Jody: Small Milestones

Today I succeeded in a few milestones that seem little to everyone else, but are important to me.

Not in any particular order:

1. I made it over 40 WPM in typing. I haven't really tested my speeds since high school. I can type quickly, but not accurately; I usually have errors that I end up correcting when I edit a message or lesson, and I got into the habit of looking at the keyboard, mostly because I was answering a student question while working. You know, multitasking, something I was good at doing while teaching before I had to take medication that slowed down my processing speed. Anyway, I digress. Today I earned 44 WPM on the 1 minute typing test, and that is with a "q" and "z" in the test, which meant that I had to use my left pinky! The day after the stroke, I couldn't make that finger move at all. So Yay! Now all the fingers on my left hand  follow specific commands!

2. I can snap my fingers with my left hand. Remember how I wanted to be able to do a thumb's up? Now I can snap 'em. Didn't even occur to me to put that on a milestones list. I tried last week, but it wouldn't work. I looked like I was learning to do that for the first time. I was really impressed this morning when tried again and I could do it!

3. I can text with both hands again. I instinctively tried to do it last week, but I was so slow. Today, it feels natural again. I should play more phone games...ha! ha!

4. I successfully put on a real bra this morning. I put this at the end of the list because I didn't want it front and centre (ha!) on the blog page. But I did it. And without bruising myself! When I tried after returning from the hospital, I looked as though I had been hit in the chest with a baseball! That has healed now, but it took a long time, and I had to continually explain what it was to each Home Caregiver who visited. I have been working on my arm mobility with specific exercises, and yesterday I found that I can now touch my fingers behind my back on the first try. It still hurts, so I will keep working on that, but it is almost as important as the ability to do shoulder rolls. If I can do that, maybe I can put on a bra? Yup. That is what was needed. So now I can get fully dressed by myself, with no adapted garments required. Whew!

I still get muscle spasms.  These are common and a constant reminder that I am not at a hundred percent yet. But they no longer HURT like they did in the hospital. They can be a sign that neural pathways are trying to reconnect. They used to keep me awake at night and now they are an annoyance that only happens a handful of times a day. Soon, they will be a bad memory.