a stroke survivor story

The good news is that the exercises from the Physical Therapist should increase my coordination and improve my strength...the bad news is that they are HARD. I really love the prospect of having little or no side effects from my stroke, but I don't know that I like the prospect of doing these exercises every day. I just have to remind myself that anything worth doing is worth doing right; I also have to remember that exercises that are good for me might be hard in the short term.

I have been having some problems with weakness in my left leg lately. It bothered me, a little, and I decided to go to the Dr. He gave me a consult to Physical Therapy. They told me a couple things; one I already knew, but feared and the second I anticipated but did not know for sure. The thing I already knew was that the muscles in my legs are strong and fine. There is no deficiency in the strength of my legs. What I feared was that the problem is really a neurological problem, balance issue and not a strength issue. Where this can be a problem is that this "problem" probably will not get better but will, over time, get worse. That was no surprise; what was a surprise was that there are exercises I can do that can "hopefully" teach me to regain balance. In other words, the nerves probably will not get better, I can just relearn how to do certain things. The weakness is not, in truth, weakness; it is a balance issue. So, I have some more exercises to do over time th

But that is actually a good thing...no posting means that I have had very little, if any side effects from my strokes in the last few months. In fact, in September, my neurologist officially released me and told me that she is genuinely surprised, in fact flabbergasted, at my recovery. It is not just rare for someone to have a complete recovery after a stroke as mine...it does not happen. Having said that, I do have one little problem...I am having some weakness in my left knee. In fact, with my right leg, I can get up and down with little or no problems...with my left knee, I cannot get up after I am on the floor. My neurologist is going to do another scan of my brain to make sure it has not changed any...she doubts it, but it would just set her mind at ease if she did that. Other than my leg bother my a little, I feel GREAT!