From Cold Mornings to Warm Reflections: Navigating Life After a Brain Stroke

Written November 16, 2024

Hello Dear Readers,

It was one of the days that I felt like I just wanted to stay in bed. Ever since I got my brain stroke, I cannot stand cold at all. Before I had my brain stroke, I had a much higher heartbeat and blood pressure, and I always felt hot. We used to live in Canada; my wife complained because I would open our bedroom window while sleeping. Ever since I can remember, my wife has kept her temperature around 65F or 18C during the winter. So our house would always be cool in the winter. I was hot all the time. Now, I feel cold.

I had difficulty forcing myself from bed this morning. I initially woke 45 minutes before my alarm. During the summer months, I would start my run early. But it’s so chilly. I hesitated. I crawled back to bed after using the restroom and fell back asleep. When my alarm sounded, I turned it off and snuggled back under the warm covers, staying awake but in bed and warm for a half hour. Despite the early morning, my wife was already out of bed a few hours before me. She wakes up much earlier every day.

Eventually, I forced myself to throw back the blankets and start my day. When I woke up, my wife was already done running, studying Geman, and writing something in the notebook in the dining room. She has more things to do in her morning routine, as she will create the menu for the upcoming week and create a grocery list. Somehow, we bought four limes that became bad after ten days, which she was upset about. She does not like wasting food ingredients since we should be able to control that with proper planning. Also, she thinks it is sinful to waste food. I know she lists why we wasted the food on the lists.  Then, she would write about how to avoid such an event again. The year is almost over, but we don’t have one page of wasted food. 

Observing my wife also made me question whether I had wasted time today. I’ve been delaying my run in my office, allowing it to warm up further, but I think I’ve wasted enough time now and will start my run shortly. I still need to do weekly house vacuuming chores and clean leaves outside. 

Later, I talked to my wife about this morning, and she said she would put on the space heater before she goes running going forward. She also understands that my body condition is different. I hope it will work better. 

Mastering Shower Routines After a Stroke to regain Independence

Written 6/17/2024

Hello Dear Readers,

One of the abilities I lost after my stroke was taking a shower by myself. It is ironic, but taking a shower is one of the private activities I enjoy a lot. For the first several months, I had my wife help me take a shower. I always wanted to regain the ability to shower, so I determined to train myself.

It took longer than I would have liked. When you get severe brain trauma, you will forget how to move your limbs. You suddenly feel like you are in a body that I have no control over. I had to be patient about it; it would be dangerous if I started to take my shower without being in control of my ability to move. Slowly, I started to regain mobility.

When I tried to take a shower, I noticed that some of my overcalculated versions of impulsive tendencies due to stroke started to creep into many of my behaviors. In other words, some of these behaviors suddenly overwrite my activities. I need to remember to do some clearing. I quickly realized that I have to be systematic with my activities to control my impulsive tendencies. 

How can I overcome this challenge? I decided to use exactly the same method to control my other impulsive tendencies. I used a method very similar to how I trained myself to remember to do many things. I do a series of rituals in the shower. I must remember normal things are not normal for me.

When I realized and contemplated what I thought was normal, I gained the habit of anticipating what would happen throughout the day and deciding how I wished to respond. Believe me, when you don’t have your body’s normal movement, there are many anticipated events. I think about it a lot while I am showering. 

Some people may say it is a mental simulation. My wife will say disaster or risk management, and I say that is my normal life. In some ways, my reaction was still impulsive when an anticipated event occurred, but it was at least one more in line with how I had previously decided was preferable. There were also times when my planned response was different from what I should have wished to do. Yet, I find myself with the planned response taking the place of the impulsive reaction.