Monday, October 21, 2013

Inspirational person #11: Meg

Meg was involved in a car accident while vacationing in New Zealand 16 months ago.  She was in a coma for two months. She suffered a brain injury and had to re-learn everything: walking, talking, eating, etc.

She had made remarkable progress over the past year.  Here is a clip from AOL: Brain Injury Patient's Recovery

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Kaizen - Japanese term for continuous improvement

I haven't improved much in the last thirty days.  But I have to believe that I am still improving, and if, at the end of the year, I look back to today, i will have found that I have improved, but as far as day to day noticeability, I really haven't noticed any improvement day to day, or even week to week, or bi-weekly for the past month, or for the last month, for that matter.  I try to extend my self more, but I have to believe, now, that i would have been able to do the things last month, that i try for the first time today.

With that, I have come to believe in the term, Kaizen, which is a Japanese term, loosley translated, means, small improvements over time.   The car company Toyota, used that concept to improve the quality of their cars back in the 60's and 70's. 

Thursday, October 17, 2013

A mother with MS

I subscribe to an e-newsletter titled, "Chicken Soup for the Soul," and came across an inspiring story about a mother of three (now grown) children who was diagnosed with MS when she was 25 years old.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Missed a Deadline

Two days ago was the date of the 2013 Long beach marathon, in Long Beach, CA.  I really wanted to be able to do a 5K by this date.  Not only am I not at the point where I can run (not that I'd have to run it, but I'd like to)

I can kind of jog on the sand for a little bit at a time, and kind of run across my living room, and the hallway of my complex, but still am not comfortable running across the street.  The reason is that outdoor surfaces are too uneven.  The sand is uneven too, but it doesn't hurt as much when you fall in the sand.  I'm still not at that point, in the actual running.

I still leak in my sleep, and don't get a restful night's sleep - another problem for an event which starts early in the morning.

Although I  evacuate almost daily now, and sometimes in the early morning, I don't always, and also not always the early morning, or even the morning.  I usually don't go outside until after I evacuate because it can get to the point where i won't be able to control it, and I've also noticed that having an unemptied bowel also causes problems with my bladder control.

Although I have made adjustments to my routines that pretty much let me avoid accidents during my waking hours, I know that these adjustments will need to be continuously modified for me to continue to pursue living life as unobstructive as possible.

Of course, I keep hoping and working towards a complete recovery, and one by one stop using the adjusments I have made, thusfar - like using a cane regularly.

And since I missed this deadline, I will have to make a new deadline.  There are November Turkey Trots, and then there is the New Year, then the Spring races, so there qwill be plenty of opportunities in the near and far future for me to accomplish my goal.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Inspirational Person #10: Jazzmin Peluchette

Jazzmin Peluchette is a teen-ager who is athletic and plays on her high school volleyball team.

In July, she had a sudden onset of pain, and landed in the hospital.  She was blinded and paralzyed and could not breathe on her own.  Eventually, she would be diagnosed with Neuromyelitis Optica Disease, an autoimmune disease that attacks the spinal cord and the optic nerves. 

She has regained some movement and some sight, but is still a long ways away from full recovery.  She has vowed to recover 100%.  Her determination is inspirational.

Here is a link to the local news story: click here for the news story.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Frustation Sets in

It's been a little over 16 months since I came out of the ICU unit, lower half paralyzed, and no control over bowel and bladder functions.

I can now walk sort of normal without a cane, and have some control over my bladder and bowels.

I make adjustments to prevent accidents, but I'd like to get to the point where I don't need to, or that the adjustments don't interfere with my scheduling at all. 

I know I am continually getting better, but it has become a slow process.  Although I don't wet myself in my sleep as much as I used to, the frequency is still too much - and although my bowel movements are much more regular than let's say, three months ago, I still have a tendency to let that control me whether I go outside or not, and for how long.  I still don't schedule anything in advance that would keep me out for more than a couple of hours at a time.

I would like to run again - for more than a few steps, and at a sprinting speed.  Not a slow jog speed. 

Not to be ungrateful.  I am grateful to have recovered as much as I have. I'm determined to recover fully.  But sometimes, the process does get frustrating.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Slow Digestion and bowel movements.

Before I got sick, I had very regular, very smooth bowel movements.  Although my bowel function has come back, and its relatively normal, there are differences - and I don't know whether they will return back to normal - as much as I hope they will.

The following may be uncomfortable (disgusting) to read, but, it is a topic I had lots of trouble trying to find out about when it wasn't working.   The subject matter is one that causes sufferers from speaking out, but I would like to share my experiences with anyone who is trying to figure out when bowel functions might come back, or if they will come back.

Here goes: If the topic makes you squemish, then stop reading.

I am lucky in this area.  My bowel movements have returned alomost to a point of normalcy for me, but I believe it would be considered normal for others.

In the beginning, someone else had to digitally stimulate me because I couldn't reach down and do it myself.  This went on for about 5 months after the spinal cord injury.  A theripist said I will get to the point where I can digitally stim myself, but I didn't have to reach that point.  By the time my abdomen got flexible enough so I could reach down,  my bowel movements came naturally. 

However, the timing and "holding" it in became a problem.  I would not evacuate every day, and when I did, it would be a rush, and the stools were elephant sized.  I suppose I could have taken laxatives and suppositories, but I wanted for my body to evacaute without any aids, except for fiber.  During this recovery process, I have taken in more fiber in the forms of oatmeal and beans.  My fruit and vegetable consumption has also increased.

This went on for about 10 months, and now I evacuate about 5 - 6 days out of the week, and usually in the morning, like before I got sick.  The difference now is that many times I do strain (more than I should), but I am careful not to strain too much, and will give up and go at a later time.   I can hold it in better than before, but sometimes I do feel like the stool will come out on its own when I am not ready for it to.  It's as if my muscles still haven't the strength to push out the stool efficiently.  The size and of the stool has become rabbit-pellet like, and instead of one or two large pieces, about a dozen of these pellet sized stool comes out.  And this is with the contiuation of my increased diet take.

I hope this function will return to my regular habit before I got sick, but in the meantime, I am at a point where I can live with this function as it works right now. 

I feel I am lucky because my bowel movements are natural, and now that a year has passed, regularity seems to be coming back very slowly, but surely.


Friday, October 4, 2013

A New Dream

During this whole episode of my life, my dreams concerning recovery keep evolving.  During my time in the hospital, I would dream that my paralysis was not real, only to wake up and realize that it was real.  Then, last December, I dreamed that I was walking without a limp - and at the time I had, one month previous, started walking with a quad cane - and was feeling frustrated that progress had slowed down.  Now, in my dreams, I am either walking normally, or with a cane (my current situation is that I walk with a limp/gait without a cane).

Last night, I dreamed that a couple of friends from work came to my parents' house, and I walked out to the porch and sat down on a step.  One said, "Wow, you have gotten much better." The other said, "To tell you the truth, I thought you'd never be able to do that again." which was to sit down using my own strength and not topple over.

I replied, "Sometimes, I didn't think I would recover as well as I have."

All three statements reflect how I must feel, on a subconscious level, regarding my recovery.  I am suprised at myself that I have recovered so well, thusfar; at some points, I had my doubts on whether I would ever recover; and acknowledgement of the first two statements.

It will be interesting to see how my dreams change as my recovery progresses.