I have to do things using only one hand. Daily tasks, such as how I approach brushing my teeth, are a challenge that needs mastering. I learned to brush my teeth. I would have to discover a new way to do it. After all, how do you put toothpaste on a toothbrush with one hand? My solution was to hold the toothpaste tube by the top, grabbing it firmly between my teeth. Then I grasped the tube of toothpaste with my functional hand and twisted it until the cap came loose. I would then balance the brush on the side of the sink, and if I was lucky, the toothbrush stayed put. I would squeeze on the paste.
It has been two years since I suffered a massive stroke on the right side of my brain. Somehow I survived the stroke, but it left the left side of my body paralyzed. The stroke also took away a large portion of my vision. Since the stroke, I no longer have had any Peripheral vision to my left. After almost two years of recovery, I am just beginning to Rediscover and understand that there is a world left of my center. After the stroke, anything out of my sight was out of my mind Or out of my awareness. Nothing existed to my left. No doors or walls existed on my left. No tables or chairs, no pillars or poles. Nothing. I began to get it only after I bumped into countless walls, tables, people, and doors.
The trauma to my brain left me unable to walk or use my left arm. I couldn't see. I couldn't think. For the first few months, all that I felt I could do was sleep and cry. Because my left side was affected, everything in my life became more complex. The simple things that I took for granted have become My daily challenges. In the beginning, even eating was a challenge. For example, I could not always find my food because I could not see the left side of the Plate! While in the hospital, I often wondered if the kitchen staff was trying to hide the good-tasting food from me by putting it on the left side of the tray. During my time in the hospital and rehabilitation, I lost over 40 pounds. Not because I was on a diet but because it was too difficult to eat! The dining staff would bring my tray to my room and leave it for me. I asked myself the question, how do I eat with one hand? I learned how to open a packet of artificial sweeteners using my teeth. I would hold the package with my teeth as I tore it open with one good hand. I learned that inhaling with an opened Splenda packet in your teeth is not good. I could open my cereal box with one hand. But the milk carton was more than I could cope with using only one hand. So cereal without milk became what I've lived on. It was too hard to think about doing anything else.
Gradually, I began to give up. Depression Was setting in. My future looked very bleak. I felt like I was on the edge of a bottomless pit. I could feel myself beginning to slide into the darkness. I was afraid that I didn't have the strength to hold on. I felt totally helpless and totally hopeless.
It was about that time that I began to hear these words in my head! " I have come so that you may have life in abundance." Having an abundant life seemed impossible to me at that time. I looked up at the ceiling in my hospital room and screamed," God are you crazy! Then I wept. God had many surprises in store for me. But first, God knew that I needed to grieve. I grieved my many losses, left my past, and discovered a future. With God at my side, I began this journey.
It has been two years since I suffered a massive stroke on the right side of my brain. Somehow I survived the stroke, but it left the left side of my body paralyzed. The stroke also took away a large portion of my vision. Since the stroke, I no longer have had any Peripheral vision to my left. After almost two years of recovery, I am just beginning to Rediscover and understand that there is a world left of my center. After the stroke, anything out of my sight was out of my mind Or out of my awareness. Nothing existed to my left. No doors or walls existed on my left. No tables or chairs, no pillars or poles. Nothing. I began to get it only after I bumped into countless walls, tables, people, and doors.
The trauma to my brain left me unable to walk or use my left arm. I couldn't see. I couldn't think. For the first few months, all that I felt I could do was sleep and cry. Because my left side was affected, everything in my life became more complex. The simple things that I took for granted have become My daily challenges. In the beginning, even eating was a challenge. For example, I could not always find my food because I could not see the left side of the Plate! While in the hospital, I often wondered if the kitchen staff was trying to hide the good-tasting food from me by putting it on the left side of the tray. During my time in the hospital and rehabilitation, I lost over 40 pounds. Not because I was on a diet but because it was too difficult to eat! The dining staff would bring my tray to my room and leave it for me. I asked myself the question, how do I eat with one hand? I learned how to open a packet of artificial sweeteners using my teeth. I would hold the package with my teeth as I tore it open with one good hand. I learned that inhaling with an opened Splenda packet in your teeth is not good. I could open my cereal box with one hand. But the milk carton was more than I could cope with using only one hand. So cereal without milk became what I've lived on. It was too hard to think about doing anything else.
Gradually, I began to give up. Depression Was setting in. My future looked very bleak. I felt like I was on the edge of a bottomless pit. I could feel myself beginning to slide into the darkness. I was afraid that I didn't have the strength to hold on. I felt totally helpless and totally hopeless.
It was about that time that I began to hear these words in my head! " I have come so that you may have life in abundance." Having an abundant life seemed impossible to me at that time. I looked up at the ceiling in my hospital room and screamed," God are you crazy! Then I wept. God had many surprises in store for me. But first, God knew that I needed to grieve. I grieved my many losses, left my past, and discovered a future. With God at my side, I began this journey.
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