(June 2015)

The first thing I have to do is thank everyone who came to see me in the Grey Nun's hospital after my stroke.  I couldn't talk very well (and I couldn't process many things in my head either), but I will NEVER forget people that came to visit me!  Even my friend Sonia flew here from Houston, Texas, because she had to see me for herself to make sure I was going to be okay.  So thank you!!!

I'm not sure exactly what date it was but I do know it was a Tuesday and I also know I got to have my first shower, ALONE, at the Grey Nun's hospital.  Now that may not seem like a big deal to any of you who haven't been in a wheelchair and before that, had no use of your right (or left) side.  It was amazing!!!!  The only "bad" thing about it, the bathrooms don't have any fans in side them in the hospital - so when I got out of the shower - I was so light headed!  I had to sit down in the wheelchair because I thought I was going to pass out.  But again - it was wonderful!!

Once I was showered, the nurse let me know I was going to the Glenrose for the next part of my rehab and I had about an hour to pack all my stuff up before an ambulance would take me there.  The nurse said they would take care of calling Richard and another nurse came in to help me pack.  My right arm was getting stronger but I couldn't pack very well - but I was ready to get out of the Grey Nun's and to get underway with my rehab.

Let me tell you - it was great to get outside (yes, even in an ambulance ride)!  I got to the Glenrose sometime in the afternoon.  I got into a private room for a couple of days because I had to meet with different therapists to map out what I couldn't do.  It was strange for the first night that I stayed there - because once I was in bed, there was an alarm that would go off when I had to get a drink or go the bathroom.  Now, I know why, but at the time I was quite puzzled by this.  Also, I was in a "locked" wing of the hospital.  Again, I didn't know then, but a stroke is a brain injury and it can hamper the way you look at things and how you process things (like getting back to your room after a day of therapies).

I had to always go out with one of my therapists for each session and they would return me back to my room after - I didn't realize I would get lost if someone didn't come back with me.  It was really like starting over from a beginner for everything.  I didn't need the wheelchair anymore, I graduated to a walker - so that was nice.  But I couldn't write anything so I had a bunch of photocopies that I could do with cursive writing techniques.  I finally got to go to my therapies by myself after one of my therapists took me around the hospital and asked me to find the cafeteria, the lobby, the physical therapists room and so forth.  It was great to go to my therapies by myself and I could get back to the wing I was in and everything.  It is really amazing the things that you take for granted because "that's just they way it is"...until you have to go back to the "beginning".

I had to go to a physical therapist so that I could use my legs properly.  Again, it's like starting all over again.  I would have to have a rope belt around my waist and the therapist would hold on to it so I wouldn't lose my balance.  But I wasn't going to let anything stand in my way - I NEEDED to  get back to way I was before the stroke - and that was that!

I had two different types of speech therapists that I would play games with like Scattergories and Scrabble.  It was very difficult because I could "see" the word in my head but I couldn't verbalize what I wanted to say.  It was going to take me a little longer (no, I didn't know I would still be struggling today - two years later).  This is something I still have to work on, make notes and I can't come down on myself when I get tired or I can't find the words I need to say (Aphasia 😉...I've used the word enough that everyone knows about it)!

Now again, I have to say, the nurses and all the therapist's were WONDERFUL at the Glenrose!!!  Even now, I am taking High Level Aphasia and they are so good to everyone...so again, thank you!

Now I have suppose I should start my homework (grade 5 and 6 levels now) - so I will write some more in at few days about the Glenrose!

#glenrose  #surviving  #brain injury  #stroke

I have been suffering for a couple of weeks now with feeling a little depressed since having the stroke.  Now I know, it's not as bad as some people that I have come into contact at the Glenrose, but sometimes (more often that not) I can't help but compare what I could do before the stroke to what I can do now...and it bums me out.

I know for a fact, right now, I can't go back to work in the old capacity I did before the stroke.  It really frustrates me!  Some people say "who cares, don't go back to work".  That's okay for them to say but I loved work and I loved the job as well...now I have to look for something different with less stress and something that takes into consideration that I can't talk as well or even type as well as I used to.

