Musings from Debbie: 5+ years after the stroke

On 1st of May 2023, I met some friends who had family struggling with recovery from stroke. The chat prompted me to write this post to encourage those connected with stroke patients that there is indeed hope for recovery post stroke. Early intervention is best but late intervention is better than no intervention. During this 5+ years recovery journey, I have met other strokees who have recovered. Please do feel free to share with anybody in need. The stroke struck me on 6th October 2018 ( please refer to the previous post. https://musingsdebbie.blogspot.com/2019/07/a-stroke-of-genius-and-stroke-of-love.html.) What are the things I can do with ease and what limitations are still with me? Definitely the one thing that surprised and pleased me was taking up water colour painting. I wrote about this on the blogpost Romancing my soul at https://musingsdebbie.blogspot.com/2020/. I have since then, framed some paintings and six paintings adorn our walls whilst some have been given to friends.

Another source of pleasure is improvement on my ping pong games, thanks to several dedicated and caring ping pong sifus; namely Reachman Lim and his wife Shirlyn Lim and Trixie Ch'ng all at Eco Warriors. They patiently drill me and other. I am just so happy to see the improvement and have great joy in playing. Our Sunday evenings are for ping pong and dinner with the ping pong group.

My current number of days where I walked 10 k steps daily is 806 days on 1st May 2023. Before the stroke, I didn't really bother about this and after the stroke, one of the first things I had to do was to learn to walk steadily without leaving my shoes behind. 2019 records a 31 days streak, 2020 records a 33+ 22 = 55 days streak. I did not take records for 2021 and 2022 but the accumulated days of 10k steps is 806 days. I cycle regularly and try to make 25 km a week.

I took up sour dough baking during the early days of the pandemic lockdown. It is an art and science and both mind and hands must be engaged to feel the the activity level of the starter, texture of the dough,the temperatures of kitchen, fridge and oven settings.

I spend time gardening. The early days of the lockdown also saw me learning and teaching basic Biblical Hebrew and again there was much joy at learning a new language and understand Biblical perspectives better.

Before the pandemic post stroke, I travelled under supervision with family and friends to Israel, Jordan, Japan, Thailand, Canada, USA. Post pandemic I travelled around Peninsula Malaysia and went on several trips to interior Sabah - Pitas, Kudat area and also to Semporna and Tawau. We then went to Sydney in 2022 and Melbourne in 2023 and also made several trips to Thailand. So I am have recovered well enough to travel far and wide and I travelled alone home from Tawau.

In January 2022, I started a fully online course - Master in Eduation. I chose the fully online version because I didn't know how long the pandemic was going to last and I did not want to risk my health nor the health of my 4-generation family. The stroke actually put off all thoughts of studying formally again since I had to learn to walk, write,drive, bike and other basic functions. I certainly did not want to stress myself and face the risk of another stroke. However I am pleased to report I am doing well in this course despite being the oldest ( in my batch) and that my brain neural recovery is on track. I am so happy to receive 92.94% for the recent assignment of April 2023.

What are the effects I still have from the stroke? My right arm is super sensitive to temperature changes, I often wear a sleeve over it to prevent the cold feeling. My right hand is not as dextrous as beforeand writing things down clearly requires far more time compared to previously I am grateful to the Lord Jesus Chrst for this recovery.Mentally I think I am stronger than before. Physically I am doing activities I did not carry out before. I am grateful to friends and family who visit and supported me during the recovery period.