car driving and stroke rehab

I got back to driving after 1.5 years. My doctor never cancelled my license, but my spouse had me take an adapted driving assessment anyway to check my reaction times and have a driving test with a car with an automatic transmission and a spinner knob on the steering wheel. I'm right handed - my good side so I would have to reach around the steering wheel to turn on the turn signals. That is the hardest thing to coordinate because you have to be going straight while doing this. I didn't have left neglect so that was not an issue. Had to buy a new vehicle with automatic transmission since the two we had were manuals.  I've been driving for over 3 years now I do have to pay a lot more attention to what I am seeing, checking the mirrors constantly since blind spots are harder to see into. Backing up is something I try very hard not to do. One constant problem is where to put my spastic left arm, if I put it on the outside of my left leg , that pushes the leg into the steering wheel. So it is possible but you may have to solve some problems on your own. You are limited in when you can change the radio/CD player, work on the defroster/heater. You basically have to wait until you are stopped to do anything else. There is no multitasking when driving, no drinking coffee, sodas, pop or eating snacks, even talking is sometimes too much.

My first woodturning class in Grand Marais was in March 2008 and driving home at dusk, a deer ran in front of my car. I managed to at least slow down a little by hitting the brakes, killed the deer, kept the car on the road. Luckily it was still driveable. Since  it was a deer accident it was fully covered by comprehensive with no deductible. Some 3500 dollars in damage.

Took a homebrewing class 2 years ago at North House Folk School in Grand Marais,MN about a 4.5 hour drive for me. Last year I looked at my turn signal and tried to figure out a way to start using the affected left arm to turn it on and off. Since I can't lift my arm when sitting I thought about putting my arm on the window edge but it just slid right down. So I bought a gel padded arm rest that slides into the window opening about 3x6 inches. My pectoral spasticity just pulled my arm right off the pad. So I thought some more and bought some velcro straps and attached them to the pad and velcroed my arm to the pad. The pectoral took over again and after 1 minute pulled the whole thing from the window. So on the drive up I thought I would just loop the velcro over the car door frame and attach it to my wrist brace, mainly to try to quiet down my pectoral by keeping it in a stretched form and keep my arm straight relaxing my bicep. I was sucessful at that for about two hours when my bicep started flexing and I had to stop because the weight wasn't distributed properly. I needed more velco in order to pull the whole arm forward and another piece to hold up my elbow. So I went to Joynes Ben Franklin in Grand Marais and got more velcro. On the way home the setup worked for an hour. I can't move my arm to reach the turn signal but my objective has now changed to stop the spasticity in my bicep and pectoral which it does seem to help. This is only possible on long trips since it takes about 20 minutes to setup.

This is not medical advice, don't try this at home.

I went on a road trip to an Elderhostel program in Santa Fe,NM, Brain Skills Training in March 2010. I had to choose between flying there and driving. Driving won hands down. Cost was the same, I hate having to lug my luggage thru airports, especially trying to carry bags and walk with a cane so I don't tip over. I'm left side affected and I wanted to get in three days of driving therapy. I would put my left hand at the 11 o'clock position and just leave it there,. This meant hours of spasticity reduction in my bicep and pectoralis. My wrist was also cocked up at 80 degrees. I don't trust driving with my left arm alone so my right hand would always be on the spinner knob at the 4 o'clock position. Luckily I coud rest my right elbow on the center console. Changing CD's or radio stations would mean coming to a stop to do it. When my left arm got tired I would put it between my legs and sit on the thumb with the fingers dangling loose, this wasn't quite as effective in reducing my spasticity but still allowed hours of enforced stillness.

In order to combat the fatigue I still experience, I would get a large coffee from the motel and one hour later stop and buy another one. Drinking it did require stopping. This had a two-fold advantage, the caffeine kept me alert and the urge to urinate made me stop at almost every rest area.

As one survivor wrote about her walking, she had to "brain" her walking. In my case I had to expend 100% of my brainpower to drive. On Friday I drove 7.5 hours to Omaha,NE from Minneapolis including 4 hours in a snowstorm through Iowa. On Saturday I drove 9 hours to Denver. On Sunday I drove 6 hours to Santa Fe. I can see why the speed limits are 75 mph in NE, CO and NM, it takes forever to get any place.

No problems encountered on the drive.

On the way home I did get pulled over by a Nebraska trooper for weaving in the lane. This was because I had just gotten my left hand on the steering wheel coming down the on ramp and hadn't fully gotten control with my right hand. In the process of getting pulled over I had to switch lanes on the Interstate, which I did without signaling because I would have had to use my right hand over the steering wheel and I didn't want to lose control with a trooper right behind me. So I got a warning for inattentive driving, not signalling and not carrying car registration. I don't think he ever realized he was talking to a stroke survivor and I sure wasn't going to explain to him why I weaved and didn't signal.

Don't make any assumptions that if I could do this you can. Consult with your medical staff on your feasibilty. Of course I didn't but the OT that gave me the driving and reaction test said I did ok. And with 3 years of driving under my belt I feel pretty confident. This past summer I came up with another way to stretch my spastic left arm. I roll the drivers window all the way down and let my left arm dangle as much as possible outside the window. A couple of weeks ago I went to a Peter Levine seminar in Des Moines, IA which is a 4.5 hour drive. On the night drive down I did this for 1.5 hours until it got too cold. The wind blowing through the hand/fingers was great for getting additional sensory input to my brain. On the way back home I did the same thing again for 1.5 hours until it started to rain. That was very nice to feel because it felt like my hand was getting sandblasted. Great for overstimulating my sensory inputs.

Remember your medical staff has to ok all therapy, you didn't hear about this from me.