STROKE recovery is an unpredictable thing. Just before being discharged from hospital, when I was still shuffling about with the aid of a walking sick and one of the nursing staff to accompany me in case of a fall, I remember thinking that I was going to have to get used to walking with the stick, because realistically I’d still be dependent on it for many months to come.
However, over the course of the past week I was feeling a lot more stable on my feet. So much so that I felt able to try a wee experiment. I asked my husband Peter to stand at the end of the hallway, and with stick in hand I was able to walk towards him without using the stick at all. Over the following days I continued to practise getting around inside the flat, always with the stick in hand – just in case – but without actually using it, feeling more and more confident and more and more stable with every passing day.
Then on Saturday of last week, since it was a rare pleasant day, Peter went out for a cycle ride. Usually he is away for a couple of hours, and since I was in sore need of a cup of tea, I thought: “Bugger it, I’m going to do it myself.”
I can’t actually carry anything while using the walking stick as I still have very limited movement in my left hand and my good hand is grasping the stick. I got into the kitchen carrying the walking stick, but without using it, then, propping myself up against the sink. I filled the kettle, put a teabag in a mug and was able to have the first cup of tea I’d been able to make for myself since having the stroke. Then came the bit I was worried about. Leaving the stick behind, I carried the mug of tea into the living room – which turned out to be a whole lot less difficult than I had dared hope. Mission accomplished! Never has a cup of tea tasted so good.
In itself it’s not much, but it’s a huge personal milestone on the road back to normality, one which I hadn’t expected to reach so soon.
Movement is starting to come back to my left hand and that can be worked on in physiotherapy and occupational therapy in order to get back some functional use.
It’s still early days. Today it’s only eight weeks since the stroke that left me completely paralysed and numb down the entire left-hand side of the body. In the following days I really didn’t know If I’d ever walk again, yet here I am just eight weeks later getting about indoors without a walking stick and making myself a cup of tea. People can continue to improve for many months after a stroke, so there’s still plenty of potential for improvement.
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