Testing tires

There was no actual physical therapy this Friday. Instead, my brain got put through the ringer. This was to test my concentration, memory and language skills in preparation for returning to the working world. Geek that I am, taking the tests was fun for me, actually but at the end of the alloted two hours, my eyes, hand, neck and brain were hurting and ready to close down. Just the physical act of taking the tests shows clearly that total concentration on that level really wipes me out.

As a side note, the woman who conducted the tests was delightful. Gotta love accidentally meeting people like that. Will let you know what the final results of the tests in a few weeks.

Reading
I've now gotten into the first chapters of My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor and I have found it educational if not completely intriguing. It outlines the author's experiences during and after experiencing a stroke in her brain's left hemisphere, the same side in which my stroke occurred. She reckons it was caused by a rare form of venial failure called AVM or arteriovenous malformation. AVMs account for 2% of strokes but are the most common of people between 25 to 45 (she was 37, I was 36). This is what my doctor first suggested caused my stroke (I assume because of this statistic).

The most inspiring thing about Dr. Taylor's story is that she fully recovered after having had a much more massive bleeding than I. It boosts my hope that with continued hard work and direct therapy with leg, ankle and foot, that I can someday throw this orthesis in the rubbish bin. 100 pages to go.

Scoot mobile or tricycle?
You read in my last entry that I rented a scootmobile in preparation for the girls' visit. It's also true that I can now ride a tricycle. So why not just stop renting a scootmobile and get a tricycle? Nico and I have agreed that it is difficult to store two bikes, a tricycle and a scootmobile. And eventually I want to cycle instead of scoot. However, with the scoot, I can go for longer distances without getting getting tired whereas with the tri, I could only go for about 20 minutes. What to do?

Just my luck, there are trainers at Bb who help me get up to speed. My nordic walking buddy at Bb has said he can train me on a tricycle until I feel comfortable that I can ride it everywhere that I would ride a scootmobile. Problem solved. Next: get approval from Titia to train on the tri with Nick.

Comments
How important are good friends. I couldn't agree more. To all my friends living back home, you have a special thing there with your community of friends and loved ones. My stroke of luck has shown me that this is available to me even across an ocean and I'm grateful for it, even if I do have a permanent limp. Have a great weekend!