23August 2019
Good Morning,
I just thought I would let you know how I am progressing after discharge from Shirley Ryan, June 23rd of this year. I suffered a mild stroke following open-heart surgery, 20th May 2019 and was transferred to Shirley Ryan about three weeks later. When discharged I could walk quite well, 2/3 mile without assistance and have been home ever since ha vinghome therapy.
My goal was to pick up my life where I left off and that included playing racquet-ball, which I did for the first-time, yesterday,(August 20th) 12 weeks to the day from the stroke: didn't play well, but hey! I'll take it. In 80 degree weather I can walk 2miles, including one mile on grass in 42 minutes without raising a sweat or breathing hard. Running is a different matter. Left side including foot and ankle is still a bit weak so the Senior Shuffle is has become the Senior limp but I'm not worried,. Normality will come back in a week or so. The bad tremor in my left arm has largely abated after using weights and I can eat perfectly normally and carry a cup without spilling. I have returned to my previous cooking duty, which I have always enjoyed and which involves a lot of walking around the house - good for me. Having the left arm and hand co-ordinate well with the other side is going well - I have taught myself to juggle and can keep two balls in the air so physically everything is going very well, especially walking; Thanks, Amy. Mentally I am still working on scanning to the left and maintaining attention to detail. Thanks Abigail for pointing these out to me. Much, much slower at Sudoku than before but I have found useful and challenging games from On-Line searching for Mental Math-games. One game in particular is deceptively easy but really adds puzzle-solving to the math and is a lot of fun to play.
I would like to share my over- all comments concerning my overwhelmingly positive Shirley-Ryan experience which is heavily influenced by my personality which is competitive, independent to a fault and liking to be in charge (and I'm sure my wife could add more traits that drive her to distraction).
That being the case requiring assistance even to use the bathroom (a balance issue) was hard to deal with. The high points of every day were therapies - a time to interact, a chance to identify weak areas to be worked on challenges that, at least for me, were at the Goldilocks level: not too easy but not too hard The attitude of the therapists was also Goldilocks: firm but understanding, encouraging and making everything as much of a game and fun as possible .Periodic evaluations were concrete evidence of improvement and steps along the recovery road. As much as possible I used free-time in my room for left-arm exercises , lifting, balancing moving wooden blocks, using a 1lb weight, learning to throw left--handed, (a pen into an easy-chair) and later ,throwing with the right hand, catching with the left. Having reading materials at least a little bit challenging was good for the mind and a lot better than watching the Cubbies lose yet again. A Kindle is ideal for reading, much more readable than a phone screen and much easier to hold than a book or magazine.
So, good things to bring:
Books, magazines, a Kindle or equivalent, simple games, (Jenga blocks, Uno).
Another really good thing to bring is a set of personal goals: mine were to walk a mile to my daughter's apartment, best I did was 2/3 mile - close but no cigar. The second was to play racquet ball again,- Which I did.
Perhaps you at Shirley Ryan could suggest some simple in-room activities such as, reaching out for and lifting a water bottle, balancing and other fine-motor skills, the pen toss, a suitable weight.
Hope this letter is useful feedback and please share with all my therapists - who I can't thank enough, even my favorite slave-driver with the cat o' nine tails (you know who you are).
Thanks forever,
Steve, (class of 2019). read more