Going back to school

My neurologist, Dr. Evans, at Alvarado Hospital Medical Center also teaches at UCSD School of Medicine, Department of Neurology. I had an appointment with him on Tuesday.

"Dr. Evans is particularly interested in teaching medical students and resident physicians, focusing on the application of evidence-based medicine and humanism in clinical neurology."

So he asked if I would be willing to go to UCSD and sit in on one of his classes. There would be about 120 first-year students, I would be "mic-ed up" and there's also a video camera for the students in the back. He would explain my stroke and I could talk about whatever I wanted to and there would be a Q&A. Larry would speak from the caregiver's perspective.

It's February 15th, 8:00 - 9:00 am in La Jolla. Set the alarm!

Six month anniversary

I'll mark the occasion with a trip to therapy. I can't believe it's been 6 months and sometimes it feels like forever. I can't say I'm lucky to be alive because I never felt that my life was in danger (although Larry probably did). I'm grateful for my sweetie for EVERYTHING including making meals and bringing me to rehab and being such a sweetheart. I'm thankful for insurance, therapy and excellent therapists. Spasticity I can do without, but even that has its purpose (at first, protection) and thank goodness for baclofen (muscle relaxer). I'm happy that I am getting stronger and that I'm walking without a cane in the bedroom. I'm grateful to have the Challenge Center close by for my new phase of therapy. San Diego State is nearby too. I'm happy that I found one-stroke painting and that I'm pretty good at it, too! Here's our holiday project:

Yea, I guess I'm lucky.

Will.I.Am song on Sesame Street

I don't know why I stumbled on to this, but this is my mantra that I play every day. Takes on a new meaning when you're a stroke survivor. That's Will.I.Am from Black Eyed Peas. I choke up a little with "stronger" and laugh at Oscar and just jam with the Muppets.

Poinsettias

In Art therapy, we practice a lot. We painted the poinsettias this time on a transparency and learned perspective. The gold "flowers" are painted first, then the green, then the red "bracts", then the red-and-white "bracts" front to back, etc. with the leaves being last. A hair dryer accelerated the drying process between each color combination. We then turned it over to see our results. Ultimately, we'll be doing it on the backside of a plate. It will be food-safe once baked.

Happy Birthday, Larry!

Jigsaw Puzzles

I get a newsletter from PositScience (brain training software) and they recommend jigsaw puzzles to work the noodle:

Jigsaw Puzzles -- The Best Bet for Your Brain

Doing a challenging jigsaw (no fewer than 500 pieces!) requires your brain to perform many complex cognitive tasks at once: making fine visual judgments about where pieces belong, mentally "rotating" the pieces, manipulating the pieces in your hands, and shifting your attention from the small piece to the big picture. They give the brain a real workout!.

It was a challenge at first. I needed to relearn how to do a jigsaw puzzle from scratch! I learned to distinguish by color, then shape and shapes not there. And all of the things above.

The first had a lot of sky, and since I'm a big girl now, I chose not to do it.

Then Larry got me a box of four puzzles of various cats looking cute and cuddly. I can relate to that.

Geraniums, finally

I chose geraniums for my next project. I was going to paint on a flower pot, but it was a little too small for the pot. So I just painted it on transparency film (the stuff for overhead projectors). Laura then mounted it on construction paper for me. She said that if I were to paint on the flower pot, I could reduce it.

Our next project will be for Christmas. Gotta' start early.

Every stroke is different

For speech therapy, after procrastinating for 20 years, I wanted to do something like "toastmasters" where I prepared a speech to give to Anne. Actually, she arranged for me to present it to some stroke survivors at Friday's session. Here it is:

EVERY STROKE IS DIFFERENT

Every stroke is different because every brain is different. I had a stroke on my left side of the brain which affected my right arm and leg and my speech. The left brain which controls the right side of the body thinks methodically and in details and language. On the other hand, the right brain controls the left side and thinks in pictures. My right brain had a chance to come out through painting. I really didn’t practice art since high school, so it was good to see that I have some talent with my non-dominate hand.

Some people say that they’re more compassionate after a stroke versus ego-centric, but I found that my ego needed to come out. That has served me greatly because the focus should be on me, first and foremost, and doing what’s best for me.

