I hope everyone at AAC had a wonderful holiday, mine wasn't bad at all. I was feeling very down a couple of days before Christmas, but family time turned that around nicely, I have had a chance to consider the positives in my life, They seem to be multiplying, so I thought I would take a few minutes to share with my friends here, and spread some joy for a change.

In the last month I have figured out how to stand and balance unassisted from my manual wheel chair unassisted, I have figured out how to put dress slacks on unassisted in bed. A really good friend connected a computer to replace my dead desktop, I overpaid for the machine a lot (she is my kid so no regrets there), I would do it again. I have a lot of work to get it functional the way I want it, but my mental clarity has improved to the point I feel confident and am actually look forward to it.

I now get in and out of bed to the wheelchair with the same ease I got in and out of bed before the stroke. Wheelchairs suck, but at least I have one.

As of Jan. 1st I will be on Medicare and leave AHCA behind (remember no politics). In short, I may get depressed again , But I finally have enough positives to help fight it off. The fact I have gotten my gender issues solved is another huge positive, and something for me to be glad of.

A confession and an Outing

And now some pictures . I will be back to post pictures and videos off and on this thread. I'm not going to try to do it all at once.




Ever have one of those moments when the take the picture with the dumbest look you can create is on your face? The Drivers License camera specializes in those. That is my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

 

I have, someplace, a professionally taken portrait photo that makes me look like a turnip. So don't feel like the only one it ever happened to, OK?
And in a number of my more recent pictures they make me look like some old guy. Yikes!!

 

Getting old is for survivors, Let us both keep it that way. So far my plan to live long enough to be a burden to my kids is working, now if I can only stop them from checking out nursing homes...

 

Getting old is for survivors, Let us both keep it that way. So far my plan to live long enough to be a burden to my kids is working, now if I can only stop them from checking out nursing homes...

I anticipate that my end will be far to hard for a nursing home. I will not go easily. BUT that does not bother me. It should bother other folks.No, I am not a nut job bent on destruction. I just do not do fear. So sometimes that means that safety does NOT come first! THAT ALONE makes a lot of people freak out.

 

You're looking very good in that photo. Looking forward to future updates.

 

OK,So I was able to standup unassisted sitting on the edge of the bed I positioned the wheelchair in case I lost my balance but it was never needed. One last thing to figure out, how to get my left leg to support my weight by itself, I am very close to walking!

 

OK,So I was able to standup unassisted sitting on the edge of the bed I positioned the wheelchair in case I lost my balance but it was never needed. One last thing to figure out, how to get my left leg to support my weight by itself, I am very close to walking!

There are both exercises and therapy treatments that are supposed to help. I regained the use of my left arm by shoveling snow a lot more than I would have otherwise. My arm had not been very useful after a collision. I was on my bicycle and was broadsided and launched into the road and landed on my left shoulder, which was sort of destroyed by the impact. That was in 2003. Now it all works again, but I can't be a swimsuit model because of the damage. Oh Well, that was never my goal anyways. My point being that exercis does help, although doing the exercise is no fun at all.

 

I fell and hit the ground hard yesterday, no permanent damage, but I did come away with some deep bone bruises, My paralyzed left leg lost some its range of motion. and hurt all night. Native American believe people like me have two spirits, I am leaning towards that belief myself. Even though I am Wendy, who is an older disabled woman I acted very much like a man yesterday Next time I will let the fire department haul me off to get checked out, as the pain was pretty intense overnight. I was trying to get a coffee cup and lost my balance. Got the cup though, but never did serve myself a cup of coffee. I did not help I was having a bad reaction to an antibiotic and woke up at 6Am throwing up. I do not intend to let fear of falling intimidate me from moving forward. For me the occasional fall is just a fact of life.

people who follow me will notice I have several projects going right now, For me this is a sign of mental health.

