7 Months Post Stroke

[stessie]

I am 58 and 7 months post stroke (right side).  While my hand and arm have improved, my balance and walking have not.  My stroke was in the cerebellum.  Is there still hope for continued improvement in walking?

[Robbi88]

My 61 year old mother had hemorrhagic stroke in her cerebellum on 11/18/2007.  I don't know if that is what you had.  It is nice to see that you are on a forum and are functioning.  I know it must be frustrating and disappointing not to be able to walk.  I hope for the best for you.  My Mother is in intermediate care in he hospital right now.  She is only responding a little with eye movements and squeezing her left hand.  I know she can hear us.  I just feel awful because she is "trapped" inside her body.  Do you have any of your own experiences you could share?  I am hoping you still are recovering and can begin to walk and balance better.  I know people say a year for recovery, but I think it can go beyond that.  Thank you.

[caregiver222]

Of course there is hope for improvement! As for balance, I want you to try something. It may not work, so don't be too upset with me if it doesn't. Have someone purchase a two dollar pirate eye patch and put it over one eye. See if your walking improves. There are complicated reasons why this sometimes works in a small category of patients, but it does. Have a large two foot stripe of a complimentary color painted on the walls of your hallway. This improves the ability of the eye to sense being level. Obtain a good cane of a "four point" walker. Exercise mildly, but as much as possible. Replicate the so-called "drunk driver" test in your hallway, ettempting to cross a distance keeping your feet in a line. Keep track of your progress in a daily notebook. The brain had a great deal of redundancy, and another part of the brain has to re-learn to take over functions. There is a chance this may not happen, but the odds are that it will. Expect slow progress. In the meantime, consider obntaining inexpensive pine stairway rail from your lumberyard, along with the proper supports, and have someone install these in your hallway. I recommend you obtain an inexpensive children's notebook and keep track of your daily progress. If you have not been to a specialty rehabilitation center and been through a program I highly recommend this. Some have an outpatient program. They vary in quality, but all do a great deal of good. My experience is anecdotal, which means I don't have a million patients to have had experience with, but I have had a few. My little sweety pie will be 103 years old and was told she would never walk again and remain bedridden when she was 100. A year later she was walking again. Now she is having hip deterioration, and walking is again a problem, however every specialist had given up on her. You are a youngster, my goodness gracious! I want you to promise me to cheer up and believe that you will get better!