people triumph over fear of failure and rejection was thrilling because everyone has struggled with these emotions.
Wayne is right. Everyone deserves to dance or have a personal connection with some form of art.
I think art is powerful because it: 1) brings feelings to the surface, 2) tells stories about the human condition, and 3) creates community. Technology has propelled human civilization forward since someone discovered how to make fire. Yet art has stood the test of time because it addresses primal human needs.
Body Love
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| Pamela Hsieh Rehab Revolution |
Today’s post is a little different from the usual. In honor of this year’s “Spirit Season,” Get On the Floor Dance Co. (where Anthony and I take ballroom lessons) has challenged its students to write their most creative and inspiring essays on how ballroom has changed their lives. I’m sitting at an airport in Denver after an intensive women’s retreat, and I felt it appropriate to post my entry on the blog. (Warning -- it is lengthy.) The idea is to make my story as “interactive” as possible through multimedia through the Web. Enjoy!
#NoApologies: My Journey into the Feminine Through Loving My Body & Getting On the Floor
When I was 19, I had a stroke.
I was helicoptered in to the hospital, where a neurosurgery team would open up my skull to relieve the pressure building up on my brain. The stroke had been caused by a massive bleed from an arteriovenous malformation, a tangled mass of artery and veins -- something I’d never known I’d had until it nearly killed me that day.
When I awoke from the coma after surgery, perhaps two weeks later, half of my body was completely paralyzed. It was as though someone had drawn a perfect line down from head to toe, declaring the right side normal and the left side utterly useless. It was just dead weight for about a month, when I started getting movement back.
This story could go on for pages, so for brevity’s sake (and levity’s), we’ll skip to the part where I was able to finally go home after two and a half months of living in the bubble of the hospital, where everyone understood what I’d gone through and would do anything to help me.
Dog Pack Attacks Gator In Florida
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| Jackie Poff Stroke Survivors Tattler |
The alligator, one of the oldest and ultimate predators, normally considered the "apex predator", can still fall victim to implemented 'team work' strategy, made possible due to the tight knit social structure and "survival of the pack mentality" bred into the canines.
See the remarkable photograph below courtesy of Nature Magazine.
Note that the Alpha dog has a muzzle hold on the gator preventing it from breathing, while another dog has a hold on the tail to keep it from thrashing. The third dog attacks the soft underbelly of the gator.
Not for the squeamish:
I Wish My Stroke had Killed me.
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| Kate Allatt A Rocky Stroke Recovery |
Follow my personal commentary on Twitter @kateallatt?
This is shocking…
Do you identify with this after stroke?
Stroke campaigning is NOT all about PREVENTION.
‘I was always very independent. Now walking from one room to another wears me out.
My friends & sisters turned their backs on me.
I hate living.
I wish my stroke had killed me.’
We are failing actually stroke survivors in our constant quest to PREVENT stroke.
Charities and government please LISTEN to these views from anonymous patients and people affected by stroke:
Cycle - Let's Get There Together
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| John C. Anderson Stroke Survivors Tattler |
SSTattler: I really like a movie built with Lego's :-). The City of Edmonton made the great YouTubes about the rules and safety of riding your ‘cycle on the road.
See the Cycling in Edmonton.
Bicycle Police: The Case of the Dashed Bike Lane
Published on Aug 14, 2013The Bike Lane is dashed -- what do I do?
Standard YouTube License @ City of Edmonton
Bike Attitude & Awareness
Published on Jun 19, 2013Siddharthan Chandran: Can the Damaged Brain Repair Itself?
After a traumatic brain injury, it sometimes happens that the brain can repair itself, building new brain cells to replace damaged ones. But the repair doesn't happen quickly enough to allow recovery from degenerative conditions like motor neuron disease (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease or ALS). Siddharthan Chandran walks through some new techniques using special stem cells that could allow the damaged brain to rebuild faster.
Follow TED news on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tednews
Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED
Standard YouTube License @ TED
RMR: Rick at Ripley's Aquarium of Canada
Rick hits the water with 15,000 fish and sea creatures at the brand new aquarium in downtown Toronto.
SSTattler: Myself & Sharon & another couple rented a keel-boat in British Virgin Islands years ago. One evening, I lowered the anchor on a beautiful bay; the depth is about 25+/- feet. I went down with mask & flippers to check the anchor is OK for the night. I just touched the anchor and a huge sting-ray rose out in the sand — "holy s**t" in my mind — the string-ray graceful flew away & the anchor was firm for the night!
Standard YouTube License @ Rick Mercer Report
Index of This Week - June 21 / 2014
Headline:
Saturday Comics:
Eclectic Stuff:
- Summer Break
- Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, aka Flooding the Brain with O
- HBOT
- Hyperbarics Here We Come!