I am trying to look at things in a positive way, but some times it can be hard.  I see the doctor in the middle of June to get the final assessment from the Glenrose and that will be that.  I think it maybe just because it's been two years since having the stroke but with the reading I have done - the brain keeps healing and it will be longer that two years for me to get back to a semblance of "normal".

Now that's all I've got to say about that because I need to think positively to get back to the way I was before the stroke - upwards and on wards!👍

Bookkeeping Level I/II Complete!!!!

I have finished!!!!  Now, first off, I have to tell you that I was trained before the stroke, about bookkeeping, financial statements, trial balances and the actual entries to with respect to what makes up the process of bookkeeping.  I believed it would be good to take the course to see if I could "understand" it, since having the stroke.

I must say, it was a little difficult because of all the writing (because it is manual you have to write out the all the documentation), and my writing is not like it used to be, but I did okay.  The other thing is, I was so tired by the end of each day!  In the morning I was fine, but around 2:00 pm, it was very difficult to speak as far as what the journal entries were saying - that's because of trying to find the words to express myself.  So I need to look at other alternatives to explain things to people.  And again, in the afternoon, my actual writing was difficult to read because I was tired.

But on the plus side - I did remember all the things I did before the stroke at Midwest!!!!!!  I was sooooooo relieved!!!!  The students were very understanding and the course instructor was very good too.  

So, the next course I am taking, will be Quickbooks Level I/II, it will be a little easier because it is on the computer and not quite so much actual writing.  I will let all of you know how that one goes the first week of June!

Next week I start the course Bookkeeping Level 1 and 2 at Metro College.  I thought I should take it firstly, because I don't know if Acclaimed will have anything when I am ready to go back to work with them; and I also thought it would be good practice to see if I could focus on the course for a 6 hour day for all of next week.

I am really quite stressed about it but I never know unless I try!!!  So I won't be writing next week because of this and I'd also like you to think of me with this "new" course!!  I will write all about it after I am done ⌛.

This is what I feel like the "healing" is for me.  I shared this photo with the High Level Aphasia group.  Many times it seems like I'm not getting anywhere - like with the figuring of addition and subtracting fractions.  BUT just when I think I can't do it - it comes to me (now it took a long time but it did come).  I know the doctor's and Sunlife check up until 2 years after the stroke, but it will take me longer to get back to what I was (and even then...who knows if I will get back to the same person I was before).

I am not the same person anymore - I have a brain injury now and it's very different!  I am really comfortable in my own skin and I don't like to have a lot of people around me.  That's different than before the stroke (BS as I like to call it 😉).  Even with me writing this blog, some people that I knew BS, don't want to read it.  I think it's because if they read it, they will have to admit that there is something "wrong" with me and that makes them uncomfortable.  It's okay though, because I can't "control them" or what they think of me now.

It will change my life forever.  I'm trying to accept that what ever comes my way...I will be fine (at least I keep telling myself that).  I don't like having a lot of people around me and I really don't like to call attention to myself.  In the summer, I like to sit outside (on the deck) and read.  When Richard comes home, we eat outside (when the weather is nice) and then watch television or I read some more.  It's quite wonderful!

I know I have spoken about going to Switzerland, to the wedding in Ontario (about four months after the stroke) and then we went to Anaheim this last January.  I really want to say, it was wonderful going but it is quite stressful when I have to go anywhere.  We have another wedding in August in London (UK 😕) and I am really not looking forward to it.  I must say though, I am looking forward to seeing the family and such but it will be very stressful again and it makes me feel very self-conscious with talking and stuff.  Even with everyone "helping" me to get there and trying to make me feel comfortable - well you know.  I just don't like all the strangeness when talking to new people and I ALWAYS tell whoever that I had a stroke so they know there are some things that it takes me a while to figure out.

I have to say one thing though, the family and the extended family 💞 have been (and will continue to be) WONDERFUL!!!  They are very helpful when I have to travel and they always ask if I'm doing alright or if I need to rest a bit or whatever.

It still frustrates me because I can't do the things I could before the stroke 😞), and that isn't changing, at least in the near future.  So I have to manage with it and ASK when I don't understand something and I also have to ask the people around me (whether they are family, friends or strangers) when I need help.

