My Exciting Stroke

I received my copy of “My Exciting Stroke” today. It is an interesting read, full of observations rather than a chronological account of Mary Deits' recovery. Like Jill Bolte Taylor she suffered a left hemisphere bleed.

So far two interesting observations have leapt out at me, one of which confirmed what I have recently been thinking. The first is that there is a tendency for a newly returning function to be accompanied by confusion and disorientation, each new reconnection in the brain disrupting the existing balance and needing time to stabilise. This is just what I have been thinking about Jo's current state, where she is tired and slightly confused and disoriented and something I have observed before, during the recovery period after the haemorrhage.

The second amplifies what the care assistant and latterly the nurses have said, pushing doesn't work, often an activity that is impossible or frustrating today is easy in a few days or weeks so pushing only leads to frustration and reinforces negative messages which may not be valid. The fact that CICC seem to acknowledge this is a distinct paradigm shift from the local hospital and even Cambridge, where they had a more bullying approach.

Also interesting is the way Mary Deits' husband used “visualisation” to make her aware of the right side of her body and so move her right leg. Basically she imagined moving the right leg and then was able to. This was in response to the same phenomenon as they describe with Jo, a lack of awareness of the left side of her body.

The cavity where the bone flap should be seems less pronounced today and it is throbbing, which must mean there is something going on there. It seemed back to normal after tea so may have caused by her lying prone but Jo said it had been throbbing lately so something must be happening.

I discovered that Jo had transferred from wheelchair to commode today, using the sliding board. By all accounts this was an initiative borne of her own volition and, although she was admonished for doing this before “she was ready”, read “they were ready”, this is another important milestone, demonstrating Jo's determination to regain her independence. They restart the flit flow tomorrow so they seem to be getting the message, Jo will be independent and, if this creates more work for them, tough, this lady is not for turning!

Jo was complaining of pain on the left side of her torso, which seemed to be muscle pain, hopefully a sign of the returning awareness I noticed earlier.