Stroke Recovery And A Healthy Lifestyle

A Special Hi to Stroke Survivors and Caregivers

As you may or may not know one of the keys to stroke recovery is healthy living while watching our weight and maintaining a healthy diet. I would like to share with you a tool that I have been asked to test for our Stroke Education and Awareness committee. It is found on the Canadian Heart and Stroke site and is called the Healthy Weight Action Plan.

Click here to access the Healthy Weight Action Plan

Heart & Stroke Healthy Weight Action Plan  The Heart&Stroke Healthy Weight Action Plan™ is a 12-week, step-by-step program that will support you in achieving healthy habits  and a healthy weight—for life. The Healthy Weight Action Plan will: Identify your risk of heart disease and stroke. Provide tips, advice and support to help you lose weight. Help you create a personalized action plan for healthy living.  I have also been asked to test another diet tool by another well known  organization but you will have to wait till after I try it. I will put up a  future blog post on it then. I hope you enjoy using the Healthy Weight Action Tool as much as I am. Smiles :o) Gary

FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2008

Meet Kyle Jay a Brain Stem Stroke Survivor...

Hi Everyone

In March of this year (2008) I was introduced by Cathy Sinclair of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of PEI to a young man from our community by the name of Kyle Jay.

Cathy introduced me by way of telling me that Kyle had suffered a Brain Stem Stroke and was "locked in". He and his family were in a hospital in Halifax (200 miles away) and could I be available to be contacted by them and help them with access to getting support from the stroke community.

So after an email introduction to Kyle's mom Darlene I began to get the word out to the stroke community and stroke survivors and caregivers started to respond to my request to contact Kyle through his FaceBook group, email or a personal visit.

Thank you every body for your support. Kyle has been moved back to te Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown where he continues to make good progress with his recovery.

He was moved into the Rehab Unit on Monday where I got to visit (and meet him for the first time) him Monday evening and his dad (Garth) snapped this picture of us together.

Here is a link to my Stroke Network Blog where I have been re posting Darlene's FaceBook posts so that Stroke Network Members that don't have a FaceBook account could follow Kyle's progress.

Here is a link to Kyle's FaceBook Group so you can learn more about this amazing young man.

Kyle is an amazing young man through his "can do" attitude, his great smile and laugh, support of his family, friends and community as well as members of the world wide stroke community Kyle is accomplishing the impossible. (recovery from a brain stem stroke and a "locked in" condition)

Yes Kyle is a real life inspiration to all stroke survivors everywhere. "Yes We Can"

Smiles :o)

Gary

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2007

Introduction

It was August 9th, 2002. A bright sun shiny day and I spent the entire day with my two daughters visiting from Charlottetown as well as my sister and her family visiting from Vancouver, B.C. and Saskatoon, Sask.

We enjoyed a wonderful family day topped off by going out for an early dinner at a nice local Italian restaurant.

I am very fortunate to have that memory as August 9th, 2002 would prove to be the last day of my life.....Pre Stroke!

After dinner the kids headed back to Charlottetown, my sister settled in for a quiet evening at home and I changed into my security uniform for a night security job that I had been doing on weekends for the past four years.

Everything seemed to be very normal. No one suspected that within twenty four hours I would be fighting for my life in a Moncton hospital bed and the odds were that I might very well not win.

For that part of the story you will have to wait for the next post.

In the meantime here is a picture of me with my two daughters Krista and Karol, my sister Irene and my grand niece Carlie. The picture that you see here was taken about 4:30 p.m. on that same day in August. (it is the last picture taken of me before the Stroke ...just around 18 hours pre stroke)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2007

Recovering Abilities

What are these abilities that need to be recovered? Do you need a list?

Well let's start with a short list for now and we will expand as we go along.

The ability to stay awake longer than ten seconds at a time.

The ability to just use the bathroom without being bedfast with pads, the catheter and flipping (like a fried egg )to have my pad changed.

The ability to eat without someone feeding me.

The ability to talk without the slur.

The ability to bathe myself and brush my own teeth.

The ability to move my Left hand that I write with, shave with and wash my face with.

The ability to sit up in my wheel chair rather than in the recline position.

The ability to transfer from bed to wheel chair without two nursing staff having to attend me. (every time)

The ability to stay in my wheel chair longer than an hour because of the unbearable fatigue that smothers me.

So that will be the first batch of lost abilities that I will work on recovering.

So how did you loose all of those abilities you ask.

Let me tell you my story, A story of abilities that were lost in a moment of time and takes a journey of years and years of time to recover only some of them. So

My name is Gary, I am a stroke survivor and this is my story.

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