10.29.10

Grateful I can still
run my fingers through my hair.

I lifted many boxes at work. I felt a crick in my neck and chalked it up to pulling a muscle. Since I was so busy in the past weeks, I decided to get my hair done and meet up with some friends after work. Hair dyed and blown out, I felt great. Renewed and refreshed. Neck still hurt but I was pre-occupied with the feeling of having commercial worthy locks.

Lesson Learned
Don't wait until you're in dire straights to beautify yourself a little. Even doing something for yourself as small as a blowout will make you feel better. There's only one you, why not have it be your best you! I'm doing things to beautify my outer as well as my inner. Even slapping a coat of polish onto my nails myself helps me after a long day.

Small victories.
Blessed.

10.27.10-10.28.10

Migraines migraines everywhere.

Lesson Learned
Stay home when afflicted with them. Don't try and do things. You'll lose. The key to getting rid of a migraine is sleeping, avoiding light and sometimes, lavender. Lavender calms the little monsters kicking your hemispheres.

If that fails, call your doctor, don't wait. If what he/she is saying doesn't work for you, get a second opinion. Health is not something to play with.

Small victories.
Blessed.

Sure, Get That Botox!

So I was just thinking about strokies who have been left with weakened or stiffened limbs and muscles and wondered what else would help them besides physical therapy. My friends and I always joke about needing botox now that we've entered out 30s and how we look like we're in our 90s. As a joke, I was going to put together this whole spiel about botox and came across an article about the wrinkle smoother and stroke victims. Apparently botox Type A is usd for helping strokies with their atrophied limbs. It allegedly helps improve patient's mobility helps muscles relax. Wow! That is awesome!

It is NOT approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this use but it is so widely accepted that Medicare and other insurers are reimbursing patients for its use. I'm not sure what doctors practice this but apparently this isn't news. I'm finding articles on botox and stroke from 2002! All the articles seem positive regarding treatment for spasticity due to stroke.

Mm, kind of makes my day.

10.26.10

I actually don't remember this day last year. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what I was doing and I can't remember. I started to get frustrated but honestly, can many of you remember where you were this day last year? I guess I shouldn't beat myself up too badly about it.

Lesson Learned
Sometimes the things we can't remember are better left in the past. Maybe there's a reason it left our minds. Maybe some things are better left to quietly fade away.

Small victories.
Blessed.

10.25.10



Grateful I can still hold 
a crochet needle in my right hand.

This day last year I was at work talking to several different family members and friends. I remember that vividly. Work became more stressful as I'm experiencing now. October is very busy here. I was definitely stressed. I remember getting about 8-10 boxes of work stuff and just thinking that I needed a break and couldn't do it anymore. Maybe the one thing I did positively that day was pause and say, I'm not unpacking these boxes, I'm going to wait, I need to breathe.

Something I picked up while I was stressed at work was crocheting. I was a wiz at it in college and made the occasional blanket and scarf here and there. I started to keep a ball of yarn and needle by my desk and even though I didn't have much time during my breaks, I would do one or two stitches. Doing something as small as that was a comfort to me and even looking at the bag helped me.



Lesson Learned

Remember to take time to talk to your friends. Pick up the phone. Texts cannot compare to the sound of a person's voice.
Crocheting-not just for nerds and grannies

Small Victories.
Blessed.

10.24.10

I'm going to post every day this week following up to the day when I think I had the stroke. I keep trying to play through my head exactly what happened the week before or week of my stroke. Chopra tells us to try and picture where we were a year prior and what has changed what has remained the same. I have mentioned this before and I love doing it because it really helps me move forward and continue to change and evolve into a more aware person.

Grateful I can still walk across a bridge.

Last year around this time, I know I was worried about work and overwhelmed with everything going on in my life. It was the weekend so I know I was pretty active in helping folks down the stairs on the train with strollers, something I can sadly not do anymore. Why I decided to do it, I don't know! Anyway, I was pretty down about being so busy and was rushing nonstop from job, to writing, to socializing and not getting enough sleep.

Lesson Learned
This year I am not letting work run my life. I'm taking time to breathe. I am learning to say no. I am taking better care of myself. I sleep more, which makes my dog happy.
I'm grateful for being able to type without error.

Small victories.
Blessed

Creative Sonic Boom?

I recently read an article in the LA Times about people who have creative surges after suffering brain damage. We've all heard of art therapy. I wonder if it has something to do with that. Sometimes when you lose one thing, such as speech, you gain another, like creativity.  Maybe it was something dormant that was only awakened by an extreme of brain damage....who knows?

The brain is such a complicated piece of work that scientists are still trying to figure it out. I remember after I had my stroke, I couldn't stop writing and writing...you know, once I was able to type properly again :). How fascinating to know that if I hadn't had the stroke, I may not have been able to complete a screenplay or finish my full length play.

"There are virtually no situations where brain damage makes things better," says Anjan Chatterjee, a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who is working on a book about art and the brain. But art is, he adds, one of the few complex aspects of human cognition that doesn't necessarily get worse.

-LA Times by Emily Sohn 5.20.11

The brain...