Monday, November 19, 2012

The Dust Settles

Well, it's seven weeks, more or less, since Oct 2, when I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke.

I made a few videos to tell my strokey story, in four parts. Feel free to watch them.  Links at the bottom of the post.

I should update you on what life is like for me now. I can do anything I used to do, with the partial exception of the fact that I play the guitar like I was 12.  The one remaining vestige of the stroke is a certain lack of coordination in my left hand.  But it's getting better. The more I type, for example, the better I get at it; I suppose I'm not done rehabbing.  Up until recently I created a huge amount of typos, but that's slowly resolving itself.

Below the belt, I can walk just fine without benefit of a cane, even outside; it's time to put the old girl into storage instead of hanging by the hall table.  Sometimes though, when I'm really tired, like when I wake up in the middle of the night to take a squirt, I catch myself doing what I call "the stroke walk," that old-man shuffle that is characteristic of stroke victims. I won't swing my arms like I'm supposed to also, and will find myself holding my arms in a weird position in front of me. But when I pay attention, my gait is more or less perfectly normal. I'm sure that at some point it'll become unconscious behavior again.

Stairs are just fine; I can walk up and down stairs without a rail.  I need to pay attention to the first step to sort of get me started. Down requires more attention than up.

If there's any downside to the stroke, it is this: I  can do anything you can do, but I always need to pay attention.  I guess that's as close to a one-line answer as to how I'm doing as it gets.  That was the true cost of the stroke: a certain mental vigilance with fucking EVERYTHING. It can get exhausting. Good thing I sleep well.

On that subject, I've been forbidden from taking NSAIDs like Advil. I told my doctor that I wanted something for the aches and pains of being me, but that the stuff (oxycodone 5mg, the primary ingredient in Percocet) I had was a bit strong. He perscribed me something a little more gentle, hydrocodone/APAP 5/325, which is Vicodin more or less. So I have something in the house at least for pain.

I have numbness and nerve pain in my thighs, from the stroke, that the Neurontin and the Lyrica can only affect so much. I've pulled the offending teeth out of my mouth, so I have no mouth pain, but my knee hurts almost all the time (that's new) and I seem to be prone to muscle pulls lately. Just the other day I fell asleep while sitting on the couch, slumped over and pulled every muscle in my ribcage. These are just the kind of aches and pains that I could knock down with a couple of Advil, but god forbid my platelets should get too thin or whatever. Vicodin is nice, don't get me wrong, but when you have to take them for real pain, all the time, it gets a little depressing.

Anyway, that's my life as it stands right now. Thanks for paying attention. Here's the links to those videos, which feature my pretty face talking all about my stroke, my hospital stay, the nursing staff who to the last woman saw my genitals, rehab, and the trip home.  I'll do another one, I think, to describe what a stroke looks like, how to detect stroke in others, and what to do (that's easy: dial 911).

Link 1:



Link 2:



Link 3a:


Link 3b:

21 comments:

  1. So great to hear you are progressing so well, Gary.

    Really, really, really wonderful news.

    Keep it up!

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  2. Good to hear that for the most part you are doing well. Hopefully with time all of those annoying aches and pains will subside.

    On a side note...whenever I saw pictures of you or read Josie's stories about your adventures together I always pictured you with a booming bass voice.

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    1. Well those around me maintain that I do indeed have a projecting baritone, but I guess the mic didn't do justice to the lows.

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  3. Glad I got a chance to see you in rehab. Glad to read how well you're progressing. Let me know if you'd like a trip to Foxwoods. I could give you a ride. Ask Josie, I don't think I scare riders. :-)

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    1. J, you have no idea how much your visit made my day. It was great seeing Jo, sure, but you haven't heard every joke I have, unlike her.

      Maybe when the money situation resolves itself (by me finding a cache of Peruvian flake cocaine and three quarters of a million dollars) I will find my weary feet in Foxwoods again. Until then, though, medical bills will have to take priority.

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  4. Hello sweetheart - we missed you saturday night and btw Evan and I watched all of your videos together....and all day long on Sunday he kept quoting you "I threw up SPECTAULARLY". lol

    Glad to see you're posting again, unlike some other lazy bastards.

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    1. I;m glad the little shaver got to see his Uncle Gary in more or less good health. And I wish I coulda gone, but as you know, I got a tooth pulled the previous day and was holed up in the Vico-den, in no shape to make poker decisions. Thanks for the offer of the ride, though. Well, not YOU exactly, but you get it.

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  5. Pretty good news overall, sir. Pretty darn quick recovery from something so severe.

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    1. I got some o that good luck the poker gods been withholding from me, I reckon. Coulda gone REALLLLLL bad.

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  6. I want to see pictures of the teeth you removed to make your mouth feel better.

    Other than that keep recovering well and Look forward to meeting you sometime in the future as I embark on a "meet everyone I interact with" campaign

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    1. Dude I can make that happen: gimme yer email addy and I'll send you a pic. I kept em, gonna make a necklace out of em, if someone asks me, 'where'd you get that' I'll say 'this? Viet Nam.'

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    2. and btw, the door's always open - just call first.

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  7. Great news. Thanks for the report!!

    Like Evan and VJ, I also liked the threw up spectacularly line, lol.

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  8. well thanks, D. I appreciate that. Glad you watched one or two of those videos.

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  9. I think what you are doing with these posts is nothing short of amazing. I have a lot of clients with similar medical issues, and most people know nothing of what they go through. This really puts it out there in a personal way that is very easy to relate to. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. Well first of all, man, thanks so much for your kind words, especially that "amazing" line. That kind of makes it all worthwhile. Secondly, you mention "clients;" what do you do?

    The next one, about what to look for if someone is stroking in front of you, should be up by Thanksgiving - a holiday which, it must be said, has some additional significance this year.

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    1. I am an attorney, and I represent a lot of injured clients, including some with stroke-like symptoms. My wife also happens to be a speech therapist for adult patients, many of which are stroke survivors. A lot of people with issues following a stroke hide from society for a whole host of reasons. That's why I consider your posts amazing. First, your recovery has been great to "watch." Second, I know, especially at first, it took a lot for you to type physically, and probably even moreso emotionally/mentally. So, props to you, Crafty. I stand by my comment. Amazing.

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  11. Wow. Thanks so much for posting this. I'm glad you're doing so well--that must have been scary as shit. Sending healing vibes your way!

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    1. Why thank you, my famous author friend. Those healing vibes are making me feel all tingly, in my bad places especially. Does that make me a bad person? The answer is yes, yes it does.

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  12. Awesome news G-Man! There's not enough of us southpaws in the world. Glad to know you were able to one up your stroke. Pretty crafty.

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