Strokes

As anyone who has been there will tell you, having a stroke is no fun, whether you are eighty or thirty like me.

The first feelings are of sheer helplessness

-can't speak properly, -can't walk,-can't feel some limbs -can't see properly -can't write -can't understand quickly -your mouth droops -you wonder what is going to happen to you -you wonder if there will be more.

The good news is that things improve and some of your faculties return partially with the help of therapists. Learning to walk again is most difficult but does involve a lot of laughs with the physios as they try to shuffle you about and adjust your feet as they sit on the floor!

Apart from help with walking, there are home visits from Occupational therapists who try to teach basic life skills, and of course there are months of speech therapy.

I am a member of a local self help group which has been set up for people who have speaking difficulties due to brain damage. This condition is called aphasia.

You learn to live with the residual damage, but it can be extremely frustrating. It's no joke when you need help to dress, have your food cut up, or have to have letters written for you. You feel like a child.

You lose your privacy and your independence.

This web site has been typed in by Dad but dictated by myself. I could not have done this site on my own as apart from my physical disabilities, my concentration lapses and I would have tried to throw the computer through the window months ago!

An able bodied person cannot appreciate the feelings of the stoke victim, however well meaning and close they may be, and Yes, there are days when I get very upset, frustrated, and angry.

BUT..... there is light at the end of the tunnel

Although when I came out of hospital with many tablets to take on a long term basis and unaware of some of the side effects of some of the drugs, I sadly ballooned up to 23 stone in weight. I changed my medication and got a personal trainer and I am now a nice trim nine and a half stones.

To help me regain use of my limbs and to keep me fit, I visit the Sports Centre in our village three times a week and am assisted by a personal trainer who guides me through the training routine and generally keeps me safe. Once again I am mixing with able bodied people which is great.

The hospital gives me a Botox injection every few months and this helps to loosen up my limbs a bit and make it easier to do some tasks -but it doesn't bring back the feeling in my hand or repair any of the damage.