 

I learned something recently that I found interesting. Our system of proprioception needs exercise to keep functioning, to keep bones strong and balance working. A doctor I saw in a seminar stated that when you hear about a broken hip in an elderly person, what you should hear is weak muscles, not weak bones. Our bones sense loading and respond. If we keep the muscles strong, the bones stay strong and don't require meds or any other intervention.

I talked about this with my (doctor of physical therapy) daughter and she noted that bones will actually reform over time, becoming weaker and melting away where they are not loaded, and becoming thicker and stronger where they are loaded. Even a mis-set fracture will gradually smooth out and become a full-strength bone again over time via this process.

Then I heard an astronaut (Musgrave, I think) describe that when they are launched into space, as soon as things settle down and they get time to take a urine sample, there will already be bone phosphorus in their urine. Their bones start to weaken literally within an hour of the load of gravity being removed.

All this tells me to get up and keep moving. There's nothing better we can do for ourselves. There are risks - I fall on my bike about once a year or so, or trip over a root while jogging - but overall we're kept alive by movement.

 

I do not intend to let fear of falling intimidate me from moving forward. For me the occasional fall is just a fact of life.

I believe that is what it comes down to. I believe Wayneh covered it perfectly in his last sentence:

There are risks - I fall on my bike about once a year or so, or trip over a root while jogging - but overall we're kept alive by movement.

Of course not outdoing Frank Sinatra:
"I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate
A poet, a pawn and a king
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing
Each time I find myself flat on my face
I pick myself up and get back in the race".

Simply put, never give up because when we give up, that's it, game over.

Ron

 

Simply put, never give up because when we give up, that's it, game over.

... men grow old because they stop playing, and not conversely... – G. Stanley Hall, 1904

 

... men grow old because they stop playing, and not conversely... – G. Stanley Hall, 1904

Yep and that includes exercising the brain. During my career I was required to perform task involving physical activity in addition to exercising the brain. In a few days I will turn 69 and retired at 63. Since retiring I have continued to stay active in both mental and physical activity.

Physical setbacks like Wendy has experienced do suck and granted they slow us down a little but when we get to that point we can't stop or let it have mental effects. I have watched friends fight back and also watched friends roll over and die. Right now I am having too much fun to do the latter.

Ron

 

I may yet go to doc to get my hip checked out

 

Keep up the exercize, but really...try to not fall. One good fall and you may be laid for the durration.

It looks like mentally, Wendy is back!

 

hi,
I exercise at 6am every morning, also in the evening.
Walk for 15 minutes, at least 3 times a day.
I also do mental exercises every day.

I am now in my 87th Solar Cycle and almost everything works within its specified parameters.

@Wendy keep up your physio and mental exercises.

Recent research has shown that physical exercise also contributes to mental well being.

E

 

My thinking is that it takes muscles to keep the joints in place, and for that matter. to hold the body together during bumps and falls. So I almost never back off from hard work. Someday I may stop and then I might get old.

 

Passed a major milestone today, Got up Safely moved the powered chair chair into my room, got dressed, then had breakfast, all without help. Except for one thing, I had to get a diaper change. The only thing left I cannot do by myself, damn it. Had to cancel the trip, but almost made it. One last thing left to focus on. But baby steps, I'm getting there.

My keyboard is acting major wonky, not sure what is happening. Acts like there is interference from the wireless mouse or something. The trip is to the local computer store.

 

That sounds like outstanding progress!

 

Great progress indeed! Good!
And for the keyboard issue, I suggest a wired keyboard to totally avoid the interference issue. There is a lot of that going around, I have been experiencing it on my wifi link as well, quite a few miles away from your locality. It seems that a new batch of more powerful products is causing problems where there were none before. I think that it is the wireless cable modems, but I can't prove it.

 

Just keep plugging away at things. They say Rome wasn't built in a day. Since the onset your progress has been stellar. Milestones take time and work and you have been putting the work into everything. Just continue to march.

Ron