Fuerteventura, one of the smallest of the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain, has 364 days of sunshine per year and is a haven for naturists. Tamworth, in Staffordshire, doesn't and isn't.
It's not hard to see, therefore, why emigrating to Fuerteventura, or somewhere similarly hot and quiet, was a dream of mine even before December 16 2013. Since that awful day, it's become even more obvious that Britain's cold, grey, damp weather and this particular Warrior were not meant for each other.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a magazine column which was 800 words long and was almost wholly devoted to the joys of blood-thinning tablets. Nearly all stroke-survivors have to take these for life because they reduce the risk of further clots. They work (or at least they have worked for me so far) but they have one drastic side-effect; as well as thinning the blood, they also chill it. Imagine sticking your hand in the average domestic freezer, leaving it there until you could stand it no longer, then having to cope with your hands and feet feeling that cold for the rest of the day and night.
I had poor circulation before my stroke; since then, the feeling of cold in my hands and feet has got considerably worse. Of course, when you place this against the difficulties suffered by those survivors who are permanently paralysed in some way, it's something that I just have to live with (and invoke my Warrior spirit while doing so). But it's just another of those things that non-strokies can never understand about this condition - and heaven knows, there are plenty of those.
I mention this because the weather this week around Warrillow Towers has not been helpful. On Monday and Tuesday, I was so cold that I sat at home in a thick sweatshirt all day - IN THE FINAL WEEK OF JUNE, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE. Add in one of those horrible instances of fatigue which all strokies get - when I was barely able to raise the energy to get off the sofa for a couple of days - and the week has not been good.
But I'll KBO (work it out, lol), be thankful for the fact that I got up this morning, sit outside in the sun for a while after I've finished writing this and leave you by explaining the breakthrough in my therapy to which I referred last week.
Emily Smedley and I have spent our last couple of sessions working on my stroke-affected left foot; trying to get it to rest evenly on the floor, rather than the odd angle at which it has sat even before my stroke. This involves me resting on the couch with my left foot pressed hard up against the wall of the room while Emily does her worst with various muscles and nerves around my waist. It hurts, of course; it wouldn't be working if it didn't. But towards the end of our last session, I actually wanted to get outside and sprint down the corridor; not just run, but actually sprint in proper athletic fashion. And I did. And using proper technique, rather than holding my left hand clenched as I usually do. It was actually fun. And the exercises which Emily gave me to do, which involve getting into what American Football fans will recognise as a lineman's three-point stance (to strengthen my thigh and knee) have been equally good.
And they've had an effect. On several occasions this week, I've walked from Warrillow Towers to the supermarket over the road without even using my stick for balance and support. It's been a bit wobbly at times and yes, I do look a little bit tipsy if I stumble. But it's another achievement. I'm back at Emily's next Tuesday and I'm looking forward to doing some more serious running. It will help if the weather is sufficiently summer-like that we can get outside without feeling too cold, though....
Wednesday 24 June 2015
Wednesday 17 June 2015
Spreading my message through word and website
'You can have the most important message in the world to give people, but it's no good if no-one knows about you."
I'm not sure who to credit with that statement, it's probably an amalgam of several people I know but, of course, it's true. I can bang on all I like about stroke awareness and all the other causes that interest me but if no-one's listening or knows where to find me, I might as well talk to my bedroom wall.
So on Friday this week, I hauled myself on the train up to Manchester and gave a 30-minute presentation about naturism to a group of members from 4Networking, the business networking organisation I belong to. It's the third time I've been there, but the first time I've spoken about naturism. As always when I discuss the subject, there were lots of nodding heads and people agreeing with my assertions about the naturist lifestyle.
I'm not sure any of them will be joining naturist organisations any time soon, but it might just give them a different attitude if they hear about a nearby naturist beach while on holiday in Europe or further afield this summer.
And I made contact with plenty of people who were interested in what I do while wearing my 'Warrior' costume, so to speak. One was an insurance broker who totally agreed with my assertion that not enough people take out critical-illness cover which would pay out in the event of a stroke and not enough companies offer it. He also completely agreed with me that the traditional lifestyle of the self-employed person, working 80 hours a week with the phone and laptop never off, puts them on the quick road to a heart attack or a stroke or both. And they may not be as fortunate as I was in surviving the experience.
On Monday, a video went on to my website at www.askthewarrior.com, courtesy of 4N member Matthew Riley of the Website Video Agency. With an eye on making sure that more people know about The Warrior it explains, briefly and succinctly, what I do and why I do it. If you have come to my blog from another direction, I'd be grateful if you'd take a look.
And on Sunday, myself and my therapist Emily Smedley were featured in a double-page spread in the Birmingham Sunday Mercury. I can't post a website link to it but there's a picture of it here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205958909644732&set=p.10205958909644732&type=1&theater.
Quite a week, then: and that was before Emily and I seemed on our way to a serious breakthrough in the walking/running stakes on Tuesday. What was it? I'll tell you next week......
