It takes me quite awhile to recuperate from activities; I have been going non-stop for a few weeks and I was surprised to find that I was getting unusually tired easily. I told my wife that I slept better last night than I had in several weeks, but I was really tired by 2 this afternoon. It was really strange, until I really gave serious thought to the last couple weeks. When I take a serious look at the recent past, it is no wonder that I am tired; I just should not be surprised by it. It is just taking me some time to remember my limitations. Sometime I am confident that I will think about the effects BEFORE I undertake activities, rather than looking back and THEN saying, "Oops, maybe I did too much." Oh the learning that never seems to end; coming to grips with my new restrictions.
On December 8, 2008, my life changed forever. I had a double sided cerebellar stroke with 2 brain stem compressions. It was not until December 10, 40 hours after my stroke, that surgery was finally done to relieve the pressure. Dr. Piper, the neuro-surgeon from Iowa Methodist hospital in Des Moines, told my wife that surgery was nothing more than an attempt to save my life, but that it would not erase the deficiencies as a result of the stroke. Although she admits that she did not really understand what Dr. Piper had just said, my wife, Laura, agreed to the surgery and the care team performed a decrompessive craniotomy, to hopefully relieve the pressure and allow my brain to function somewhat normally. For those who have followed my blog for the last 14+ years, the surgery was successful, I returned to the church and I now live a relatively normal life, although I do have some pretty severe, though not always visible, defieciencies. I really thought that life could not get any worse th
I know what you mean. I never seem to judge correctly what my energy level will be. Yesterday I got a lecture from my occupational therapist about the importance of doing the prep work of "planning" the details of my activities before launching into "action".
ReplyDeleteBut it is amazing how we can get done what absolutely needs to get done isn't it?.
Linda in Winnipeg
http://leadingahealthylife.blogspot.com/