K. Good to hear from you! I live in OKC, OK and was very lucky to have gotten to the only hospital in our state (at the time) that performed the Merci Retrieval procedure! I am a cardiac and vascular sonographer (ultrasound), and I wasn't even aware that it was available. So, when they told me what they were going to do, I told them to be careful, but get that clot out! My stroke was caused by a spontaneous blood clot. Your situation is a little different, dissections are very tricky. My guess is that the doctors don't want you to get pregnant due to the increases in blood pressure/volume in pregnancy which puts increased strain on the intimal lining of your blood vessels....also, pushing is no good for you....lifting is probably a no-no as well! I'm glad you are well...we are so lucky!

I a really imnpressed if you can use free hand weights to exercise. I only have a grip strength of 18 lbs on my left hand as compared to 125 on my right.My other deficit is my elbow wings out and my shoulder muscles can't hold the upper arm steady. Right now I can pretty much concentrate on one muscle at a time, doing free weights would require keeping track of three sets of muscles. My OT recommended a book that she used in her coursework -Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain. It helps me visualize what muscles are being used for what movements and has some excellent diagrams of walking. I did have to buy a used copy from Amazon. I'll see if I can't get you a sampling of some of the pages.

hi, cogs here? please dont tell me its diffecult training like this (i know)it is?.