I'm not sure who to credit with that statement, it's probably an amalgam of several people I know but, of course, it's true. I can bang on all I like about stroke awareness and all the other causes that interest me but if no-one's listening or knows where to find me, I might as well talk to my bedroom wall.
So on Friday this week, I hauled myself on the train up to Manchester and gave a 30-minute presentation about naturism to a group of members from 4Networking, the business networking organisation I belong to. It's the third time I've been there, but the first time I've spoken about naturism. As always when I discuss the subject, there were lots of nodding heads and people agreeing with my assertions about the naturist lifestyle.
I'm not sure any of them will be joining naturist organisations any time soon, but it might just give them a different attitude if they hear about a nearby naturist beach while on holiday in Europe or further afield this summer.
And I made contact with plenty of people who were interested in what I do while wearing my 'Warrior' costume, so to speak. One was an insurance broker who totally agreed with my assertion that not enough people take out critical-illness cover which would pay out in the event of a stroke and not enough companies offer it. He also completely agreed with me that the traditional lifestyle of the self-employed person, working 80 hours a week with the phone and laptop never off, puts them on the quick road to a heart attack or a stroke or both. And they may not be as fortunate as I was in surviving the experience.
On Monday, a video went on to my website at www.askthewarrior.com, courtesy of 4N member Matthew Riley of the Website Video Agency. With an eye on making sure that more people know about The Warrior it explains, briefly and succinctly, what I do and why I do it. If you have come to my blog from another direction, I'd be grateful if you'd take a look.
And on Sunday, myself and my therapist Emily Smedley were featured in a double-page spread in the Birmingham Sunday Mercury. I can't post a website link to it but there's a picture of it here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205958909644732&set=p.10205958909644732&type=1&theater.
Quite a week, then: and that was before Emily and I seemed on our way to a serious breakthrough in the walking/running stakes on Tuesday. What was it? I'll tell you next week......
Wednesday 10 June 2015
Playing a small part in providing hope for stroke-survivors
As soon as I established that my stroke in December 2013 wasn't going to kill me or leave me permanently paralysed in any way, I began to start looking for ways in which I could help my fellow stroke survivors.
Hence this blog, hence my willingness to be a media volunteer for the Stroke Association, hence my involvement in charities such as Different Strokes and Headway.
I've also started to become involved in academic research into stroke; why it happens, how we can avoid those factors which cause it and how, with money becoming ever more scarce, we can help stroke survivors to rehabilitate themselves.
This has led me, with the encouragement of a fellow stroke-survivor and former teacher called Brin Helliwell, to become part of the Stroke Association's panel which adjudicates on the award of grants for research into stroke. The panel is mainly made up of medical academics, but also includes a number of stroke-survivors (slightly euphemistically called service-users....) who are there to give our take on proceedings. After all, the academics can award money for research until they are blue in the face but if it's not going to result in something which actually helps strokies, what's the point?
Hence, last Thursday, myself and Brin were in London at Stroke Association House for a meeting of the panel. Hundreds of thousands of pounds in grants were to be awarded; what was required of us all was to get the shortlist of eight proposals down to two which would definitely be funded and another two which may be funded if money can be found.
It was an exhausting six hours, spent in a hot and humid underground room on the very day when summer decided to come to central London, but it was hugely rewarding. As stroke-survivors/service-users, Brin and I were able to put some very pertinent points which the other members of the panel wouldn't have considered; as a journalist, I was able to steer them away from certain things which it would be only too easy for the Daily Express or Daily Mail to pounce on during a quiet news day.
By 4pm, several hundred thousand pounds worth of research funding had been allocated to projects which will run over the next three to four years and which could result in real benefit to those who live with stroke. My most memorable moment of the day came when Brin told the committee that "all that stroke-survivors, indeed all disabled people, want is some hope."
My hope is that through my work with this committee, I can play some small part in providing that.
Hence this blog, hence my willingness to be a media volunteer for the Stroke Association, hence my involvement in charities such as Different Strokes and Headway.
I've also started to become involved in academic research into stroke; why it happens, how we can avoid those factors which cause it and how, with money becoming ever more scarce, we can help stroke survivors to rehabilitate themselves.
This has led me, with the encouragement of a fellow stroke-survivor and former teacher called Brin Helliwell, to become part of the Stroke Association's panel which adjudicates on the award of grants for research into stroke. The panel is mainly made up of medical academics, but also includes a number of stroke-survivors (slightly euphemistically called service-users....) who are there to give our take on proceedings. After all, the academics can award money for research until they are blue in the face but if it's not going to result in something which actually helps strokies, what's the point?
Hence, last Thursday, myself and Brin were in London at Stroke Association House for a meeting of the panel. Hundreds of thousands of pounds in grants were to be awarded; what was required of us all was to get the shortlist of eight proposals down to two which would definitely be funded and another two which may be funded if money can be found.
