GLASS HALF FULL?
I was very fortunate to be raised as 1 of 10 children a large family by today’s standards,  by 2 of the hardest working and loving parents anyone could hope for. We learned self motivation at an early age,  you learned young that anyone could achieve the easy things, special things took special efforts.
Perhaps that’s why when faced with the aftermath of Stoke I was able to focus and work towards my rehab goals, It was easy to lie in bed, watch Tv. and quit, giving up isn’t in my DNA,  I felt like it was a way to honor my Mom and Dad.
The challenges of life never end and sometime the Devil you know is better then the Devil you don’t know, I had 6 brothers and 4 sisters and my Father provided and mother nourished, with a house in the suburbs, if it was a desperate struggle I didn’t know it.
We all survived well into adult hood, losing 1 brother to cancer,  as a family spread out among the entire USA, for the most part we stay connected.
Recently I traveled to my home state and attended a family gathering and all but 1 brother were present and I stayed at 3 siblings homes,  I was quite surprised to hear my youngest brother who has a beautiful wife and wonderful kids,  a house, and a full time job and a part time job,  say he should be doing better.
I see Stoke survivors who struggle with every facet of their lives, from the moment they get out of bed till they return, their personal, financial and family lives shattered seemingly beyond repair, I know first person that reality. My brothers comments surprised me, my guess is anyone who has had a serious Stroke would gladly trade places.
If the grass is greener somewhere show me the map with 7,000,000 Stroke survivors in the USA ready to head there. We all make are own way on this earth,  some get an easier path,  some get a hard road,  I am satisfied my road was neither easy or impossible.
Refuse to be Helpless

                                                             REWARD OR RISK
It’s starts out innocently,  eat everything on your plate and you get desert,  or quiet down or no ice cream, we have been hearing these enticements long as as we can recall. Fact is our greatest reward in life is food,  because without it no other reward matters,  we need to eat to live but a great deal of us act like we live to eat. Food addiction, obesity, diabetes,  heart disease high blood pressure, ect..,  all lead to shortened lives and a drastic reduction in the quality of life.
I consider myself a reformed food addict having once been in the morbid obese category and currently with a BM I at 31.5,  I spent a great deal of my life planning my next meal,  to be sure I wouldn’t miss a meal, in fact I would plan a meal ahead,  at breakfast I would plan lunch and onward and life would go on and I got bigger.
I finally realized where I was headed when I reached over 325 pounds and 40 years of age went on a supervised liquid protein diet and had a dramatic weight loss,  not a healthy thing to do. I suffered the loss of a gall bladder and severe back pain as a result. Apparently I learned very little from my adventure because 6 months later I regained half the weight I had lost, frustrated and somewhat disgusted I continued on the roller coaster of weight control.
After my 3rd Stroke left me unable to swallow, a feeding tube was placed through my abdomen and into my stomach now I had no control over food,  nourishment was reduced to a mechanical function,  3 times a day a nurse would plug my tube into a bottle with a thick liquid in it and I had no feeling of being hungry before or fulfillment after,  it was a non-event.
What I learned was all those overwhelming feelings about food originated in my head and after I relearned how to swallow and returned to solid food I changed my entire attitude towards food and I began to look at food as a way to get healthy,  as a Diabetic I now had to become very selective as to what I ate, with self testing my blood sugar I quickly learned the foods that made my blood sugar spike. My therapy turned into workouts so I needed solid nutrition to sustain me through these efforts,  I began each day with a good breakfast,  that is about half my daily calories. See healthy recipes for my quick oatmeal breakfast, for my noon meal I have  a lean meat for protein, a small portion of carbohydrates,  a vegetable and a fruit, and my supper is a large salad with as much fresh vegetables as I can fit in the bowl, with 2 tablespoons of  vinaigrette dressing.
Change up the meats,  carbs and veggies as desired, this is not gourmets fare, but try it for a month and decide at that time if it working.
I have been eating this way for a couple years,  I was diabetic,  severe enough to require medication and Insulin, now normal blood sugar levels as well as blood pressure and every other metabolic indicator dominate.
It works for me and perhaps its preserving my life.
REFUSE TO BE HELPLESS

Soon after my first stroke, I was invited to a yoga class. Like a lot of guys I believed that yoga was for slender ladies who do lunch before going to the spa. Real guys went to the gym for a workout, so I passed on the opportunity.

Fast forward two years later when I was struggling with my breath control while trying to learn to speak. I was suffering from Aphasia and had a problem getting enough air in my lungs to speak in sentences. Anyone who has struggled with speech understands how frustrating it is to engage in a conversation when every second or third word is unintelligible.

Yoga was recommended by a speech therapist, so I joined a Silver Sneaker class called yoga flow, and so began another piece of my recovery puzzle.

