4 week stroke report: Thanksgiving

My one-month strokeaversary falls on Thanksgiving! It’s not hard for me to give thanks in this post. I’m on a day pass from the hospital, writing this at our dining room table, looking out at the watermarsh view I’ve been missing for a month. Sara is at my side. I managed the stairs to get into the house. From time to time my largely inert left hand and arm begin to slide slowly slide off the table, dragging the tablecloth part-way along. But Sara just straightens it again, replaces my arm, and we keep talking.

Midweek Dr Gorman told me I could go out of hospital for a day pass with Sara if we wanted. She didn’t need to say that twice. Between giving mid-term exams Sara rushed to the hospital, wheeled me to the car, and took me for a drive to see the peak leaves on one of the nicest fall days we’ve had.

Sara’s parents, Winston and Shirley, drove down to see us. Her 89-year old father and 82-year old mother bustled in carrying a raised toilet seat, a wheelchair, and some other items…. “thought you might need these,” they said. They’re an incredible support. They also brought some food for Sara and me: turkey and dressing, and lemon cheesecake for Sara’s birthday.

Friday Sara took me home for a birthday dinner with them, and Saturday we enjoyed our own Thanksgiving and birthday dinner. Sara also gave me the full haircut and the beard trim I’ve been wanting. She’s added chauffeur, cook, barber, and laundry to everything else she’s been doing for me. My Thanksgiving definitely includes her graceful, cheery, and determined support.

It was another week of small improvements for which I’m so grateful. The physio and OT staff who work with me, Lee, Lori, Ria, Lena, and sometimes Juanita, Jay, and Abbie, are gentle and encouraging. But also taskmasters when needed (this morning Abbie barked out “give me five,” sounding very much like my high school coach). Early in the week Lee said I could try the stairs. The saying is:”good goes to heaven, bad goes to hell” (the unaffected leg leads first going up the stairs, the affected leg goes first going down).

I tried a German-made stationary bike that measures the force of each leg to help me balance better. I took a hand-held squeeze test: let’s see if you can get a pound or two, Ria said encouragingly. I squeezed 20, which made her eyebrows go up. My average with my left hand over three squeezes was 16.3…for comparison, my right hand squeezed over 93 pounds.

There’s still very little fine motor movement in my left hand. The team is sending electrical current into my arm to cause my muscles to spasm and contract, in hope that new neural pathways will form around the 3-cm damaged area deep in my brain. The exercises Lori and Ria have me do would be simple for you – twist your wrist, swing your arm outward from the elbow – but they leave me gasping and sweating after a few reps. Still, I wouldn’t trade that precious therapy time for anything. I’m lucky to have daily access to a physio team who want to see me improve.

I keep getting messages of prayers and support: congregational prayers from the Finns and Estonians, and others, candles lit in Munich, Florence, Montreal, and Portugal, daily Medicine Buddha prayers in the Rinzai-Zen tradition, a Gaelic caim of protection, as well as home candles and dedicated walks. I remember these when my whole body goes rigid trying to slide my arm a few inches forward on the table without using my shoulder. The thoughts and meditations and walks and prayers help me tremendously – thank you!

I’m also thankful for the many incredible scholars around the world who are providing Zoom or recorded lectures for my class, and another incredible scholar, Dr Robert Kennedy from our department, who took over my course after it became clear I wasn’t returning soon to teaching (my students sent me adorable hand-made cards).

I’m especially thankful that there may be a cardiac procedure to fix the “hole in my heart” that potentially allows clots through to my brain. But more on that later, in a future post.

For now, there’s more than enough to be thankful for…especially you who are my community of support. For today, then, I’ll gratefully enjoy the view a bit longer before I have to go back!