Good Morning from a very wet Norfolk Bank Holiday Monday after a glorious warm and sunny Easter Sunday. We had a great day with friends yesterday doing nothing more than chatting eating and sitting. Slept 10 hours last night and have woken up still tired and feeling wiped out. So annoying.
I am almost 6 months post stroke and still hobbling around the house using a stick. I cannot imagine ever being able to walk without using a stick which is very depressing. How on earth do people graduate to managing to walk without help?
Coffee has just arrived courtesy of my wonderful husband - how I wish I could do such simple jobs.
Sorry for the moans - its one of those days.
Hope everyone has a good day - Janet
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Sun??!!! It’s dreadful here. Raining non stop. Thanks Mahoney for your help. Just feel that Im stuck at the moment getting no further on. It doesn’t help that my wrist is in plaster either but hoping that willbe off in about 10 days. Janet
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I have found that I can manage sometimes to get around without sticks in the safety of my own home. This is because my home is quite compact and I use everything around me for support, eg, furniture, door frames and work tops. Also living by myself I dont have to consider the movement of other people (my brain cannot coordinate movement I see in front of me).
Maybe you could try something similar if you think you would be safe enough in your own home?
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Hi Janet, I’m 6 years post stroke and use a walking stick outside but I try not to use my stick at home. I first tried walking without my stick when I was having private physiotherapy at home. I manage to get around our bungalow quite well using various things, ie furniture, worktops etc. to steady myself if I need it. I feel that I have improved my walking over time, although I’m sure a physiotherapist would probably say different 
. I’m sure you will feel more confident when your plaster has been removed. I do find that some days I walk quite well and then the next day not so good. Very strange and very annoying. As is everything stroke related.
Weather awful here in Kent today hasn’t stopped raining all morning.
Regards Sue
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Yes Sue the plaster has set me back many weeks and I know once the plaster is off I will need weeks of more physio to get the hand working again. That are is the side of my body that was affected by the stroke and I was just getting the hand working again when I fell. Grrrrrrrrt!
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Think I could manage the kitchen walking without a stick but our lounge is too big I’m sure. However better not try yet as I couldn’t cope with another broken bone!
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@Apple hopefully in time you will build up stamina and will suddenly feel able to give walking without a stick a try. You’ve had a set back which has knocked your confidence a bit i think.
I was very unsteady on my feet initially but i resisted a stick…much to the physios disgust. I moved around using the furniture for support. Then i progressed to a few steps without tye furniture but with it close enough so if I felt wobbly I could hold on. Then i started a walk along the hall…stairs were half way so i could take a seat if I needed too. It took me 12 months to build the confidence to try walking in the lane. I still stumble but manage to kerp upright mainly. I sometimes take a golf umbrella for support.
Try building your core strength as this will help you stay upright if you do stumble. Use Google to find some exercises.
Good luck & take care.
P.s. it’s horrid here today too.
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Hi Mrs5K. Yes you are right about the fall and broken wrist knocking my confidence. It’s really got me terrified I will fall again and break a leg or hip. The trouble is my foot turns over even though I’ve had a splint on it. Nothing seems to help so I tend to creep around. Hope work is going well for you. Thank goodness I retired years ago!
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Sunnyday. I wish I knew how people graduated from a stick to walking on their own but I can’t ever imagine being able to walk without a stick. Like you the idea that this stick will be an essential part of the rest of my life fills me with horror! Janet
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@Apple i wonder if you could think of your walking stick as your bid for freedom. If it means you can get out & about then that is better than being stuck inside ? Many people use them to improve their confidence but it is also a visual aid for others so they know you might need more space or more time. I know it shouldn’t matter but when i go out without my orthotic I find people get frustrated with me being in their way. When I wear my orthotic they can see i have a problem & they are more patient.
Just a thought xx
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3:35 and the sun is finally trying to break through, been pouring down all day today and I had plans for the garden 
By doing lot’s of cruising the furniture, walls and door frames that’s how 
How do you think babies do it. And you are sounding just like you’re itching to be off…just like a baby on the brink of crawling
If you want it badly enough you do it yourself not as and when you’re fatigue allows you to or feels like it. I have my whole family at home with me, hubby, son and daughter and all are well able to everything for themselves and me too if I aloud it.
So what you need to be asking yourself is, what would you do to fend for yourself if you were alone on a deserted island in your current state. And the first thing you’d want to do is get off that walking stick a.s.a.p. because 2 hands are better than one…unless one of those hands is your stroke hand, in which case you definitely need to get off the stick because 1 hand is better than no hands 
To me, one hand means twice the number of journeys, double the fatigue.
But while you’ve no hands, because of your broken wrist, this is all just food for thought, a bit of inspiration for the future when your broken wrist is free…which is not long now 
Though you would still need to be very cautious as the bones will still be very weak, just newly knitted together, you don’t want to risk putting too much pressure on too soon I’m afraid.
