My Mouth and Speech: It had been a while since I mentioned my mouth, as I was so preoccupied with the movement of my left leg and arm. I still felt as though I had a swollen tongue inside my mouth. Every time I attempted to move my tongue around inside, it felt very unfamiliar, almost like the mouth had belonged to someone else. The inside of my cheeks and swollen tongue constantly got in the way of my teeth, each time I took in my liquidized food or spoke. My voice had become more high pitched, which made me speak like a baby with a lisp. Although others had told me it sounded “cute”, I tried very hard to sound normal without much success. I was very frustrated when I struggled to talk over the phone, as most people couldn’t make out what I said or went completely blank at their end. It was horrible, so I gave up and always let Colin or Della speak on my behalf, while I made frantic hand and face signals in the background.
26th February – My MRI Scan in Malaga
Preparations For My Trip: Since leaving the Malaga hospital I had to have an MRI scan to check progress. The appointment was for around 8.00 pm, so I had all day to mentally prepare myself for my first trip out of the house. I must admit that I felt pretty nervous. I had instructions not to eat after 12.00 noon, so Della kindly made me a mushroom omelette in the morning. She and Colin decided to try to gradually lead me onto solid food. I felt really relieved that I managed to eat most of it and kept it down.
Then came the fiasco of getting me ready in a slip over dress, for ease of access, in case I had to have my diaper changed quickly. In addition, they packed a bag with towels, spare diapers, hospital paperwork and things to keep me warm. With the floral dress, I wore Colin’s socks, sweater and Dad’s old jacket. I must have looked a right sight! When it was time, Colin and Christian loaded the car and also the wheel chair at the back. I struggled by inching myself into the back seat with a great deal of help. When I thought of the hour long trip ahead of us I was honestly tired and ready to slip back into bed.
My First Car Journey: Christian never liked to go the quicker motorway route, so he chose to drive the more windy, longer, lower road. That seemed fine until my stomach just hadn’t been able to handle the umpteen roundabouts, turns, constant stopping and starting at traffic lights. As I was stable at home, the sudden car motions made me feel really sick. Thank goodness for the spare towel they had packed, or I could have been sick all over Christian’s nice, clean car! I had to say goodbye to the remnants of my mushroom omelette lunch in the towel, which Colin had to throw in a bin at the side of the motorway. I felt really horrible, dizzy and incredibly embarrassed, but both Colin and Christian were very patient and kindly assuring to me. It felt worse than a normal hangover, so I lay back, and wished we were home. Fortunately, we were nearly in Malaga.
Arrival at the Clinic: It began to get dark by the time we arrived at the clinic. I was put into the wheel chair and it felt like a real trip out. They whizzed me from the car park into an elevator and then into a smart looking reception area. There were some people already waiting so we settled in to be summoned. I felt OK because I was in the wheel chair while Colin and others sat in the vacant seats. It was the first time I was in public in a wheel chair. I became very aware of the sympathetic looks towards us, while we made ourselves comfortable. I felt embarrassed all over again.
The MRI Session: The staff were very kind when it came to my turn. Colin wasn’t allowed into the treatment room, but sat outside with my personal belongings and handbag. As before, the machine made a horrible loud racket. Again, I was told to keep still, so I was determined to behave and do as I was told this time. Unfortunately, when someone told me to keep still, I had an incredible urge to scratch an itch on my nose and have a sneeze! Not a comfortable session, especially when they constantly pricked me with a needle, as they couldn’t find a vein for their dye solution. I was so relieved when it all ended and then it was time to go home.
