The Last Year (I actually think I may have learned something…nah!)

Well, I had my stroke just over a year ago and wanted to list a few things that I learned from it.  I am way off of my New Year’s resolution of writing a lot more often.  In fact this is the first time I’ve written in 2011.  I was going to tell you about the character I had thought of my novel…it’s the Piobster.  A half pig-half lobster boy, but I’ll save that for another time…or never. You can decide that.  I thought of telling you about my Dick Van Dyke obsession…which I may actually talk about some day.  But I’m listing or wandering or…stalling (that’s the word I was looking for).  Since the stroke, I often forget what word I am looking for.  Except for “bacon,” that one seems to come to mind quite easily!

So in the last year as I was trying to 1. accept the fact I had a stroke and 2. rehab from it, here are the things I learned…

1. After having to wait 3 days to eat…hospital food actually tastes pretty nice.
2. I may have lost my sense of right or wrong while in the hospital because I said hospital food is pretty nice!
3. I couldn’t speak for the first week after the stroke so I could only grunt.  The grunt of “I need to go to the bathroom” and “I want a drink” was identical – I blame myself for that one.
4. I could not move the right side of my face.  When looking in a mirror it was reversed, so that took some getting used to!
5. When I moved to the rehab center for a week I got my favorite burritos from San Bernardino – except I couldn’t eat them without making a mess.
6. When I came home, my right arm would be sitting in my food and I had no idea it was happening.
7. When I made coffee, I would spill at least one cup every few days and coffee ain’t cheap!  Plus I would tilt my cup to dangerous level…until someone reminded me that I was going to be watering the carpet!
8. To show how die-hard of a fan of coffee I was I had to drink it from a straw – but for some reason I didn’t take pictures of that.
9. For a while, I had a cane.  That was pretty sweet!
10. Then in March we went to see my brother and his family.  One day I asked to drive one of his ATV’s – that went badly.  My right hand was stuck on the throttle and despite my brother’s insistence that I take the hand off (in expletive laden form) I didn’t.  I could have, but I was a deer in headlights and just froze.  So, I hit a tree on his property going about 20mph.  When I hit it, I popped up and then blacked out momentarily.  Blood was pouring from my head and I had some pretty nice bruises.  But all ended well because my brother got a new ATV out of it.
11. To use the computer for the first month, I had to place the mouse on the left side of the desk and use it with the left hand.  Man, you left-handers have it tough!  Well actually that’s probably the only way you know how to a mouse and you’ve discovered it works just fine.
12. I still have a problem with my girls’ names….that’s not that funny.  Although the one and a half year old is going think that her name is: her two sisters names, plus “that’s not right…”

So, there are a few things I have learned.  I hope you found it helpful.  You probably didn’t but that’s my entry to today!

*as a stroke survivor I find the photo up there to be funny.  Plus it has a Sesame Street character!!