- Oxygen Helmet for Stroke
- Stroke and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
- Misconceptions
- Mama Guilt
- Aphasia Does NOT Decrease Intelligence
- The Aging Political Brain: Hillary's Advantage
- Singing
- Sunday Stroke Survival ~ Aphasia, Wouldn't Dragon Speak Work?
- 7 Steps to Stroke Recovery...
- Big Ballet
- Body Love
- Dog Pack Attacks Gator In Florida
- I Wish My Stroke had Killed me.
- Cycle - Let's Get There Together
- Siddharthan Chandran: Can the Damaged Brain Repair Itself?
- RMR: Rick at Ripley's Aquarium of Canada
- Index of This Week - June 21 / 2014
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Def'n: Sailing with Disability - Paralympics
Rio de Janeiro holds the Rio2016 The Paralympics Games - Sailing - get ready especially if you are going to be a competitors... There is a definition of 3 classes of sailing boat in Paralympics 2016. See below:
- 2.4 Metre, and,
- SKUD 18, and,
- Sonar.
2.4 Metre (keelboat) From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
The International 2.4mR is a one-person keelboat. The class is a development class governed by the 2.4mR rule. The rule is controlled by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) since it is one of few classes designated as an International class. The class rule is closely related to the 12mR rule that was used in the America's Cup and the shape often resembles the larger sister.
While there is a small but active group of amateur designer/builders around the world, around 90% of boats are the commercially produced Norlin Mark III designed by yacht designer Peter Norlin of Sweden. Recently, new designs have come into production, such as the Stradivari III and the Proton.The boat is primarily used for racing and the class holds highly competitive national events in many countries. World and European championships (only when the World Championship is not in Europe) are attracting around 100 boats every year. In some countries however it is looked on as a Paralympic class.
The 2.4mR is ideal for handicap integrated sailing since the sailor does not move in the boat, and everything is adjustable from right in front of the sailor. Both hand-steering and foot-steering are possible. The boat's ability in integrated sailing has been proven on the result lists of several World Championships. In 2002 and 2005 there were handicapped World Champions. The boat is sailed without a spinnaker, but with a whisker-pole for the jib.
History
Video: Sailing with Disability - Paralympics
Contents (with 5 YouTubes each class) :
- Sailing - 2.4 Metre - one person
- Sailing - SKUD 18 - two persons, at least one is a female
- Sailing - Sonar - three persons
1. Sailing - 2.4 Metre
Alexis Green: 2.4m Sailing with Helena Lucas
Published on Sep 6, 2013Some of the world's top sailors are in Poole where boats and skippers will start preparations tomorrow for the world championships in the 2.4m class. Among the 80 entrants is Paralympic gold medallist Helena Lucas and she took our own Alexis out on one of the boats for a few pointers ahead of competition starting on Monday.
Standard YouTube License @ BBC South Today
Saturday Comics
| For Better and For Worse Lynn Johnston - 2014/06/08  “Enemy destroyer still in sight - and..." | Dilbert Scott Adams - 2014/06/08  “Today is 'bring your kid to the cesspool day.'" |
Peanuts Charles Schulz - 2014/06/08 
“Your stupid dog sniffed my root beer !!"
| Doonesbury Garry Trudeau - 2014/06/08  “Obviously none of you are paying any attention to me..." |
** 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 the previous Sunday.
Eclectic Stuff
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Definition: Eclectic(noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
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Going [Fitness] Nuts!
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| Pamela Hsieh Rehab Revolution |
I never would’ve thought I’d do three workouts in one day, but alas, fate has called upon me to summon my inner fitness nut.
My chiropractic treatments have been sailing along smoothly, with my transition to strength training quicker than the doctor anticipated. I started off with an old “friend,” the wobble board (also known as a KP board), for five minutes, along with deep calf stretches. The KP board is great for proprioception (your mind’s awareness of where your body is in space) and balance, and this is not the first time I’ve started my training routine with it.Since the most problematic residual effects of my condition exist in my hand and arm, today I began with an arm-intensive routine with dumbbells. Unfortunately, it’d been a very long time since I’d last regularly gone to the gym for weight training (I know, shame on me); I had hoped that my regular yoga sessions would suffice, but I was mistaken.
As soon as I lay down on my back to do flies and shoulder presses, I feared for the safety of my face because dropping the dumbbells was clearly imminent. Discouraged, I ended up just going through the motions (still works for neurological programming).
So I determined it was time for me to restart my weight training regimen. I hit the gym for weight machines for the first time in probably a year. It was rough! Then I followed it with a yoga session.
Tomorrow I’m going hiking at Starved Rock and probably Matthiessen State Park here in Illinois, and I’ll likely force my friends to carry everything for me. :P
The key to restarting? Remembering to take it easy and work your way back up. Don’t be discouraged – just try, try again.
To our healing,
See the original article:
in
For Richer or Poorer...