Everything went well in the car trip back until I became sick twice only five minutes before we arrived home! Poor Colin and Christian, again had been so patient with me. I felt really angry at my lack of self-control, helplessness and held back my tears of humiliation. I just wanted to go back to bed at this point ……
1st March – Solid Food At Last
First Time at Solid Food: After so many weeks of made to eat blended food, soups & yoghurts, I eventually was introduced to proper solid food. It was wonderful to experience the sensations in my mouth, to fully keep down, then omelette, mild chicken curry, lasagne, pork slices and cheese. Obviously not at the same time though! I had a new found interest in eating again, as I tried different things. One of my previous favourites were seedless grapes. Colin and Lara had me taste a couple, but became alarmed when I nearly choked on one. However, I managed to cough it up eventually. After that incident, they kindly cut my grapes into quarters until I was able to swallow and handle bigger pieces of food later.
3rd March – My Cheeky Monkey
I had a nice visit by Ian and Maria, who were our friends since they bought a property in Spain and we played golf together for many years. Although they lived in England, they tried to spend more time here in Spain. They kindly brought me a present of a “Monkey” Mascot for my golf bag. I just had to post on social media about the new Personal Cheeky Monkey for my golf bag. As I constantly referred to Colin as my Cheeky Monkey, I actually named him “Colin” 🙂 Colin hadn’t been highly amused about that.
5th March – More Finger Movement
Colin and Della made me attempt to move more of my fingers. We actually even tried putting my bad hand in a box, with a mirror that reflected my good hand on the outside, while I moved my good hand to trick my brain into making my bad hand to move. Colin had seen this on the internet, so who was I to argue? To tell the truth, I really hated these sessions. I thought them boring and silly but, it worked a few times. My bad hand had actually been sparked to make some movement! Although nothing happened with my arm, the finger movement had actually improved, inspite of my earlier reservations. Hats off to Colin and Della to their experiment.
Game of “Snap”: Della confounded me by the suggestion of a childish card game of “snap”, with the personalised cards from Susan (my sister) and Luke as a Christmas gift. This involved individuals slapping down dealt cards alternately from each hand in turns, when there was a matched pair in the middle pile, the first one to shout “snap”, would win the pile of cards on the table. The person with all the cards would be the winner. Della decided that if I shouted “snap”, I had to use my bad arm to claim and win the pile. It wasn’t fair because every time I struggled to move that arm to grab the pile of cards, Della was quicker to snatch the pile out of my grasp and always won! Actually it was pretty hilarious as we giggled our way through each game.
8th March – My First Baby Steps
After many sessions of Della’s massages, I was able to raise and bend my left leg, move it from side to side, while I lay in my bed. It became a problem when I tried to keep my left leg bent upright, while my foot rested on the bed and tried to keep my leg in position there. However, my left leg and foot continually slid down the bed toward my right leg before being able to do many of the exercises.
Next, we tried to work on my efforts to try a few paces outside, with the support of Colin to stop me from falling. Although he had done all the holding, I became excited about progressing to possibly walking. Even though I looked rather thin, gaunt and pathetic, I posted a video clip of when Colin helped me with my first attempt. I called it the “The George and Mildred slow shoe shuffle”. It rained a little, I laughed nervously and took my first tentative steps. I remembered giggling a lot, as Colin carried me upright and told me to keep my head up and leg straight. I told the camera (operated by Della) that he was so Bossy. It was so really lovely when I got great comments and reactions of support from family and our friends. Although I hadn’t seen anyone socially, it made me feel that I had some connection with them and the outside world via internet means.
Please view next page 15 at link: https://www.rebootinglinda.com/more-exercises-movement-and-new-sensations/
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Your getting sick during your trip seems to be a normal event for people in your condition, but naturally embarrassing when it happens to you, winding roads tend to affect people that way, to bad. Just think how much you have achieved thus far in your recovery process that has been slow in your mind but the accomplishments have been very positive in your recovery. Now you can think back to your first steps realizing how far you have come since then. With all your short comings behind you now it’s on to full recovery in your future.
Thank you – it was pretty embarrassing but I was excited to be out of the house for the first time in a couple of months. Thinking back to those first few steps really did bring back to me how amazing it felt. I had almost forgotten the struggle I had to get that far, but look back on that video with a smile. I am looking forward to full recovery & playing golf eventually. Have a great New Year to you both – LINDA xxx