I had no concept of how yoga was to help me, but nothing ventured nothing gained. My first class was mostly seated focusing on breathing and stretching with some standing balance poses. I was surprised at how tired I was after one hour of what I thought was pretty light stuff. I continued taking weekly classes and the first month I noted my blood pressure dropped 15 points as well as my blood sugar, after three months my A1C a key diabetic marker was also down.

My breathing problem surfaced after my third stroke and lasted until I was moved to long term care in a nursing facility. Basically, I could not inhale on demand I could breath but not when I wanted to.

Today, I do two yoga classes weekly and start each day with about 30 minutes of breathing and basic stretching poses. It is the best way for me get reconnected with my arms, legs and core muscles.

Its hard to point to one area of function that dramatically improved, as my overall improvements are dramatic. After three years practicing yoga, my breathing is near normal. I give oral presentations to groups and often swim for an hour at a time. My weak side has improved in both strength and flexibility, my standing balance has improved to one minute on either foot. I can bend a pick up things off the floor with either hand, my walking gait has improved in speed and length of strides, I only use a cane on difficult surfaces or when I’m tired.

As a therapy tool yoga is on my personal list, I would recommend it without hesitation to any stroke survivor.

REFUSE TO BE HELPLESS

I had long suspected that I might be diabetic, but I had physicals pretty much annually and nobody ever said I should be concerned. There were a couple of occasions when I asked about blood sugar and was assured it was normal.

The confirmation that I was diabetic came in the emergency room when I suffered my first stroke. That was the beginning of a life changing and almost life ending event.

At 56, I was overweight with a body mass index of 33, and with high blood pressure I was considered severely diabetic and they treated me with insulin and a several medications.

I went through training for testing my blood sugar and dietary restrictions and the staff stressed I would be on medications for the rest of my life.
There is no doubt in my mind that diabetes was a major contributor to my strokes along with retinopathy in my eyes.

I have had 15 laser surgeries on my eyes to repair the damage and received numerous injections in the eyes balls to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels. Diabetes is not something to be taken lightly.

The accurate test for diabetes is the A1C which measures blood hemoglobin and gives an accurate measure of your blood sugar over a period of time. Normal A1C is 5.5 or lower, over 5.5 your pre-diabetic, over 6.0 and your diabetic and need to control your blood sugar.

Failure to address this problem will lead to health problems such as blindness, kidney failure, amputations, chronic skin rashes and stroke.

My experiences demonstrate that you have to take control of your health. Be aggressive, take charge, insist that your doctor check your A1C. If cost is a factor, look at from this perspective my stroke costs were approximately $962,000 the first year and I have had no earnings in six years.

The good news for me is by watching my diet and exercising regularly, my A1C is 5.5 and I have been off all medications for five years, I am vigilant about testing daily blood sugar levels and have my A1C checked every three months.

Do yourself and your family a big favor …look into this.

REFUSE TO BE HELPLESS
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The brain is an amazing organ. It has been said that we only use 25% of our brain capacity. Considering the damage three strokes did to my brain and the dire prognosis I received, I tend to believe it’s true to some extent.

I have recovered enough to walk, talk, drive, and swim, but getting here was no easy task. However, it’s certainly much better than any other choice I was presented with.

I believe my success in recovering from the ravages of the strokes started with exercising my brain, perhaps a little abstract in terms of typical exercise, but your brain learns by activity, thinking, reading, puzzles, games and any activity that stimulates thought processes.

More often than not when visiting other stroke survivors, I find them in their rooms or in a common area watching television. I was born into the first TV generation and have been a fan of most programming, but when I was in a nursing home facility, it became apparent that after physical therapy my body was tired, but my mind was still available for exercise.

The first thing I did was study the way people around me walked. Like most people, I did a lot things unconsciously. Just walking, talking, and just standing takes a conscious effort after a stroke. So I studied the ways people moved around me. I learned a lot about standing balance by watching my one-year-old grandson take his first steps.

When I was in my room I would read puzzle books or play game on a smart phone or a laptop computer, the TV was always on but I rarely watched it, I would try to multi-task – always keeping my mind active and challenged.

The largest obstacle stroke survivors face is realizing how much you have to relearn, it is like being an infant all over again, except most babies aren’t working with a damaged brain, so the learning is much slower. But practice, practice, and more practice is the only path that works for me.

It’s hard to describe the effects a major stroke has had on normal functions, in my case I started with almost no functions and had to relearn everything.

As I look back to my hospital and nursing home stays, I am amazed at my recovery. Stepping out of the grip of depression was the hardest part, I had to reconcile the stroke and the resulting damage before I could move on.

I still move slow as compared to normal folks but my walking and talking continue to improve in all areas.

I recently saw a PBS show on the brain and it made a point of stating that the key to brain health and or recovery is challenging activity, as it builds connections stimulates brain cell growth.

REFUSE TO BE HELPLESS