Sunday, December 16, 2012

Walking in the dark - stroke rehab

The sun sets around 5 pm so I really don't have time anymore to take walks in the daylight. I walk around the very rough(root upheavals) paved trails, 2 feet wide around the apartment complex. I go from 20-30 minutes, I'm also smoking a small cigar so I have to cognitively multitask. This trail goes around the small pond in the middle of the complex. This means if I fall to my right(good side) I'll roll into the pond. Nothing like a sense of danger to keep your mind occupied on task. This is nothing compared to the  Hua Shan plank walk images here
You can google videos of the walk if you really want to be impressed. Pre-stroke I would have done that.
If I were a good boy/patient I would ask my doctor if this was ok and then ignore him anyway.

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9 comments:

  1. barbpolanDecember 17, 2012 at 9:06 AM

    Carrying a flashlight along w that cigar?

    I also hate not having enough daylight to walk every day, but I also hate not having enough hours in a day, either.

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    1. oc1deanDecember 17, 2012 at 10:54 AM

      The whole point of walking in the dark is to have your foot and ankle send back signals to your brain telling you what muscles you need to adjust to stay upright. Flashlights are cheating, A hand-held flashlight is impossible because my affected hand has no capability to hold or aim it. I have to look straight ahead with a cigar in my mouth so its a therapy tool.

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  2. AmyDecember 17, 2012 at 6:27 PM

    omg that looks scary, you really would've done that?

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    1. oc1deanDecember 17, 2012 at 6:48 PM

      Yeah, I worked as a steeplejack for a summer job - painting and shingling church steeples, The crosses were the hardest, I had to climb up to the arms to paint the top. My first airplane ride involved me parachuting out the plane voluntarily.

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  3. AmyDecember 17, 2012 at 7:35 PM

    you went skydiving on your first plane ride? F#*& a stroke, looks like you like putting your life at risk! :)

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  4. AmyDecember 17, 2012 at 7:36 PM

    by the way the number i just had to put in to prove I'm not a robot was 24601.....does that number mean anything to you?

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  5. oc1deanDecember 17, 2012 at 10:39 PM

    I'm making sure that when I'm ready to die, i won't look back and said I should have done that. My only regret so far is not taking a trip with an open canoe down the Grand Canyon. I thought about signing up the year I had the stroke. 24601 is the number of repetitions you need to do for your little finger muscles to get it working again. Start counting.

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  6. barbpolanDecember 18, 2012 at 11:22 AM

    Dean, walking in the dark scares me even WITH a flashlight, especially across my neighbors' lumpy lawn . I can't hold a flashlight either, but was thinking about a headlamp.

    Your need for risk-taking astonishes me - I have become much more risk-averse since the stroke: bad weather, driving, being physically vulnerable, looking stupid, drowning, going down stairs, being alone in public.

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    1. oc1deanDecember 18, 2012 at 3:25 PM

      But Barb, if I don't push the boundaries I won't get better and my mental health will be poorer. I guess I won't tell you about walking the trails in the woods in the dark without a flashlight

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