The top goal of al stroke recovered people

What is the number one thing stroke survivors want to do upon recovery
Also the top ten goals

As an aside how do stroke survivors get a balanced holiday when they are still physically challenged and cannot match their aspirations ?


My number on goal was car cleaning and maintenance and I have achieved this in under 4 years recovery.

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Motivating myself to catch rural bus as out in the sticks. Then being able to enter shops. Now even manage to check myself out with groceries. Think thatā€™s a hat-trick !

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Mine was and still is trying to walk properly by which I meand not hobbling around with a stick. 2 years on and I still havenā€™t got there

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Me neither, still not there. I walked a mile, but that was a one off. My top goal is to reach stability with my muscles ; quit spasms and cramps ; inch towards normality ; chip away at my boundaries

Roland
SIG

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That is awesome I also want to be able to walk to our local spar and shop there.
Well don

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Hi Apple you will get there, Iā€™m nearly 5 years down the line and still hobble around with my stick but more as a comfort/ safety thing but that break through into a normal walk is huge for us all and stroke recovery milestone top dog.
It seem that the more severe strokes do not come back to walking for quite some while, the lower strength or tia strokes allow a relatively short recovery to walking.
Good luck to everyone.

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Mine was to get my independence back. I have some of it but not there yet.

My walking is a long way off returning to normalā€¦ but if i can become more independent then i can put up with that.

Goals vary greatly I imagine. I set small, achievable ones & adjusted as required.

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Fare point, I guess that is why no one can definitely say when they are independent fully operating in a state that they once realised was okay as it creeps up so slowly in a mix of smaller achievements that one never knows.

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Strokes are very hard to understand.

My mother was walking normally with great balance in about 5 months. She walked like a normal person; in fact, they said she was basically 100% recovered in that regard. Her hand - not arm ā€“ still had a little tingleness and weakness, but after a year, it was a very mild for someone in their 70s.

At any rate, she lost her mind ā€“ not her memory/cognitive abilities, but her emotional state: terrible insomnia/pacing, OCD, bathroom obsessions, apathy, etc. She was never the same again. Certain aspects of her personality stayed the same, but she was a different person all together.

I just say all the above to highlight that strokes affect people very differently, despite common issues. My mother didnā€™t have the physical problems that many of you suffer (90% recovered physically after 6 months)ā€¦ But her mind-- that was another story.

We never got any answers why she acted the way she did. It was a terribly isolating situation. No medicines worked ā€“ nothing. She just got worse and worse over time. They declared she had no dementia. Just the stroke caused it.

I hope all of you reach your goals ā€“ and beyond.

Please take care.

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Aye, Matthew,

stroke causes so many things that are completely invisible even to a careful observer. It must have been so hard to see her almost fully recovered on the outside, but unstable on the inside.

ciao, Roland
SIG

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Yes, we were all very baffled by it all. We couldnā€™t understand how the body came back so beautifully after something so traumatic. Her stroke was 15-17 on the scale chart. They said her stroke was not severe at the beginning.

Why her mind went so badly ā€“ weā€™ll never know. She didnā€™t have vascular dementia, and definitely no Alzheimerā€™s. Just a mystery.

Please take care of yourself.

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To be more independent in getting out and aboutā€¦ walking around the site where i live on my own, going further on my scooter to visit shops and cafes, Big one for me ā€¦managing stairs without using a handrail, just stick.
Re holidayā€¦recently had a good one on the Algarve. There were several challenges but very glad i did it. Involved hours of searching for accessible accommodation including accessible swimming pool.

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Yes, I think I came across a story somewhere online where an older man (65-70) had had a stroke. He recovered extremely well physically (over 90%), but his emotional mind was gone (not so much his cognitive mind). His wife was always so bothered by this fact.

Just like some people recover rather well mentally from a stroke, but not at all physically.

Strokes are simply complicated, and a lot depends on where the stroke occurred in the brain, the personā€™s personality/pre-stroke mental state, type of stroke, etc.

Youā€™re doing incredibly well on both fronts, Roland You are a true inspiration to others. You keep up that qigong and positive attitude. Iā€™ve watched your videos on here (jumping the fence one LOL). Youā€™re going far, friend.

Take good care of yourself.

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Iā€™m still only 60% of my old self so a long way to go my arm is still stubbornly dead after 4 years, but good shoulder movement. Once I have my legs functioning at a reasonable speed weā€™re off to Vienna to visit our friends in Austria.

Mentally Iā€™m good however Iā€™m not capable of the pressures of full time work in a career which as much caused my stress an pre stroke depression.
I would rather work in a supermarket than cyber security, a thankless job where you are paid to do nothing by people who make a living in taking unnecessary risk and dodging the regulations and so much more, corporate crooks the lot of them my integrity was severely challenged by that work so no more for me

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A bit like having a stroke, everyoneā€™s recovery will look different and will be benchmarked differently.
Someone may be happy to get to 80% of their former self, others only happy at 90%. How does a person even accurately gauge this?!

One things for sure it changes your perspective. Things I used to care about (negatively), I just laugh off now or simply put no thought into anymore. It isnā€™t worth it.
In work for example, I have no more ā€˜bullsh1t filterā€™, and am more likely to say what Iā€™m thinking.

Physically Iā€™d say Iā€™ve recovered almost 100%. Mentally nowhere close to that (depression and anxiety).
My top goal will be to come off anti depressants

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My mother basically lost her mind, but she was older. She made a fabulous recovery physically, though.

My mother was terribly apathetic, and suffered with OCD with the going to the bathroom constantly. She also had unbearable insomnia that got worse over time. She also wanted my father to do almost everything for her, even though she was pretty much physically recovered after 6 months. Once in a while, sheā€™d make herself a sandwich or walk up a flight of stairs without holding onto the railing, but there were one-off moments.

I donā€™t know how you gauge from 80-90%, or less, etc, but you just make an estimate.

I wish you deep emotional healing. Your awareness is your strength here. My mother didnā€™t realize how ā€œmessed upā€ she had become. That was a not a good thing.

Please take good care of yourself. Youā€™ll get better, friend, somehow. Try qigong, relaxation, supplements, etc. Get good information.

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Well described Matt, the changed reality is a good thing especially if like me stress was a major part of the stroke cause that heredity and hypertension.
I am where I am and my goal has always been a 100% recovery although this has been tempered by the harsh realities of my severe stroke.
What we must all realise is a light stroke is fully recoverable but the big strokes that render one partially disabled or fully impaired are a lifetime project to recover from and in most case you will carry a momento of the stroke and that could be forever.
Iā€™m certain now that cognitive abilities are a thing Iā€™m not majorly suffering with, may hav slowed a bit but I am aging so itā€™s not all stroke. The fact I walk with a stick outside and have no use of my left arm is annoying but survivable. The left side neuro pain and loss of feeling is my biggest killer. It makes the day so much harder and inhibits my physical condition in daily life.

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Thereā€™s nothing ā€œstill onlyā€ about you mrfrederickson. Thatā€™s 60% more than you had at the start of this recovery. And youā€™re walking now, thereā€™s no turning back, itā€™s onwards and upwards my friend :grin:

Weā€™re planning to go to Austria for a weekend for the Grand Prix, sometime in June I think. Itā€™ll be an experience :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Iā€™ve been at 90% for a few years now, and every time I settle at that figure, something improves, albeit in increments, and I realise Iā€™ve still got improvements to make, so settle on 90% again :rofl:

Oh wow thatā€™ll be amazing. Iā€™ve not been to Austria for years now but loved it when I went. The Grand Prix should be a great experience too.

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