While in therapy, I’ve had the privilege of talking to other stroke survivors. One man who had a stroke about three months before mine was where I wanted to be in six months. I could strive for that. It gave me hope that he was walking with a cane. But there were some things that didn’t apply to me. He had a stroke in the right brain which affected his left side, memory and organization. There’s another stroke survivor who had a stroke one month after me on the same side. He uses the same leg brace as me. Every stroke is different because every brain is different and it takes longer than you think.

When I was at the hospital and I was doing therapy every day, I would make great strides at first and every little progress was good. When I progressed from the bed and wheelchair to hemi-walker, I thought that was the greatest thing! Now, in another few months, I progressed from the hemi-walker to the cane. I didn’t know how long it would take, but I always have to have a milestone. I treated myself to a cane and vegan cake! Oh, boy! Along with physical therapy, you need to exercise your brain with speech therapy, too. Working on my penmanship with my non-dominate hand has helped and challenged me. I am rewiring my brain with word games and reading, too.

Every stroke is different because every brain is different and some things take more time than others. But I try to stay positive and "keep your sunny side up, keep it up"*

(* "Paper Moon", 1973, with Tatum O'Neal and Ryan O'Neal)

Three month anniversary

It's my three month anniversary. I thought I'd celebrate and get a cane. Boy, do I know how to have fun! Shannon, one of my P/Ts, said I would have to get a sweet, too.

So I had my cane on Wednesday for therapy. It was tough because Steve hooked me up to "the contraption", a treadmill/baby bouncer combo, for ten minutes. My foot is synergistic and spastic (not pigeon-toed, but it looks like it when stressed), so it takes a lot out of me. So I was glad in retrospect that Art was cancelled on Thursday. Cynthia took me out to lunch on Friday and Dustine & Marisa came along. It was good to see all of them. On Saturday, Joy and I went out for lunch and German chocolate cake. Shannon would approve!

Thanks to all my friends who want to get me out of the house!

Art free form

I painted the background of the wooden hook in the last class. In this class, I first painted some practice rounds on wax paper. Then I transfered the vine and flower placements in pencil. I then painted the vines and leaves free form. Then the flowers, all with breaks in between. And did I mention it is with my left hand? I got a lot of guidance from my instructor, Laura. There are three other people in the class that meets twice a month.

Physical Therapy

There are all kinds of diabolical contraptions for me to work out on in therapy. Thankfully it's only for an hour. I use the leg extension with just the left leg "so I don't cheat", says one of my therapists. I use a single-point cane (in back) when I'm at the facility.

Elvis is in the house

We are going to Balboa Park tonight for a potluck with other stroke survivors ("Comebacker's Club"). Then as part of the Twilight in the Park series, we will heads over to the organ pavilion to see Graceland – An Elvis Presley Tribute. See there site at http://www.gracelandsandiego.com/

Because I'm from Cali now, I am dressing warmer for the cold nights after sundown. For the first time, I put on jeans and a white long-sleeved blouse in almost two months. I think that, like Sue Silvester of "Glee', I will stick to track suits. Yoga pants, t-shirt, and (gasp) pajamas are more my style of the moment.

(Reba read the blog and came down for the concert. How-cool-is-that? )

Artability class

Larry said that my art side finally had a chance to come out.

This was from last week's art class. I painted violets on wax paper (to trace on templates.)

I continue to paint at home too.

One month and day by day

I would like to thank all of the folks who sent me loads of cards and flowers, rebuses too. Now I'm home and can commit myself to typing one letter at a time on a goofy keyboard.

The first week of rehab is today, 3 hours worth, 2 days a week. Try to act professional ("Bad Santa").

On a side note, these are things more important to me:

• Be more patient
• Spam (never was)
• My day job (still love it & the people)

(Ashasia is still a problem)

This is one cool cat. Puffin is pretty laid back and just ignores Josie unless she happens to confuse Puffin with a dog who actually wants to play. Then it's time to swat if we have to put Josie in her place. Here, Josie can hang and enjoy a nyla-bone with Puffin.

Good news for Puffin & Larry this week: He's off insulin for two weeks. His dosage was steadily declining while on the new wet food diet (Puffin, that is). Good news for Larry as he was the trooper administering the needles.

Josie and the pussy cats

All of a sudden, there we were, all hanging out on the bed together. Josie has learned some cat etiquette and keeps to herself when in the presence of felines. Exception: it's cool to hang with the Puffster.

Josie has learned how to be-have around the cats. The wrath of Ccino is too intimidating. Wooster has picked up on these defensive hissing tactics rather than the earlier flight technique. This was a sweet moment not seen before or since.