Well this previous Monday I had a exceptional day. But first a story…
I've pretty much kept it to myself although there is a couple of guys here that may be familiar with it ( Black Angus and Ron67) but on December 13th of 2016 I suffered a stroke and it was a real bad one, it was almost the end of me. I was kept in an induced coma until the 28th at which point I was brought out of it and transferred to an assisted living arrangement in Santa Monica.
When I came out of it it didn't take me long to realize that I was pretty much paralyzed on my right side, I had no movement in either my right leg or right arm, which was an issue because I am (wuz?) right handed. Also for whatever reason (something to do with spasticity I think ) my right arm was almost out of the socket and it was what I thought at a permanent 45° angle kind of like a broken arm in a sling. But regardless it was also in permanent rigamortis or something like it. I also had a PEG (food tube) inserted right around the ribs on my left side and a breathing tube inserted in my throat just above the collar bone. And last but not least 2 scars on my left side of skull where they had put in a vent(?) to drain the the pooled blood. I was pretty f√¢ked up. My boss who originally had no idea what happened to me or where I even was but eventually got the word by the hospital staff. Apparently they contacted a friend/customer whose # came up on my “called numbers” list and contacted him and he in return notified the owner and then he started paying visits to me when I was still in my medically induced coma talking to me and such but I don't remember a single bit of it.
And that was just the start of it. It really took about 3 months for it to really sink in what had happened, and it wasn't until March or April that I sorta got back in the game. First of all I already had my 2 credit cards suspended, my cell service was cut off for non payment (I had finally got my phone back) i fortunately still had my apartment for in the meantime my father had been notified… He's in Northern New York where I am now and he was paying for my room in the interim, at that point going on 4 months. It was at that time I thought “what is it your coming back to”? It really didn't take me any time to throw in the chips, I really had nothing to come back to, even though my boss promised my job back it was nothing of substance. I did get Medicaid but that meant I had to divest myself of a fair amount of money to qualify but that wasn't a problem because there's this thing called medical bills that came along with the stroke that needed attending.
At any rate my brother came out to California in May, and he and his wife filled my Ford Ranger (2004 and still less than 22k on the odometer) with a lot of possessions, some were tossed or given to Goodwill or friends that were living in the complex and then they drove my truck back here.
Meanwhile I stayed here in California and worked at getting my screwed up head back together. I remember early on seeing a psychiatrist, it was pretty casual at first, but something was wrong. I broke down crying for no reason at all a number of times, one of them when I got my PEG tube removed but that was a different thing, all that emotion bottled up and no real outlet for it ...and realized this isn't me…. and i had quite a bit of trouble getting to sleep So I grabbed him and would just shoot the breeze a lot with him. He came around every Thursday and Friday. He had a large Persian clientele to see but would always give me some venting time. When I did get back here in Northern New York,I got a brace for my somewhat gimpy leg. I also got a Rx for Prozac which I took for a couple of cycles and I'm glad I did! But all told, I thought i had my ass dragged to hell and back but I gotta say that may have been the case but I'm in pretty good shape now although there is still a few issues to deal with which brings us back to……..
I'm about to take a “break” from PT/OT for the second time when I realized I still haven't hit the stairs yet. This has been a bug up my ass for some time. I don't know why they were supposed reticent about doing it. Well I did really know it was somewhat hazardous but it really needed to be done, time was getting very short, I was getting antsy and actually a little mean spirited about it t doing it. I am going to be doing it by myself with very little oversight, I have a workout schedule to work with but no stairs!!!
So they decided to throw me a bone and last Friday they trussed me up (no exaggeration) and had no less than 3 instructors hovering over me and…… I aced it. Piece of cake. Going up was easy peasy, going down was more challenging but it was accomplished. And just like getting rid of my PEG tube I got choked up. All that begging and pleading (pretty much) getting emotionally involved and when it came to laying the rubber on the road , it almost turned out to be all for naught. All that hand rubbing and gnashing of teeth and I had done it. It got pretty emotional.
Well to wrap it up , I'll be setting my own schedule (3x/week) probably 60-75 minutes each and use the instructions they came up with a little embellishment thrown in courtesy in me.
I can't wait!!!!!
and paying a pidling $3.15!! and let destiny take it's place. I hope in the near future I can set a more intense course for myself , but for now little baby steps.
