Skip to main content

I got some interesting information, but I wonder about it...

I went back to my neurologist earlier this week; the neurologist that had been with me since my stroke left to take another position at the same hospital so I now have a new neurologist. Needles to say I was a little unsure about going to a new neurologist. I know, I know, I should not think that Dr. Benjamin walks on water but it is hard not to think that; without her I would be dead! But, I digress. This new neurologist told me some things that I had never heard before. First, I had always been under the impression that I cannot take any NSAID pain relievers because I am on an aspirin regimen. But, he told me that an occasional Motrin or Aleve is not bad; I should not become dependent upon them (that is, I should not take them daily, just periodically) but 1 every now and then is not going to hurt. The second thing he told me that made me go hmmmmmm was when he told me that all of my headaches (I get periodic terrible headaches in the back of my head. Those of you who have followed my blog for a long time know about them) are caused by nothing more than stress. If I eliminate stress (yea, good luck with that one) I can eliminate my headaches. When I told him that I get terribly fatigued, especially late in the day, he basically told me it is simply because I am out of shape and need to try walking on the treadmill more. One problem: I do walk on the treadmill periodically but then my blood pressure gets all whacky on me and then I get fatigued from the that and I am not able to do it anymore. It is not as if I do nothing; I do walk on the treadmill periodically and I try to stay active. Then he laid the biggy on me: there really is nothing that I used to be able to do that I should not be able to do now. My balance will be worse, obviously, but my stamina should not be changed at all. I'm sorry, what? I have seen my stamina go in the crapper, my endurance is terrible and my energy gets depleted quickly. So I am thinking "What the crap?" But, I went home and started thinking that it has been 5 years since my stroke (WOW....) and I have done pretty well for these 5 years, so I think I will just keep doing what I have done before and see how things go.

Comments

  1. Your neurologist knows nothing about fatigue, getting more cardivascularily fit may not help. My fitness is at the athlete level and I still have massive fatigue at 7 years.

    ReplyDelete
  2. some times we won't get good advice or a good person for help. alejandro betancourt

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A stroke survivor's memory is tricky sometimes...

Tomorrow I will preach the funeral for a dear friend of mine. He was the definition of a selfless person. I truly appreciated all that he did, but, when I was meeting with the family on Wednesday a memory came to me suddenly and I was suddenly overcome with emotion. Let me back up a little bit: After my stroke in December, 2008 my license was revoked for obvious reasons and it took me some time and practice before I was able to drive again. I finally got my license back in February, 2009. But, shortly after I got my license back the reality of the severity of my stroke became evident: my stroke had seriously impacted the PONS area of my brain stem, and therefore, a lot of my nerves were negatively impacted. One of the nerves that was damaged was the nerve that controls my eye movements; my left eye would would twitch, at times almost uncontrollably, and that made it really difficult to drive, particularly at night. That brings me to the memory that left me so emotional. Fast forwar

Making a BIG, but somewhat hurtful, decision...

A few years ago I was presented with the opportunity to come back to Stratford, Iowa, to First Baptist church, as their pastor; for those of you who have followed this blog for some time, FBC in Stratford was my first pastorate. Let's just say I prayed about it as I was jumping at the opportunity. The church has a parsonage, so I could live there and not have to worry about a houe payment; and I needed to slow down, and this was a part time position (which, as a side note, allowed for me to get a greater disability from the VA than when I was working full time with St. Croix Hospice...) We love Stratford, and absolutely love the church; the people are wonderful and accepted us, again, with open arms. This was, for me, the perfect position: I get to pastor a church I LOVE, I get to do life with people I LOVE, and I have already had the opportunity to do weddings and baptism services for kids (adults now) that I have known their entire lives. IT IS GREAT. The longer I have been here,

What's it like to live in the brain of a stroke survivor???

First , quit calling us a "victim of a stroke", we are survivors of a stroke; the majority of us have found a way to live, as one professor said, not under our circumstance but above our circumstance! For many of us, we are some of the funniest, loving people you will ever meet. Second , don't expect us to be able to multi-task easily. If a football player tears his ACL, no one expects him to be on the field playing at a high level the next week; most who have suffered a torn ACL never play at a high level again. If a skier breaks his leg, no one expects him to be on the slopes the next week, skiing for gold; most who have broken their leg will never ski at a high level again. If a pitcher has to have Tommy John surgery, no one expects him to be on the mound pitching in game 7 of the World Series the next week; most who have had Tommy John surgery will never pitch at a high level again. What do all of thes have in common? A muscle, tendon or bone was severely injured, a