How My Stroke Recovery Took Me Back to My Childhood
On February 23, 2023, my life was drastically changed in a matter of minutes. I went from going through the motions of a normal morning with my two daughters to fully paralyzed on my left side. I was 29 years old and I had a hemorrhagic stroke.
One of the most difficult parts of any brain injury is feeling like your entire being has changed. There are things you could do before, not just physically, but mentally, that you simply cannot do anymore. The nueral connections no longer exist. But the brain rebuilds. It creates new connections to heal and compensate. And it feels like it is creating a new you.
I feel like I was reborn that day. Unable to walk. Unable to dress myself. Unable to use a toilet. Unable to bathe myself. Unable to stay awake longer that a few hours. Unable to watch the TV in my hospital room because simply hearing the story and interpretting the visual information was too much. I would spend twelve days like this and then I began growing.
The first thing on my list was learning to walk again. I had to conciously think about every muscle movement in order to take a proper step. And it was scary. I feared narrowing my gait because it would be harder to balance. I feared taking a wrong step because it could send me to the floor. Even to this day, I walk with a little bit of fear. A little…
