A week ago I wrote that I was up in a walker and no longer in a wheelchair. The walker I was referring to is called a platform walker – just a standard walker except it has a “platform” for my left forearm attached to the left handle. It provides stability and allows me to lean onto the walker if necessary. Since then I have moved to what is called a hemi-walker, which is essentially a cross between a standard walker and a cane. It resembles a small step stool. The top is held by the strong hand on the non-affected side, in my case on the right. It is used essentially as a cane is used, just an extra measure of stability for balance. I still use the platform walker at night and when getting in and out of bed, since at those times i’m still half asleep and I’m reluctant to give up the stability of the platform walker, but I’m using the hemi walker throughout the day. The hemi walker actually forces me to stand up straighter and take more normal steps, short and choppy though they may be. So it’s better in the long run to be using the hemi walker.
Platform Walker
Hemi Walker
So, from this point forward the effort is focused on continuing to practice walking with the hemi walker in order to improve balance and confidence. I also have stretching, strengthening, and repetitive motion exercises for both my left leg and left arm that I need to do to cause the neuroplasticity process to create the proper communications paths in my brain. For more on neuroplasticity click on this link. (Neuroplasticity)
It has only been two months since the stroke occurred. No medical professional is able or willing to give me any guarantees about how much functionality I will regain. But I believe I’m going to get it all back. I do know that if I don’t work hard and do the exercises and practice walking I won’t get it back. So we continue to move forward.
I will say that I was told by one of the therapists yesterday that two months is way too early to expect the nerves to be healed and for the numbness and lack of muscle response to subside. At the outset of all this, back around February 11 or so, the neurologist told me that the amount of recovery I would get is “up to the Big Guy”, as he pointed upwards, and that I should expect it to be a minimum of three months for nerve recovery. But in the meantime by all accounts I have been given back an incredible amount of function in a short period of time. The therapists who work with me are very pleasantly surprised at how far I’ve come from where I was two months ago. In two months I’ve come from lying flat on my back much of the day connected to what was essentially an external catheter ( a Purewick for men) to walking with a hemi walker. Most of the progress has been tied to relearning balance, some strengthening, and learning to compensate for what I lost with what I still have. I continue to work on strengthening the left arm, hand and fingers as well, with repetitive exercises for the hard, and by trying to use the left hand as much as possible. The incessant numbness is still there, though. The left side of my face and head feel like it is pumped with Novocain. The left arm and hand feel the way it feels if you’ve been outside working or playing on a winter day with no gloves on, except the hand isn’t physically cold. The left shoulder and torso muscles are extremely tight and stiff. I expect all that to mostly go away when the nerves heal.
Assuming that it will heal, which it often does, the occupational therapist told me yesterday that one day I could simply wake up and the numbness could all be gone. But only two months is too soon for that. I am looking forward to that day! There will still be more work left when that happens, to regain muscle tone, strength and endurance, but I will continue to deal with that.
One of the side effects of all this is that I’ve lost a lot of weight. Thirty pounds, as of yesterday. I was on Amazon this morning buying new dockers khakis and belts because nothing fits anymore. In ICU they didn’t feed me for the entire first day, just in case they had to do surgery on my brain. Thankfully they didn’t have to do that. But it was the beginning of breaking my snack habit. I also decided that a lighter body would be easier to deal with during recovery, so I’ve cut back on my portions. My appetite just isn’t the same anymore either. It’s not the weight loss program I would recommend to anyone, but it has been effective.