It's been a while since I checked in or communicated here. My new therapy finally started in May. So far it's been going well. I had a huge victory 2 weeks ago in occupational therapy. I made a ponytail. I can't even describe how huge this is. I haven't been able to do that for over 15 months. 11 months ago I cut off my hip length hair because I couldn't maintain it with one hand. I didn't think I was close to being able to make a ponytail but my occupational therapist had me try. I decided to do it the opposite way of how I used to do it. Elastic around the left wrist instead of the right wrist. It feels a bit awkward and it doesn't always go very well and I can only do it sitting down. But I did it. Doing it daily now, very happy! Every female stroke survivor has this on their goal list. My new physical therapist is a very lovely woman my age and she is super excited about working with me and it feels very encouraging. We're currently focusing on relaxation. After a stroke you often get very high spasticity, especially in the hand. It's muscle cramps. Everything wants to bend, especially the fingers. The more tension in the body, the more spasticity. So she has me lie down and massages my hand to get the spasticity lower. It's to see if we can get the fingers to stretch and possibly the hand flat. We start lying down because then the tension is the lowest. Then work up to sitting and standing. It sounds very promising. Huge downside however: she has temporarily forbidden me to do strength training and weight lifting. Very sad. But it might interfere with the process and build too much tension. I guess I will be focusing on cardio and pilates with bands. It will eventually hopefully help with strength training as it might help me hold on to dumbbells better. So I will behave and stay away from strength training. Reluctantly. So very happy and excited, but also very sad. What is everyone up to in terms of programs?
Just checking in with updates
It's been a while since I checked in or communicated here. My new therapy finally started in May. So far it's been going well. I had a huge victory 2 weeks ago in occupational therapy. I made a ponytail. I can't even describe how huge this is. I haven't been able to do that for over 15 months. 11 months ago I cut off my hip length hair because I couldn't maintain it with one hand. I didn't think I was close to being able to make a ponytail but my occupational therapist had me try. I decided to do it the opposite way of how I used to do it. Elastic around the left wrist instead of the right wrist. It feels a bit awkward and it doesn't always go very well and I can only do it sitting down. But I did it. Doing it daily now, very happy! Every female stroke survivor has this on their goal list. My new physical therapist is a very lovely woman my age and she is super excited about working with me and it feels very encouraging. We're currently focusing on relaxation. After a stroke you often get very high spasticity, especially in the hand. It's muscle cramps. Everything wants to bend, especially the fingers. The more tension in the body, the more spasticity. So she has me lie down and massages my hand to get the spasticity lower. It's to see if we can get the fingers to stretch and possibly the hand flat. We start lying down because then the tension is the lowest. Then work up to sitting and standing. It sounds very promising. Huge downside however: she has temporarily forbidden me to do strength training and weight lifting. Very sad. But it might interfere with the process and build too much tension. I guess I will be focusing on cardio and pilates with bands. It will eventually hopefully help with strength training as it might help me hold on to dumbbells better. So I will behave and stay away from strength training. Reluctantly. So very happy and excited, but also very sad. What is everyone up to in terms of programs?