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What is enough?

When my strokes happened, I had rehab at the hospital. My schedule was intense for me. Two times a day, I had occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy.

It was incredibly hard. I had to skip and do yoga on a Wii. I could not to it very well. I had speech therapy. Over and over, my patient therapist would ask me to say word with pictures. “Mark, what is a “comb?” What is an “A?” Etc.

I got out of the  hospital on Friday, January 27, 2012. On Monday, January 30th at 9:00 a.m., I started at “STARS,” St. Alphonsus Rehabilitation Services.   For about 10 months, I had therapy. I had mainly occupational therapy and speech therapy.

They had me doing all sorts of things. “PowerPoint, Excel, and Word:” That was my livelihood “before.” I had to complete “Hart Charts” and “Dynavision” for vision loss. I was a math whiz before the strokes. Now, even now, I cannot “do” math. I read financial, but I cannot express them.

In the beginning, it was 6 times a week plus “homework” on our computer. During the summer and fall, I concentrated on trying to drive again. In the hospital, one therapy told me “sorry, you will not drive again.”
In October, 2012, I drove.

After that hurdle, STARS basically told me that I was doing so well that they had nothing further that they could offer me in terms of treatment and therapy. A great STARS therapist told me “now, just live and practice on your own.”    

So I did.

But, I wanted to challenge myself in every way.  I went to stroke support groups just to be involved and to determine if there are other forms of therapy rather than STARS. In May, 2013 at the St. Alphonsus Stroke Support Group, we had a presentation about “vision and stroke.”

I got an appointment at “Focus Vision Therapy Center.” Dr. Scott Lewis and his staff gave me so much hope.

For four months (so far!), I have had therapy session two times a week. They have me do intense computer work. It is also very hard in so many ways. But, I want to challenge myself in every way possible. And they do that for me. 

They do not give up. They say thinks like “We will try this one or that one.”
I had a progress report with Dr. Lewis last week. I know that we are both happy that I am making great strides.

It has been two years since my strokes happened. I will never give up hope. I will continue to use every means possible like alterative medicine like acupuncture, vision therapy, etc.

I am grateful that doctors like Dr. Scott Lewis exhaust every opportunity to help me recover.

So, what is enough therapy? There will never be enough.
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