Brainaissance

Reinventing Oneself After a Stroke ~Musings,resources on stroke recovery & other stuff

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Interesting Articles on Brainwaves & Sleep

Interesting Articles on Brainwaves & Sleep

Really interesting.  I’ve heard of theses generally stated types, but never seen them broken down like this in such detail.

Have you ever heard how important regular Delta sleep is to circulate cerebrospinal fluid through the brain and nervous system for a bit of hosekeeping? Another really interesting article on that here & TED talk on it here.

On that note, bed time for this old guy!

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Take a different route home in your daily commute as it’s ‘good for your brain’. Anything to disrupt those in-grained habits from becoming more entrenched. Grooves of that vinyl record, Led Zeppelin IV track, ‘When the Levee Breaks’ played so much it has deepened being played hundreds of times. I don’t know, perhaps play something completely different such as Mongolian Throat Singing to hop out of that groove 😉

I know all too intimately of these habitual habits formed or not, good or bad. Months ago I underwent my own neurological experiment taking notice of which foot I lead with walking up & down stairs and being Seattle, there’s a hell of a lot of em. I quickly noticed I always lead with my left foot after years of walking stairs. Why? My right-dominant leg is there as I lower or raise to better balance myself.

I continue the experiment, and after a few months I think I mostly have the new habit. The habit breaks say if I ‘m carrying something fragile or dangerous, in a big hurry, or tired. Since, I started this little experiment, to be conscious to now lead with my right foot and its so hard to do. The experiment is not only for a survivor, but anyone. Realize it’s motor-relearning, having to learn all over again the simplest of tasks everyone takes for granted. I challenge you to try it for even one day. Really tough.

I think of everything I’ve done for 4+ yrs now to [partially] recover. I learn how to walk again, albeit like I’m a drunk gimp. How much of that ‘poor form’ is magnified over time? Why it’s important to realize that a good PT’s advice to slow it down, taking time when you can, paying close attention to your form.  So often I’m late to an appointment downtown, where I mostly keep up with others but is this fast sloppy walking just wearing that record groove deeper?  I think so.  Life so often just gets in the way to ‘slow down’.

Very tough to even begin to convey this to the non-survivor. Every facet of recovery, everything part of the body that was affected likely has to go through the process. All frought with the greatest of frustration. Please don’t take anything for granted.

    Interesting Experiment for Anyone Take a different route home in your daily commute as it's 'good for your brain'. Anything to disrupt those in-grained habits from becoming more entrenched.

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Decision to Return to work

Decision to Return to work

Realized the other day I never wrote on the topic and figure this retroactive post may be useful for some.

My city of Seattle is currently undergoing a declared state of emergency for its homeless issues. Since my stroke, I’ve had a newfound empathy for the problem as I can certainly see how all too close I could have been forced to live under I-5 pulling a tarp over my myself with one hand if I…

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

The Access Map by UW Computer Scientists Short post on a really helpful tool that anyone with disabilities may find really helpful. Heard on a talk on KBCS…

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Keep Socially Engaged

Gone incognito, neglecting my blog now for many months.

One of the aspect of awareness of my life post-stroke as of late has been social engagement. A central reoccurring theme I’ve heard ad nauseum is where a survivor is either unable to return back to his ‘old normal’ activities, then cease to engage with others and as a result can’t seem to then gain ground. Can be either due to not being able…

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Local Meetup group

I’ve dropped off the radar no for months, I realize.

Not a real post, but for those who live in the Seattle area, I formed a Meetup group, some may wish to check out here.

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Stronger After Stroke Blog (THE STROKE RECOVERY BLOG): Stroke is a hellish cat...

Stronger After Stroke Blog (THE STROKE RECOVERY BLOG): Stroke is a hellish cat…

Source: Stronger After Stroke Blog (THE STROKE RECOVERY BLOG): Stroke is a hellish cat…

This well said post grabbed me, to put it mildly. Been trying to explain this to those who ask, but never can quite portray what I’ve learned about this aspect of the brain. The post condenses this aspect of my experience from February 2014 till today.

This so very unfortunately is relayed to the survivor too…

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Skiing With Mike

#strokerecovery#skiingstrokesurvivor

As mentioned last month, this winter I had spent some time skiing again with Outdoors For All but wanted to give a shout out to my instructor, Mike.  Had a great opportunity to ski with one of their most experienced instructors one on one, which was fantastic. Great guy with lots of stories, good humor and lots of laughter to go along with. He was very patient with me and my needs from assisting…

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Stronger After Stroke Blog (THE STROKE RECOVERY BLOG)

#strokerecovery

I tried mirror therapy early on and can see the benefit for sure, but another tool I never stuck with long enough. But this is far cheaper way to make a decent one it looks!

