Simple tasks and injuries

For several months, I have been updating our upstairs with new carpet and paint. It seems simple really. For my “DYI” projects, we have new carpet in two bedrooms plus new paint in three rooms and an upper hallway. Those jobs took days!

In addition, also helped a couple of relatives repair some carpet issues. Those “simple jobs” took several hours.

In the “old days” that would have been simple.

In high school and college, I installed carpet for a living. With my older brothers who owned a residential construction firm, I learned a lot such as painting and finish work. Those skills served me well throughout when I flipped house as a hobby. I still have the tools and the skills.

However, because of my strokes and aphasia, updating carpet and paint tested my brain and stamina.  

For example, measuring carpet used to be easy. When my brothers would build a house, I would install the carpet. Carpet rolls are usually 12 feet by whatever we need. I would get a huge roll of carpet, I would complete a complicated carpet job in several days. In a 2,000 square foot house, I would use my math skills to figure out how to make cuts without too much waste. I could easily take 4 pieces of carpet and seam the carpet into on piece for a bedroom for example.

Installing two rooms of carpet in our house was confusing for me. I cannot understand simple math and a basic tape measure is almost foreign. Plus, sometimes my short term memory is an issue. If I actually understand the measurements, I cannot remember the measurements!

For the bedrooms in our house, my 14 year old son did the measuring. We triple checked ever measurement “just in case.”      

For paint, I could figure out how much paint to buy in my head. I was adept “cutting in a ceiling” without getting paint in the ceiling and the wall.

Should I even mention the blood? I will.

When I was a finish carpenter and a carpet installer, I routinely cut myself. It happens. For carpet installation, you have to use very sharp razor blades. I have scars to prove it.

Doing a simple job has risks for me now. Because of the aphasia and apraxia, I cannot be in a hurry. Often, I will grab the wrong side of the carpet knife which is dangerous for me. In my head, I grab the knife correctly yet in reality I use it incorrectly and cut myself. These two pictures might explain that happens.


These are three basic tools to install carpets: Hammer, razor knife, and a “tamper.” One photo shows the knife blade on the top of the photo. The other photo shows the knife blade on the bottom. If I get careless, I grab the knife “upside down” and cut myself.

Which I did recently!
Given my strokes and aphasia, I am proud of myself. Because of blood thinners I need to take to survive, I completed all of those tasks with minimal blood loss and bruising.

The next project I will undertake is a new and simple mantle and painting the fireplace. I hope my son will to the measuring and have Band-Aids ready for his dad!