(June 4 - 11, 2015)

So after I was admitted to the hospital (I'd say about the 2nd or 3rd week), Richard brought my I-pad and my I-phone to me.  He brought the I-pad for me to start reading books on it (I have my Kindle app) and Richard also downloaded "Drop Dead Diva" for me to watch.  He also brought me the phone in case I wanted to call any body.

Weeeeeeellllllll, can I just say, Richard had to take the security password off both of them, because I couldn't remember them because of the stroke.  I tried and tried, but the digits weren't coming back to me.  So once that was done, well another problem happened, I was looking through my texts on the phone and I couldn't remember over half of the people, where I knew them from or anything.  So I just put the I-phone away.  Also, I couldn't talk very well, so I didn't want to talk to people unless I could sit face-to-face so they could see me.

The I-pad was a really good relief because at the time, I had maybe 1 hour of therapy every second day so I had a lot of time to kill 😀.  I have to say though, I had to go over and over the episodes that I watched because it took me a lot of time to understand and digest what I had just watched.

Reading was terrible for the first 5 or 6 weeks after the stroke.  I had to have it extremely quiet because I couldn't focus on what I was reading if there was any kind of distraction to me.  Even when I started to read, it was like going back to the start of my reading "career" because again, I had to read things very slowly so I could understand the words and what was going on in the story.  Even now, I have to revert back to a dictionary quite often to look up words that I can't pronounce and to see what they mean.

That was and is probably one of the most frustrating things on a daily basis.  I read a number of books before the stroke and after, oh my goodness, it was so different now.  Before when I read, you know I could read a book probably every week, some times two books in a week.  Now it may take me up to two or three weeks to read just one book.  Even now, sometimes when I go to purchase another book that I've seen (one good thing about Kindle 😏), it will tell me if I have already purchase the book.  It's amazing but quite often now I don't remember reading the book so I go back to the Kindle and read it again.

The I-phone, well I've gotten better with it 😊.  But there are still some people that I can't remember but that's ok, I guess it will come back to me as I go through this process.  I use the Contact Names, I use the Calendar (a lot with all the therapies going on right now) and I use the Notes when I go to the Aphasia group with the notes I have to talk about.  I'm hoping that eventually the words will come to mind and I don't have to keep everything written down, but for now, it's how it has to be!

And to anyone out there, the other thing I did when I got home, was I purchased a "password" book so that I could write down all the passwords for anything on the computer (like Facebook, I-phone, I-pad, Pinterest, Google and everything else) just in case, you know?

I have traveled past this sign a few times over the past couple of weeks.  Now I know it is about speeding but there are a number of reasons a person can suffer a brain injury:  stroke or a heart attack can cause it, you can trip and fall and bump your head (it would have to be quite a bump though), skateboarding, a car accident (without speeding), skiing with a bad tumble, and I'm sure there are others that I can't think of right now.

I know, I have said it before, I have come a long way since my stroke, but there is still so much to learn again to even get back to half the skill I used to have.  I'm still trying to learn fractions, and that was really very simple to me before I had the stroke, typing and even printing takes a lot out of me because the right hand side is weak and I can't print or write very much because it makes me tired and I have to think did I use the right word to describe something.

If anyone had told me before the stroke, that I would have so much trouble trying to get back to where I used to be, I would have thought you were crazy.  I really don't like speaking very much to anyone, and only when I HAVE to.  I used to be the "life of the party" but now it is difficult and quite often I can't contribute "fast enough" so I just sit back and listen.  I don't like to go out with friends or even family, because again, it makes me tired trying to think of things to say and did I say them right.

I used to travel for work and for recreation, but it really takes an effort because I can get lost if I am traveling by myself and I don't like to hold people up but now I have hold them up because I can't get around as well.  It is very frustrating!  I don't even like to go to movies any more because people talking around me can often make me miss something in the movie and then I have to think about what I've missed.

As I sit here right now, I like it, because there is no one home right now and I can think about what I want to type without anyone rushing me and there isn't any background noise to distract me.  I can think of a lot of reason's from "before the stroke" but the one thing the stroke has taught me is that everyone should be patient and kind to other people - because not everyone can think like you do or do things as quickly as you can and you just never know why.