Hi Mark totally agree with work giving you the drive and sense of capability, I pushed myself to be back to work at 8 weeks and was thrilled I could do my job as before as team leader in a busy office covid came and we worked from home which made me realise that my HF symptoms improved as I walked about more no swollen legs etc as I was a year on from my stroke I could mentally achieve everything I could before but physically sat working every day I realised wasn’t the best for my general health. Fatigue has lifted the fog has gone I now swim 50 lengths 3 x a week and can’t wait for warmer weather to be cycling regularly. I cannot imagine how anyone living alone copes hats off to them. The only outward symptom I have is drop foot which the toes are numb on that foot and wearing high heels is like bambi on ice 
hand also numb so hubby learned not to give anything to the left hand very quickly. Congenital Heart conditions go undetected in so many people till too late so I consider myself sooooo lucky and blessed. Keep striving to be the best we can and enjoy life in different ways we survived 
Hi Natalie @nataliemoxham , great to hear your fatigue has improved. Amazing that you can swim so much. I used to swim a fair bit when my son was younger so may give it a try.
It sounds like you have very similar symptoms to me, but on the opposite side.
Funnily enough I also have problems with high heels 
.
That is one of my goals……I want my heels 
….physio just shook her head and laughed when I put it as one of my 6 week home discharge rehab goals (apparently no one had ever listed that before 
….think I must be different….they also laughed at my cocktail 
making goal! ) My arm had a mind of its own! Goal was definitely cos I had no idea of the true effects of what had just happened! Denial….ignorance……
Nearly six months later….can do cocktails but still haven’t achieved ….when tried….your description is so accurate
Hi heels were my goal and eye rolls from physio were also given I guess it should be down the list but everyone’s different. Cocktails is a good one maybe this could impair the heels though 
good to have own goals I’m still trying with the heels though for my daughters wedding this summer 
Hi. Butcherd01. I hope was similar in that I was a very active 67 year old (ran every day) until my stroke came out of the blue in the middle of the night 5 months ago. I got up to go to the loo but fell out of bed as my left hand side stopped working. Arms and legs couldn’t move. The control part of my brain had gone. No other typical symptoms so puzzled the paramedics. Luckily 4am is quiet in A&E so got seen straight away in hospital. Hit me hard beng so active and I also played keyboards in a band. So running and band work were my two main interests. Both off the agenda. Local NHS were marvellous. Dedictated stroke ward with on hand rehab team to provide exercises and techniques to get me walking again and slowly to relearn how to play the keyboards. I’ve now ditched the walking sticks, walk 40 min a day and back to playing keyboards in my local instrumental group. Still walk ungainly, not run yet and left hand not so accurate on the keys but getting there. So persistence and positivity are the words of the day…
Welcome @Retrokeyplayer, horrible that you had a stroke but great to hear such good progress so far in your recovery.
Keep up the good work!
Hi Mark. Perhaps similar to you, I went back to work after 8 weeks (perhaps too soon?) to prove to myself my brain (or at least the cog I part) still worked and I could add value. I only did 6/hours initially over 3 mornings but found although I could keep alert and useful for that length of time, I paid for it in the afternoon and had to have several hours sleep whilst my brain continued with its mending processs. My organisation wanted me to increase my hours but as I was finding the whole day was given over to either work or recovering from it, I’m going to pack it in shortly. Perhaps look for some voluntary work where I could still add value but not feel cheated when I rest to recover. Although my organisation seemed sympathetic, I don’t think they understood the fatigue side effects that hit you. Seems to be a similar story elsewhere. Good luck to everyone
Hi @Retrokeyplayer , I actually didn’t start tentatively engaging back with work until about 4 months after my stroke. I was in hospital and rehab ward for 6 weeks before coming home. Then I developed really bad anxiety which was debilitating and far harder for me to deal with than doing the daily physio.
I was extremely lucky to have both a fantastic helpful GP and sympathetic work (with a fair bit of sick cover due to long service).
It was almost 5 months before I was doing a few hours per day. Then in the 6 weeks leading up to the end of the year (one of the busiest periods) I got a bit carried away and was doing 5+ hours a day (my choice). As Christmas approached the fatigue really caught up with me and I was totally exhausted & unable to manage to do my physio or walks
My company arranged for an independent Occupational Health assessment just before Christmas & I was advised to scale back my hours before slowly building up again
Sorry for the long reply but now I am slowly trying to work up towards full time but am at the mercy of the unknown fatigue!
