Skip to main content

Stroke, Rote learning, and TV remotes!

When I was a child the first time I saw a TV remote I was mesmerized. I was shocked that you didn't have to walk to the TV to change a channel. This was in the late 60s.

When I bought my first TV when I was about 20, the cost to have a TV with a remote was very expensive. 

Fast forward to today's TVs and remotes, it is a given to have a TV remote. TVs, technology, and remotes are expected. They "are" like air and water. Working a TV remote is "rote."

Definition of "Rote:  1 : The use of memory usually with little intelligence; learn by rote.”

It is a very simple yet obscure word. When you have a stroke, the meaning of rote -- "memory usually with little intelligence" -- doesn't tell the whole story.

The first inkling I had about my stroke that early morning when it happened, I could not turn on the TV with the remote.

"How odd," I thought! I used a TV remote thousands of times before. When the stroke happened, the fact that I could not use the TV remote was a sobering first clue that I was having a stroke.

Tried and tried to get it to work. A television remote is rote until the complicated maneuvers made no sense in the midst of my stroke.

When my second stroke happened (in the hospital three days after the first stroke) my TV remote was a clue for me. I could not operate the TV remote even though I was getting better in the hospital. And then "BAM!," I had a massive stroke. Was paralyzed and I could not get to the call button to alert the nurse. I laid helplessly watching TV until they found me.

After that second stroke when I was in the hospital for two weeks, the hospital TV remote was very simple. However, it took me several days to figure out the simple TV remote until it became rote.

When I came home, I was nervous about that TV remote -- the intial scene of the crime as it were! I was very apprehensive to see if I could figure out that damn TV remote.

And I could not. I would try to change channels and I just volume, but I got so confused and angry.

My wife was very patient trying to explain how to use the TV remote. Over and over, I practiced and tell it became rote.

Simple tasks like using a TV remote when you have a stroke is mind boggling. Pun intended! 

Rote is an obscure term until you have a stroke. The brain tries to make new pathways: TV remotes, personal grooming, cooking, driving, having relationships, adjusting to not working again, etc. 

When the fog clears in your head when you have a brain injury, the mind takes over. Rote is the way the brain helps an individual to recover. When the haze clears in your brain, a TV remote is so commonplace that you don't have to think about rote. It just "is".

I'm going full circle. I am channel surfing just like I was that awful morning when I could not figure out my TV remote.

It's good and bad. I am channel surfing a lot. Because I can. The problem is I'm watching too much TV.

Because I can!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Same as it ever was

When I had my two strokes more than 13 years ago, I was 50 years old. In the ensuing years I’ve had some health issues related to my strokes and other assorted “age related” things. In May of 2023, I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. As a result I have endured two years of pain and the resulting lack of exercise. That summer I tried to walk regularly but my heel pain was too extreme. I tried to do exercises to relieve the pain but nothing helped. In September of 2023 I asked my doctor to give me a shot of Cortizone. We were headed to Boston for meetings and then headed to Maine. I just wanted to enjoy the trip without pain. It helped a lot. Six months later I had the same pain. I went to an orthopedic doctor who prescribed minor physical therapy. It worked for a bit and then the pain got worse. In September of 2024, my regular doctor gave me another round of Cortizone shots so I could travel to Phoenix. It really helped. For a while. In February of 2025, the pain got worse. I went ...
Post a Comment
Read more

January

January 10th was the 13th anniversary of my first stroke. After 18 days in the hospital (including my second massive stroke were I lost almost everything) we celebrated my son’s seventh birthday. I wanted to celebrate my son‘s birthday but I had no idea the sensory overload would cause. The flashing lights, the unbearable noise of the crowds and the music, and loud conversations caused me to panic. In the midst of my brain damaged confusion, I had to go to the bathroom. At that point I really didn’t know how to navigate the restaurant even though I had been there many times. I didn’t know the concept of letters and I didn’t know what “men” and “women” were on the doors. My little son gripped my hand and said, “Daddy… I will take you to the bathroom.” Stumbling through the crowded restaurant I was scared. My son guided me to the proper door and asked if I needed any more help. After I finished I came out and he grabbed my hand and took me back to the booth. In January this year, We cele...
Post a Comment
Read more

Brain damage and social media

Recently I deactivated my Facebook account. I needed a time out to consider my options. There are so much vitriol in the political world and often it is spread by Donald Trump, MAGA, and Fox News. I understand that everybody has a different opinion. Even though I have been a Republican for decades, I cannot support nor understand Trump and his policies.  The reason I paused Facebook was for two instances where relatives of mine dismissed my concerns. I was disgusted when Trump pardoned all of the January 6th rioters. It was unconscionable for him to pardon people who assaulted and beat police officers. It’s ironic that the law and order party had no problems allowing police officers to be assaulted and beaten. Yet one of my relatives said that it was a peaceful protest and they should never have gone to jail. Another relative said that January 6 was staged like a Hollywood production. I was absolutely flabbergasted. Disgusting perspective.  In the midst of the confirmation bat...
Post a Comment
Read more