If it were not for this continuous stream of motor impulses, we would collapse like a bunch of broccoli

A direct quote from Young Frankenstein. What exactly does your doctor have to say  about why you didn't collapse like broccoli when you had your stroke?
And this series of quotes is probably more explanation of your brain than your doctor told you about.
http://www.subzin.com/quotes/M70032530/Young+Frankenstein

• 00:05:09 If we look at the base of a brain which has just been removed from a skull,
• 00:05:14 there's very little of the midbrain that we can actually see.
• 00:05:18 Yet, as I demonstrated in my lecture last week,
• 00:05:22 if the under aspects of the temporal lobes are gently pulled apart,
• 00:05:29 the upper portion of the stem of the brain can be seen.
• 00:05:33 This so-called brainstem consists of the midbrain,
• 00:05:40 a rounded protrusion called the pons,
• 00:05:45 and a stalk tapering downwards called the medulla oblongata
• 00:05:49 which passes out of the skull through the foramen magnum
• 00:05:53 and becomes, of course, the spinal cord.