Fingers crossed I’ll get there but I’ve already made them aware I may have to consider part time.
All the best.
Mark
Hi DorisRose,
I too had a stroke, which affected my right side (and I’m right handed). 10k is really impressive. I tried an FES but didn’t get along with it. My leg muscles are finally (after 7 years) responding to exercise and I am walking with a stick, but catch my toe when I tire. Aquarobics is great for stroke recovery. The repetitions of movement are great for the neuroplasticity. My arm is responding, but still stiffness up if I don’t keep moving it. My hand - well that’s a different story, but I’m not giving up on it!
Never say never!
Hello. Very quick question - are you a Wordler?
Hi @Elljay , Yes I am. My wife introduced me to it a couple of weeks ago and now I’m hooked!
Welcome to the forum.
Are you a Wordler?
Yes, I am - it’s addictive! The reason for my interest was that my partner, who now suffers from aphasia after suffering his stroke in October 2020, is still brilliant at cryptic crosswords and killer sudoku, yet cannot be persuaded to try Wordle. I must show him your post!
Kind regards,
Lindsey (elljay)
Hi Lindsey @Elljay , that’s so sad to hear about your husband, but Wordle is s great way to bring some fun and competitiveness. My 22 year old son had a go a few days ago and now he seems hooked as well and we have a daily comparison. Surprising as he is more of an Xbox type .
Hello Mark,glad you are getting there slowly but remember the tortoise and the hare? I hope you have a sense of humour you might find it useful,and you are very right you do find different ways to do things or not if that’s how you feel,I usually find that when it comes to ironing haha!
Take it easy,take your time,keep fighting every day but if you don’t feel like doing anything then don’t.
Don’t be afraid to tell people/strangers if you need help or understanding they will be helpful if they know,took me a while to do this but now I wear a badge to explain because I look normal on the outside,I use the word normal very loosely!! Remember Mark you are still here .try to keep smiling 
if you can and remember tomorrow is another day.i send you best wishes,Bernadette ☆
Hi Bernadette, when I am out & about my physical disability is very obvious. But if in my brain is in overload moad , have habit of not being able to process conversation! Just go blank. I am interested to know what badge you wear, & from where.
Ironing! Always tried to avoid, Remember when it was just me & my son , I bought some good, no iron school shirts for him , cheating? Now could not even consider Ironing, coordination no good. Big achievement for me , put on plug other day. (Tortoise) Whatever happened to person hoping to build own bungalow. 
Good speaking David.
Thanks Bernadette , I started out in the the first few weeks like the hare but have definitely slowed to more of a tortoise pace as fatigue hits 
. I was never any good at ironing before the stroke (well I was good at ironing creases into my shirts!) but thankfully my wife spared me the grief many years ago. Interesting idea about the badge (I have found myself feeling the need to tell people I’ve had a stroke when I take a long time doing things).
I appreciate your message and will certainly try to keep smiling
I was giving a friend some distant practice today and was intrigued to see whether my thinking hard about the word would have any telepathic effect. We were both surprised when it seemed to!
Lol! I could have done with some today as it took me 5 goes.
Hi, I had my brain haemorrhage in 1996, I was left with left side weakness. I also use a FE S machine, I have recently been given a foot lifter device and it works great. I was given it from the rehabilitation dept at the hospital that has treated me since 1996. I also have BOTOX injections in my leg, that helps my toes to stop clawing and helps my ankle to stop turning over, but that only lasts about 8/10 weeks. But the foot lifter is certainly worth looking at.
HI @Crick , that’s interesting to hear. I initially had a problem with drop foot on my left (stroke affected side)for which I was given a splint type contraption to put in my shoe. Then when I moved to the rehab hospital I was given another contraption that had to be fixed into the laces on my shoe. Neither of these worked very well for me and were so difficult to put on with my numb hand!
I ended up just having to really focus on trying to lift my toes when walking and listening carefully for any slight scuffing sound as I walked. The lack of feeling in the foot seems to be the thing that impeeds the smoothness of my walk the most
The Botox is not something I’ve heard about before and could help my right foot if the clawing gets worse. I try to concentrate on relaxing my toes as much as possible.
Crazy isn’t it, when you have so many things to concentrate on just to do something you used to do on total auto pilot since a toddler?