rehab track days
A month ago today, I was taken from the Almonte General Hospital emergency department two floors below and wheeled down this hallway on a gurney. My first room was at the very end of the hall on the left-hand side. It was the last bed available on the ward that night.
I couldn’t walk. My left arm, hand, leg, and foot were no longer under my brain’s control. I needed help to get in and out of bed and to get taken to and from the toilet (with the help of a portable commode). My tongue felt thick and sticky. I had difficulty forming words.
At about 7 o’clock that night, I posted this on Facebook:
Dear everybody, I’m OK. I’m in the Almonte hospital. I was admitted today. I had a stroke over the weekend and my left-hand side is pretty much useless. I can’t type with my left hand, nor can I walk. I’ve been in four ambulances over the last two days. My symptoms started Saturday morning and got worse yesterday and today. I had a CAT scan at the Civic hospital yesterday afternoon. I’m going to be in the hospital for at least a couple of days. I don’t know what will happen after that, but I will reach out to folks in Almonte when I need help, which I undoubtedly will. Thanks to everyone for your support and good wishes. It looks like my motorcycle season will be shortened again (as it was last year when I sprained my wrist in May and then rolled into a ditch in July), and that makes me very sad. On the other hand, the prognosis is apparently good and I will be getting rehab. Love to all, Susan
Over the next three days, I got worse. On February 6, I shared this:
Dear everybody, today is Thursday, February 6, and I’m still in the hospital. The good news is I seem to have stabilized. At least for the moment. I can honestly say that Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this week were the worst three days of my entire life. The stroke symptoms worsened. My whole left side was, and still is pretty much useless. I’m unable to walk, and my left arm and hand are not good for much. I found out that I had two small strokes, not one as originally thought. With this kind of ischemic stroke, the symptoms get worse before they get better because the area becomes inflamed, and the symptoms worsen and/or persist until the inflammation subsides.
Since then, I blogged about aspects of my ‘progress’ here, here, and here.
Four weeks out, I am now able to walk with a cane, which I do several hours a day around two of the three wards on the second floor of the hospital (see pic above). More often than not, I carry rather than use the cane and so far, I haven’t fallen (knock on wood!). I’m still shaky on my feet, but the cane gives me a sense of confidence and the comfort of knowing that, should I become very unbalanced, I will have something to lean on. I’m also doing strengthening exercises as well as stretches and balance-enhancing exercises. I do as much with my left hand as possible including eating and reaching for stuff. My whole left side remains weak and difficult to manage. However, it’s improving day by day.
I plan to go home this Friday, March 7, and, sometime after that, I hope to start formal stroke rehabilitation as an outpatient in Perth, which means I will need to be ferried back-and-forth to the facility there two or three times a week. It’s a forty minute drive one way. I would have much preferred to do the rehabilitation as an inpatient, but sadly that didn’t work out in the end. There’s a small chance that my change, but I’m getting keener to go home and be with Kitty Cat in my own place and specifically my own bed! Hospital beds really suck.
Thanks as always for your ongoing support <3
Love & hugs,
susan
© 2024 Susan Macaulay. I invite you to share my poetry and posts widely, but please do not reprint, reblog or copy and paste them in their entirety without my permission. Thank you.
