The Walk of Life

At the mentioned of the word 'Botox' most people think of beauty treatment! Well yes thats true but there is another use of Botox and that's for the treatment of Spasticity for stroke survivors. Today I took Rock to meet with a doctor for the Botox Injection to certain muscle groups in her left hand. I did a post on Botox & Spasticity at Nurture Your Own and for more details you can read it all there.

It is now just past two years since her stroke but her left hand is showing very little improvement and her Physiotherapist recommended Botox Injection to relax the muscles which usually lasts for about three months. During this period it will be focused strength building type of exercises for Rock so that her muscles can gain strength to fight against the contraction and hence regain mobility. However it was not done today for the doctor needed to access her condition and it is now scheduled for the 21st December.

Those were the exact words of Steven Rosenthal, stroke survivor for the past 5 years! Steven had a massive stroke on a small part of his brain but that was a very important part of the brain. That damaged part controls comprehension and caused aphasia that is memory lost. He had severe anomia with auditory agnosis of aphasia which in lay man terms meaning having normal output and abnormal input to what you perceive from seeing and hearing.

A person suffering from this hears fine but the brain does not function meaning no processing. I see it like you are entering commands into your computer who takes in the information fine but there is zero output! Thats why Steven uses Computer Crashed to illustrate his condition. Steven was a cardiologist since 1979 until he had that stroke. Two months after his stroke, a world famous neurologist pronounced his case as beyond help.

Steven has gone through 5 years of struggle and to date he has regained a big part of his former life, person, brain which ever way you look at it. As a care-giver myself I can fully empathize with Steven. His cycle of hopelessness, depression, frustration, anger to acceptance and recovery. I believe every stroke survivor goes through that cycle. What makes Steven's case unique and worthy of mention is the determination of he and his care-giver wife Jennifer!

Stroke survivors are the unsung heroes in self-improvements! For you and I who are normal or having an undamaged brain, improving ourselves is a hundred times easier than for a person with brain damaged! We understand what we read but not so stroke survivors! For this reason alone, a stroke survivor faces enormous challenges on their way to recovery as compared to those who are disabled physically where the damaged is not on their brains. No wonder they cry so very often. The loneliness, fear, feeling lost and the sheer effort that make demands on them physically and emotionally and find it so difficult to articulate their internal turmoil.

In closing, listen to what Steven got to say about his recovery. "Am I the same person as before? No, no, no. I am sad, I am mad and I cry. Working around this hole in my brain is the most exhausting work I've ever done. I do not need a perfect brain, just an adjustment to my old one. I did love my first brain. Now I hope to love my new brain just as much."

I hope that by posting about this, I can reach other stroke survivors, care-givers, friends and relatives, to encourage strokees NOT to give up, despite what others, even neuro experts said but by daily consistent step-by-step action and determination, they WILL conquer all obstacles! If you believe in God, pray! For others who are not informed about stroke and its effects, please educate yourselves so that you know how to reduce your risks of having one!

Since doing a post on Safety For Women, I keep thinking of the risks women face in regards to stroke. Learned from a doctor once, that women are more prone to organ malfunction and especially those organs connected with the reproductive system. Oh! I don't know anything about this but I would like to share about some other signs that women have that increase their risks of having a stroke.

• Migraines - Recent Research shows that women who experience migraines with visual disturbances like flashing dots or blind spots can be 10 times more likely to have a stroke, depending on other factors as well.


• Birth Control Pills - Women who take even low-estrogen birth control pills, may be twice as likely to have a stroke than those who don't.


• Hormone Replacement Therapy - Those who take this may have a slightly higher risk to have a stroke.


• Autoimmune Diseases like Diabetes, Lupus can increase the risks of a stroke.


• Clotting Disorders - Women who had more than one miscarriage may be at higher risk to have blood clots which can increase their chance of having a stroke. Other signs of blood clotting disorders like deep vein thrombosis (on legs), livedo recticulars (purplish discoloration on skin).

The above signs plus other life styles such as Smoking, High Blood Pressure and Cholesterol, over-weight will further increase the risk factor. Hope the above information is helpful.

Come across this Home Stroke Therapy Program which uses a software program to guide a stroke survivor perform the exercises that help neuro muscular rehabilitation. The exercises aim is to increase strength in the affected limbs of a stroke survivor. This product by Performance Health Technologies is call Core:tx. It uses wireless technology which interacts with the software program pre-loaded in your computer. The stroke survivor then follow the exercises and if it is done properly there is a green indicator on the computer screen and red if executed wrongly.

Such is the wonder of modern technology. These exercises can be done at home, thus you decide how long and how often you need to do. You need to wear the Sensor on either your arm or leg. The Sensor will send signals to the base station attached to your Computer or the software, which will be guiding you through the exercises. There is an option for you to design your own exercise program plus scoring and tracking results.

Rock has shown much improvement lately due to her exercising more. I have included a small clip of Rock doing her Treadmill exercises. Initially, she find difficulty to keep-up with the speed but after awhile, she is doing fine. The Treadmill exercises helps her to walker faster, sort of giving her a timing. Although Rock is able to walk quite well, her speed is rather slow. It is more of an issue of confidence rather than physical causes. So the Treadmill will help her improve her walking speed.