Many stroke survivors deal with this to varying degrees. After my stroke 15 years ago, the back of my hand would get very painful, especially during the winter. I made these little hand warmer things with crochet, just made them up using trial and error to get the size right. I haven't worn them in several years because my nerve pain had actually gotten a lot better (still had some, but it wasn't debilitating). I've been able to wear short sleeves in the summers with no problem, and need regular gloves in the winter when normal people would wear gloves.
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Backstory: We are selling our house and the appraiser came today. At 9 am. Meaning I had to be ready for her *before* 9 am.
So I got up at o'dark thirty...just kidding, although any time of day to wake up before 10 am is early. Sundays I get up at 8, but I say it's because God is worth the sacrifice. The kitchen looked like two bachelors lived here, so I had to do the dishes and clean the counters. I think I used all my spoons for today! Back story: Monday afternoon (two days ago), a house came available. It was new construction, so if we wanted to buy it, we wouldn't have to compete against any other offers. But naturally we wanted to see it first. The drive took almost an hour, because visibility was zero. But did that stop people from weaving in and out of traffic and cutting us and others off? No! My anxiety was through the roof there and back (nothing to do with Bill's driving...just the rain and those other bad drivers ). (House turned out to be a bummer--evidence of shoddy workmanship--and I'm glad it was raining because the rain made that obvious.)
By the time we got home (10 pm), my hand was in full spaz mode. (The technical term is "spasticity" which...in untechnical terms means "being spazzy". ) The first picture is my hand "relaxed." My fingers are so tight you can't even see my nails. I cannot open my fingers, and Bill has to use force to open them for me (gently as part of a therapy exercise). I went to bed last night with a fist, and I woke up this morning still with a fist. Today was the first time I've gone to bed *and* woken up the next morning with a fist. n order to collect all the info needed for my disability application, I have to record what goes on with my body. Several months ago I kept track of every time my right side would go numb. I only kept track for a week and a half, and I'm going to keep track again this coming week to compare.
When my side goes numb, it starts with a full feeling in my forearm, then pours down into my hand. The sensation travels up past my shoulder onto my face and down my side through my leg to my foot. A slight tingling like it's just waking up from being asleep, but not painful. I have to stop what I'm doing, stop what I'm saying. All my thoughts crumble and I have to basically pause my life until the numbness passes. Usually this lasts 20-45 seconds. On July 2, 2006, when my son was 8 weeks old, my brain exploded. I found out later that I have an AVM that ruptured, causing a stroke. Throughout the years, I've slowly recovered. Not fully! But enough to function as a halfway decent wife and mom. I struggle with fatigue, nerve pain, and aphasia the most, but I've mostly adapted to get the most out of life. (Apparently I also struggle with word choice. Lol.)
Last summer (July of 2020), after several different things happened, I experienced a severe relapse in symptoms. Not only was my fatigue, nerve pain, and aphasia so much worse, I also experienced new symptoms, like spasticity and balance problems. I think now I had a second (probably more minor) stroke. I didn't have the same smashing headache, but with everything I did experience, I can only guess it was something like another stroke. |
Who am I, you ask?
In 2006 I had a stroke, and every day my husband encourages me to use my remaining brain cells to the best of my ability. I love to organize, make crafts, and go on adventures (safe ones). I hope that through my blog posts, you will be encouraged to accept and make the best of challenges God throws at your life. Categories
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