Source: Stronger After Stroke Blog (THE STROKE RECOVERY BLOG)

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Neurological Motor Re-Learning

#strokerecovery#motorelearning

Disclaimer: as with the rest of my blog: Likely not true to medical science, just to tell my experience with. Read this post, to be closer to science.

Last week I was walking behind a guy and his daughter who I guessed to be about four years old and got me thinking. This girl’s entire life to date is spent learning to interact with her world. How to crawl, walk, and talk, but with one…

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

My Account of Day one to Now

#strokerecovery

I had someone ask me the other day how the non-function of a stroke survivor’s affected extremity progresses from the day of the injury to the brain. He also asked what it felt like onward from that first day that changed my life. This is by no means an expert’s opinion, just my perception living through it and what I can recall.

The day of my stroke, February 19th, 2014 was damn surreal with…

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

For the third season, I committed to skiing again with ODFA. It’s shaping up to be a decent one thus far.  187″ has fallen on Steven’s Pass so far, which is impressive!  As I write, mid-mountain has 89″, so decent. ‘Cascade cement’ as locals call it, where cold temps and a nice dump of fresh powder, then days later temps will rise, bringing rain or premature melting. Makes for some heavy, wet, and very hard to turn in the snow. Sorta curse around here, but very occasionally you get lucky to time things perfectly, being up there on a blue-bird day with great snow. I’ve seen it a few times, one of them being early last season.

Last year was very tough for me. Even though I was going to PT, I lost considerable muscle mass and worse of all, my stamina just wasn’t there, is the worst combination. I would fall continuously since I was weak.  Then, all the work going into trying to get back up was incredibly exhausting. Each run I recall falling 3-4 times, which was so frustrating! Ended the season thinking I might hang my skis up, adding to my growing list of activities I no longer participate in.

Mentioned in a previous post, this year my PT, Aaron and I made a conscious decision to do much more to prepare for it. Squats, balance board, cycling, jumping off things have apparently helped greatly! Last Sunday being my first day up, miraculously, I didn’t fall once all day! This boosted my confidence and certainly energy to spare! My instructor, Mike is again one of the more experienced ones, which is really fantastic.  Looking forward to what the rest of the next six Sundays bring!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

#strokerecovery#stroke For the third season, I committed to skiing again with ODFA. It's shaping up to be a decent one thus far. 

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Exploring New Hobbies

#strokerecovery #lifegoals

Our good friend, Ed, my wife Jeanie, & I sat around last evening chatting about whether or not resolutions matter or discovering intentions throughout the year where they likely then may be more long-lasting. If so, what would that look like for me? I feel I want a new hobby or interest to pursue where my mostly constrained use of my affected hand won’t be a limiting factor.

Re-entry back into…

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Stronger After Stroke Blog (THE STROKE RECOVERY BLOG): Motor Relearning After Stroke: Hardwiring Recovery

Our brain & nervous system never ceaces to amaze!

Source: Stronger After Stroke Blog (THE STROKE RECOVERY BLOG): Motor Relearning After Stroke: Hardwiring Recovery

   View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Progress This Year

#strokerecovery

Been ages since I’ve posted! Life is often so distracting.

Though not quite the anniversary of my stroke, believe it or not, it’s coming up on four years Feb 18th! Wanted to jot down a few notes to the progress I’ve made befor 2018 is a memory.

Body Stabalizing On AEDs

The most improvement is primarily with anxiety levels I attribute to my body finally stabilizing a bit on my anti-Epilepsy drugs…

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Another Year of Skiing Ahead

#strokesurvivor #outdoorsforall

After some sear & hesitation, I committed to the third year in a row of snow skiing this winter with the great non-profit, Outdoors For All (ODFA). The first year was Stevens Pass, last year Summit At Snoqualmie, back to Stevens Pass this year. Overall I’ve just had better conditions up at Stevens.  It is a bit farther away, but ODFA provides the transit which is terrific. According to our local…

View On WordPress

[wa-dragerz-posts]

Adaptive Yoga NW

#stroke #adaptiveyoga

Prior to my stroke, I consistently practiced varying types of yoga over the span of nearly 15+ yrs.  Today I stumbled across this organization that I’m looking into taking classes with to try and get back into it. It also happens to be right in my neighborhood!

I’m one that does much better with structured classes with like-minded people.  Thought about joining a gym, but don’t see myself able to…

View On WordPress