My Osteopath recommended one of these many years ago to help target the pressure points of muscle tension. I’d totally forgotten about it tucked away in the back of a cupboard 'til a few weeks ago. I’ve now used it a few times on my stroke leg, digging in and running down the sciatic nerve path from base of spine to knee, around knee, down outside to ankle and a few spot around there and sole of foot. Also some very tense spot on shoulders and down spine.
Anyway, that seems to have brought on some positive results for my drop foot the past few days, in that it’s not been dropping! There is some hint of it wanting to revert back so I will be having another go with it.
Using the hook as I do, does leave you feeling a little battered and bruised for a few days afterwards (just like after a sports physio session) so it’s not until that settles down before you start feeling the benefit.
Chin up and keep going, stay positive and focused on your upcoming freedom
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That is how I felt 5 years ago when I was still employed and I was attempting to get back to work. Having a stick gave me the opportunity to try working again (the fatigue eventually beat me and I had to take early retirement).
Since then I usually use 2 sticks when going out and I also have a rollator that gives me even more flexibility to go a bit further from home. My walking aids are quite normal to me now and do give me some freedom to remain independant.
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Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply to my moans and give me such good advice. I am the eternal pessimist but will try to look on the bright side a bit more. Certainly the broken wrist hasn’t helped and also the fact that I have been told I need to see a specialist at the hospital regarding my foot that turns over and caused my fall but then said I am unlikely to get an appt before September. What else could I break in the next few months?! Have tried to go privately but with no luck. However onwards and upwards. Emerald Eyes that hook looks a lethal piece of equipment! Pleased it appears to be helping though and yes Mrs5K I will think of my stick as a passport to life outside as indeed it is. Hope everyone has had a good Easter weekend and seen some sunshine 
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This is an old thread but there’s some good points raised here, I think it deserves a bump.
My post sat as a draft copy that I will punch up now, for those who feel there is a wall and no getting past it.
Get the dynamite out !!
This post has sat as an unfinished draft until now, about 20 months in all since my stroke., its a little late, but I’ll get it finished and post it.
I’m just about 13 months into stroke territory.
The first six months led me to believe I’d never walk again.
After about 7 or 8 months I began to realise that being able to stand solidly was half way to walking.
I started writing this again, much later, here:
With little in the way of physiotherapy I began to take a few steps unaided. Even to this day my technique is poor. Some of this is due to lacking strength, stamina and co-ordination. Hopefully with practise each of these will improve.
I began by using a rollator.
A walking device with four wheels and a seat, which gave me a solid moving platform for support and somewhere to sit when I got tired. Eventually carting it around everywhere seemed like a nuisance, though it did have its uses still as a mobile trolley for moving things around.
Then I graduated to walking stick.
A magic wand, useful for reaching things, pushing doors closed, opening and closing curtains, hooking up things that fell on the floor, as well as a support during the inevitable wobbles that stroke walking produces.
And now progressing, (look mum no hands!) walking without aids.
Apart from the occasional door handle, top of a chair, or grabbing someone standing close by, then apologising of course.
Still I’m working over short distances, but I can stand in one place for longer and can successfully carry a cuppa, the list of wonders is wonderful.
Oh yes, also includes getting up and down stairs occasionally.
It’s not so far, there’s long way to go yet, but as I said at the beginning of this piece of writing, I never believed I could achieve what I have.
It is the old tortoise and hare thing. Slow and steady gets you there.
There have been slips and falls, but I accept the bruises and pain as signposts towards improvement.
Never give up, you might get down at times, but you are truly capable of far more than you would believe.
Keep on keepin’ on
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That is the main thing… we do get there!
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Really love that Bobbi! So many things in your post that I think “that’s just like me!” Like you I thought I would never walk again but 10 months on I’m walking with a stick. Not as well as I would wish but walking nevertheless. I had a setback when I broke my wrist which has left my hand b….y useless and painful.
However made a breakthrough when I discovered I could walk up and down the stairs. Don’t do it unless someone is with me but it’s good exercise! Just have to
“keep on keeping on!”
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I love this post, in fact I love all your posts because I love your attitude to life.
Don’t ever stop! Keep on keepin’ on
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And that calls for a celebration 
I know that achievement well after my stroke it was the 3rd time in as many years I had to relearn to climb the stairs 
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@Apple @EmeraldEyes
I’m glad it speaks to you both. Thanks too for the compliments.
. . . and here’s something if you are interested in exercise, that my physio told me.
At the bottom, of the stair case, holding the handrail or both handrails if you have two. Step up just one step, then stand. Step down one step and stand. Repeat this a few times and then go rest. This is a good strength building exercise, not about getting upstairs, just about building muscle by just using that first step.
Remember rest repairs, so be sure to do it.
Early days after stroke can be dark days, we need to be told that there is a future.
Keep on keepin’ on
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And that’s how I always started off. Now I use the stairs to do my son and daughter’s calf raise challenges…boy can they be painful 
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