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)