Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Passing as normal after a stroke

I can do this fairly well. If we are sitting at a table for dinner/lunch then only the most observant person will pick up that I never use my left arm/hand. Seeing me walk will almost instantly point out that something is wrong, the foot will swing to the outside due to my spasticity, heel strike looks awful, toe-off is non-existant. The left arm is always bent and doesn't swing naturally at all.
I've been working to pass as a normal by joining at least 6 different meetup groups. It works for a while until they ask why I moved to Michigan;  job, divorce, stroke.
Even after passing with flying colors one of the cognitive tests that a doctor gave me. No one else had finished all the questions. He refused to say I was normal. Damn his stupid ass, I'm more normal than you are. 

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4 comments:

  1. J.L. MurpheyOctober 10, 2013 at 11:09 AM

    To me, the cognitive tests are a joke. None of them diagnosed the reality of what I'm having to deal with daily. It missed the mark on several levels. As far as appearing normal. Let's just say I'm embracing my new abyy normalness.

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  2. Barb PolanOctober 11, 2013 at 5:41 PM

    The finding that appalled me the most after cognitive testing 4 weeks post-stroke was that my IQ was 99. I was in the midst of "brain fog" when I got the report, and my most insistent thought was, "is this really how the average person lives his/her life?" I'm much better now, but when I take up the topic with my physiatrist, he says, "He never should have tested you so soon. The results are worthless."

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    Replies
    1. oc1deanOctober 11, 2013 at 8:00 PM

      I was never tested for IQ that I know of. My intellectual abilities now are at least the same as pre-stroke

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  3. Elizabeth, John, Jack, and LukeOctober 13, 2013 at 2:36 AM

    One of my most frustrating, saddest moments was when my mom told the impatient ST, "You know, she used to be normal." It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was both mad and sad. I was only maybe a week in at that point. It was the start of a very big breakdown between my mom and I. Weeks later, and several more inappropriate comments later, I took some time off from that difficult relationship. I wanted support and cheering on not tearing down and picking apart.

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