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| Diane The Pink House On The Corner |
It's been a week since Mediation, and the reality of what happened is finally sinking in. It's weird. I feel like I'm standing with one foot in two very different worlds. The first "world" is life as we know it, i.e. barely squeaking by on Bob's SSD check. The second, a promise of a whole different lifestyle, that's hard to even imagine.
Right now, we have two settlement consultants and a Trusts & Estate attorney, along with our trial attorney all wrapping up the paperwork. I've already agreed to let The Hospital take the bulk of the settlement and invest it into a "life annuity" for Bob, which will guarantee him a set amount of money as a monthly income for the rest of his life or 15 years (which ever is greater). This way, the money will be handled by a trust fund and reserved strictly for the purchase of things directly related to Bob's needs or comfort. Outside of that, there will be a certain amount of "start up" money set aside, to buy the things we need up front, i.e. wheelchair transport van and a larger, wheelchair accessible home and also smaller things like a new hospital bed (Bob hates the one he has, totally uncomfortable) and a new wheelchair.
Water Therapy
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| Barb Polan Barb’s Recovery |
This morning, I went to the pool, without my therapist, but with Tom (as my lifeguard). It was my second time at the pool minus my PT, and this time as I walked in the shallow end (I do an exaggerated walk, lifting each knee to touch the surface and hitting my heel first, using a dumbbell in my hand –either hand or both – for balance), I counted the laps I walked– they totaled ½ mile, and it took a little over an hour. In an hour, I can walk 1 mile on the ground, so that’s twice as fast as in the pool, and I can row 4 miles on my rowing machine. In an hour I can do 3 sets of my table exercises and 4,000 reps of my hand exercise in the mirror box.
The last one is absolutely the most boring therapy of all time. WRONG: Doing mirror therapy for 2 hours, which I did daily for a couple of months, is even worse.
I haven’t brought up aqua-therapy often in my blog – mostly because I don’t want to push it on anyone. Each of us stroke survivors needs to find his/her own way through the therapy maze. There is no one-therapy-fits-all for us, and certainly no prescribed (or even researched) approach that gets all of us back to our own acceptable level. So, we each poke around, looking for likely matches to our abilities and desires.
Honouring My Passion With a Right Royal Day Out! @Kateallatt
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| Kate Allatt A Rocky Stroke Recovery |
This is a great article from Peter Kay at the Sheffield Telegraph, of my life over the last 4.5 years.
‘Kate Allatt (right) and Alison French won’t forget Kate’s 44th birthday on 3rd June this year.
She has been invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party on June 3 in recognition of her founding the charity, Fighting Strokes.
It’s the latest accolade for Kate, who made a remarkable recovery from locked-in syndrome and is now giving people around the world the belief to fight back against strokes.
Winning an Extraordinary Woman of the Year award in 2011, she has developed a career as a writer and a speaker, recently a guest speaker of Cunard’s Queen Victoria on a Mediterranean cruise.
Kate, who lives in Dore with husband Mark and children India, 15, Harvey, 13, and Woody, ten, said: “My 40th birthday was not scaling Kilimanjaro, but lying in a hospital bed in the Northern General.
Just Like It Sounds
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| Grace Carpenter My Happy Stroke |
I have been driving into Boston once a week and volunteering at the rehab hospital. When I'm done for the day, I have to stop in the lobby and tell the guard my name so that he can validate my parking ticket.
"Carpenter. Just like it sounds," I tell him.
He starts to the write down the name. "C-A-R--?" he says, with a question mark in his voice. He assumes I will rattle off the rest of the the letters in my last name.
I hesitate. "T," I say, "I mean, "P--" My mouth gropes for the next letters. I want to say "T," but I have a feeling that I'm mixing up letters and sounds. After what seems like a long time, I tell the guard,
"I can't say it. I have aphasia," I say.
He looks a little bit embarrassed that he had asked me. "Don't worry," he says, "that's good enough," and stamps my ticket.
I can easily write down my name on paper. And if I had an unusual name, I would probably tried harder to work on spelling out loud. But stroke survivors have to chose their battles, or at least, prioritize. So I read aloud to my daughter; I work on my walking; I usually make dinner--these things (and many others) are really important to me. But for now, being able to spell "carpenter" out loud is still way down the list.
#AphasiaAwarenessMonth
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My 2nd Pet Peeve
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| Rebecca Dutton Home After a Stroke |
To read about my first pet peeve click here. My second pet peeve is long-handled reachers.
Long-handled reachers are a pain because the long handle puts objects far from the hand, which makes objects extra heavy. The long handle also means you have to pull your arm way back to deposit the object close to you. When I purchased a new washer I was forced to use some type of reacher because the tub is so deep. Standing on my tiptoes and leaning over while resting my hips on the edge of the washer does not allow me to reach the clothes far away from me (see white arrows).
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