The daily challenge

Hey guys,
I recently had a stroke in November. Before that I was enjoying rk as an agency delivery driver. I enjoyed it not just for the money but also for the daily challenges. I had to get up really early, I had to be organised, I had to be enthusiastic and so on.

All that is now on hold and I don’t know for how long. What I really miss is the daily challenge and success that my little job offered.

Simon Dickinson

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Hi Simon. Got wacked November last year. So still on mend, like you enjoyed my work & challenges ( gardening on private estate singlehanded) don’t know how it left you but problem I have is with some loss of periferal vision which is annoying but I’m still standing for which I’m grateful. Coming to terms with processing skills is the challenge, thank goodness I have a smart phone that’s smarter than me ! Hope you continue to use this site its very supportive. Pds. I managed to enjoy my first Christmas after Stroke hope you do, Best Wishes.

Dear Simon

Welcome on board

You are ideal material for a good recovery. Then you can look to getting satisfactory work.

To recover I reckon you need to be positive. And to smile a lot.
Always look at what you can do not what you can not.

You can also treat each day as a challenge. Can you walk a little further. Can you do a voluntary job.
Can you get washed and dressed each day.

We do recover.
Best wishes
Colin

Hi Colin I try to stay positive & do most days but you have to expect down days was told you have Diamond Days & dog days & over time Diamond Days increase. Attend a stroke support group & old timers tell you things get better. Now off to fill wheelbarrow full of logs for our woodstove.Stay well over Christmas & Best Wishes. pds

Welcome Simon. Unfortunately, stroke comes out of the blue and alters all our lives in some way. Hopefully, you will make a good recovery, but recovery is slow and frustrating. We all have down days, but also days when we surprise ourselves. Today I have tottered round a ruined abbey and been on a 45 minute tour of a stately home. All challenging and very tiring, but done. Someone asked me today if I’d just had a hip replacement because of the way I walk. Was very surprised when I said, no it was a stroke. Mine was six years ago.

Hi guys,
thank you for all the replies. I had no idea what a caring and kind community this is! It’s a pleasure to be here and I only wish I didn’t have to have a stroke to have discovered it.

I’m learning about my own recovery and I’m finding it a fraustrating and worrying experience. It feels like only yesterday when I was taking on the world and the next day I was falling over with dizziness and a diagnosis of a stroke.

Fatigue has been the biggest surprise, since leaving hospital. I only really felt it after I was discharged. My hospital experience was very pleasant and I found it restful and stress free. I guess when I re-entered the real world I felt the reality of my fatigue.

I hope that I too can be as welcoming to others as the welcome I have recieved from you wonderful people.

Simon

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Hello Simon (@niimmm), welcome to our community and forum. Hopefully, you’ll get back to doing what you love doing, and if not, find an alternative that is just as fulfilling. On the positive side, the capabilities you will develop through stroke recovery will add an invaluable skillset to your person. Despite the effects of stroke, the daily struggles we endure, can only lead to making us stronger in many ways because we have had to overcome and manage such a debilitating condition, successfully (comparatively).

At the moment, your brain is still in repair overdrive, it is important to take advantage of this phase of neuro-plasticity, before it slows down. But also, lots of rest to avoid the boom-bust cycle. Personally, I didn’t take advantage of neuro-plasticity, as in the early months of my recovery, I wasn’t aware of how important it was, but in hindsight, I can see how it progressed as I kept a stroke-diary.

Have a jolly festive season, and may your recovery go well.

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I’ve just started my eight year as a survivor. If I look back I can see that I’ve improved enormously since that day. Still havnt got anything like my old strength and dexterity but I’m still working on my fingers to get them more active. I play guitar and keyboards and had just come into contact with a clarinet player of my age group living just around the corner from me. We had one session before the big Covid shutdown shut us all away. Things are improving now and we might get together in the New Year for a session.
Deigh

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Hi Rups survived the day well. With sloe gin in hand & when chores completed read & enjoyed a few pages of Fribbling Squit.

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@Pds, pleased to hear you took some time to relax, and I hope you find some pleasure in the book. It’s been a fairly subdued Christmas here thus far. Most of my nieces and nephews are grown now, and if they do pop in, they can look after themselves, leaving me to potter around the outskirts. I received some miniatures from Northumbrian Tin Soldier, so will crack open the enamel paints at some stage, and get painting. Good for my hand-eye coordination.

Hi Rups yo-yo-ing a bit recently only to be expected. Enjoying your book in bite size bits before retiring & will pass it on to my elder sister who’s always had an interest in all things Welsh being a very keen mountaineer & rock climber in her youth Hope 2022 is a better year for everyone Worldwide Pds

Hi Simon-- I too remember my hospital experience as very pleasant and not feeling fatigued-I guess because it was restful and stress free. I guess they make it that way so the brain can do its initial healing. I found rehab days as very tiring days after I got home. And at home you are doing so much more than in the hospital. For example, you have to walk to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. No one brings it to you, etc. But it’s the very doing of things that causes you to get better and stronger. Hang in there. Drink lots of water and healthy food and rest often. Best wishes, Jeanne

Hello Jeanne,
Thank you for sharing your similar hospital experience with me. I’m learning something new about the new me every day. Sometimes that’s pleasant, sometimes overwhelming.

It’s the human interaction that is most challenging. It’s something I found hard work before stroke and now it’s harder. It’s why I loved my time in hospital. I had no explanations to give, nobody asked how I was feeling - that was a relief for me. My mother is very caring but her regular need for me to report on my progress gets me tired.

My father and I live alone together and we enjoy the silence of each others company. I’m finding that fatigue really hits when someone visits and wants me to engage.

Thank you for all the contributions on this thread.

Simon

Hello @Pds, I have been yo-yoing too, having days where I feel I can manage to days like today where I stayed supine until 2 pm, got up and ate later after doing a bit of housework, then now 10:30 pm, heading back to bed. Weather has been blustery and dreary, always good to pass on a book. I’ve managed to stock it in several libraries, I enjoy the idea of borrowing, although with digital tech, this happens less and less now. I will prepare myself for 2022 by resting so that I have the zeal to see it though with friends and family. Just a close knit gathering of us. Wishing you a pleasant New Year, and hope you had a relaxing Christmas.

Hi Simon

It is very important to remember that it is still pretty early days or you, with only six weeks or so (?) since your stroke. The daily challenges you faced at the job you loved have now been replaced by a different set of daily challenges, so that was a great title for your article.

Set yourself little goals and keep a simple record of your progress. On days when it seems a bit tough, or progress slow, look back at your record to see just how far you have come.

Learn to love the new person you have become, and enjoy the things you can do! Look forward in hope!

Very best wishes for 2022, and richest blessings

Stewart

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