A wet blanket lifts off

By Cath Felice

I’m sixty-six years old and after a stroke in November 2021, I was left with left peripheral vision loss, left hemianopia seizures, and right arm tremors. There was also cognitive damage which includes memory loss, and I have trouble orienting myself in space.

My key message is that three and a half years down the track I’m acutely aware that a soggy wet blanket has been lifted off my brain and I look forward to there being greater levels of fog lifted. I now know my left hand from my right hand, I know which area is the back of my head and where the front is. I don’t struggle anymore with putting clothes on. I now know who my husband is, who my three children are and their names, I now know my seven grandchildren. I can now give context to certain memories. For example, I have memories of lying down and looking up at a corrugated iron wall with the sign ‘Acquired Brain Injuries’ on it. I now know that this was myself looking up at this sign.

The stroke led to my instant retirement, so life is very different now in many ways. I set goals for myself. I can now walk from my home to the local supermarket, do a shop, and return with a backpack full of shopping. This has been a huge achievement. I’m clawing back my independence, day by day.

Today the tremor in my right arm (I am right hand dominant) is now supported by a cloth splint that enables me for the first time in three and a half years to enjoy a cup of coffee at the local café with calm confidence as my tremor is suppressed. This same café has seen me go from drinking coffee in a toddler’s mug to a takeaway cup with a lid and straw, to a cup using my left hand as a guide, and today, to drinking my coffee in one hand with no spillage and without incident. How amazing!!

I know there are some things I can do and some things I can’t do. I can’t drive and I probably will always have left peripheral vision problems. But no one need convince me of the veracity of being able to build new neural pathways because I’ve experienced it myself. The brain truly does have neuroplasticity. I’m not giving up and I hope you won’t either. I’m setting myself new goals every day and I’m determined to achieve them.