It was an exhausting six hours, spent in a hot and humid underground room on the very day when summer decided to come to central London, but it was hugely rewarding. As stroke-survivors/service-users, Brin and I were able to put some very pertinent points which the other members of the panel wouldn't have considered; as a journalist, I was able to steer them away from certain things which it would be only too easy for the Daily Express or Daily Mail to pounce on during a quiet news day.
By 4pm, several hundred thousand pounds worth of research funding had been allocated to projects which will run over the next three to four years and which could result in real benefit to those who live with stroke. My most memorable moment of the day came when Brin told the committee that "all that stroke-survivors, indeed all disabled people, want is some hope."
My hope is that through my work with this committee, I can play some small part in providing that.
Wednesday 3 June 2015
There are more good people than bad in the world
As part of these words last week, I drew your attention to Natalie Hunter, the young mother-of-four who is the daughter of a friend of mine in the strokie community.
Natalie has just been diagnosed with bladder cancer and is blogging about her situation at http://thathunterwoman.blogspot.co.uk. She is doing so in the hope that 'if it helps one person who is going through what I'm going through, then it is worth it."
Almost as soon as I put my words to bed, her blog helped Nat in a totally unexpected way. Last Thursday night, as she waited for her first chemotherapy session after it was delayed 24 hours, the Hunter household was broken into; a Kindle and two wedding rings were among the items stolen.
News quickly circulated through the stroke-survivor community and via the blog. A fundraising exercise began in the hope of getting enough money together at least to replace the Kindle. That has now been done, local media in Nat's home town have been alerted to her situation, she has been interviewed widely - and the fundraising isn't done with yet.
The way people have rallied round to help has been wonderful; certain individuals should be very proud of the part they have played in this story. I know that friends of mine have seen Nat's blog as a result of reading about it here and the publicity I've given it on the business networking circuit. Thank you to everyone involved. I'll keep you updated with the situation.
As for me, it's been an interesting week. I gave a well-received talk about my stroke experience to a 4Networking lunch in Stafford on Monday, where I met someone who should be able to help me produce a good video for my website and my new YouTube channel.
Tuesday, of course, was 'Get beaten to death by therapist Emily' day. Only this time was different; as Mrs Warrior was on holiday from work, she was able to come with me. Not to hold my hand; oh no, Emily strictly forbade that (lol) but to see for herself what goes on.
What went on, in fact, was very positive. Emily is concentrating now on my left foot and how to get heel and sole to sit evenly on the ground. They haven't done this for many years, if ever, but the stroke made it even more pronounced. Yet more intense working deep into the muscles seems to be helping and I was pleased to say that I walked quite quickly, one could even say ran, down the corridor outside Emily's room at the end of the session; the proof is here: http://tinyurl.com/o4vfks4
As a result of that (and I freely admit I wouldn't have done it without Mrs Warrior's 'encouragement') I attempted on Tuesday evening to walk around our local Aldi (other discount supermarkets are available, lol) without my stick. It wasn't pretty, I staggered a bit at times, but it was another achievement. Another victory for 'there is no such word as can't'. And a good end to a week which confirmed my faith in human nature.
Natalie has just been diagnosed with bladder cancer and is blogging about her situation at http://thathunterwoman.blogspot.co.uk. She is doing so in the hope that 'if it helps one person who is going through what I'm going through, then it is worth it."
Almost as soon as I put my words to bed, her blog helped Nat in a totally unexpected way. Last Thursday night, as she waited for her first chemotherapy session after it was delayed 24 hours, the Hunter household was broken into; a Kindle and two wedding rings were among the items stolen.
News quickly circulated through the stroke-survivor community and via the blog. A fundraising exercise began in the hope of getting enough money together at least to replace the Kindle. That has now been done, local media in Nat's home town have been alerted to her situation, she has been interviewed widely - and the fundraising isn't done with yet.
The way people have rallied round to help has been wonderful; certain individuals should be very proud of the part they have played in this story. I know that friends of mine have seen Nat's blog as a result of reading about it here and the publicity I've given it on the business networking circuit. Thank you to everyone involved. I'll keep you updated with the situation.
As for me, it's been an interesting week. I gave a well-received talk about my stroke experience to a 4Networking lunch in Stafford on Monday, where I met someone who should be able to help me produce a good video for my website and my new YouTube channel.
Tuesday, of course, was 'Get beaten to death by therapist Emily' day. Only this time was different; as Mrs Warrior was on holiday from work, she was able to come with me. Not to hold my hand; oh no, Emily strictly forbade that (lol) but to see for herself what goes on.
What went on, in fact, was very positive. Emily is concentrating now on my left foot and how to get heel and sole to sit evenly on the ground. They haven't done this for many years, if ever, but the stroke made it even more pronounced. Yet more intense working deep into the muscles seems to be helping and I was pleased to say that I walked quite quickly, one could even say ran, down the corridor outside Emily's room at the end of the session; the proof is here: http://tinyurl.com/o4vfks4
As a result of that (and I freely admit I wouldn't have done it without Mrs Warrior's 'encouragement') I attempted on Tuesday evening to walk around our local Aldi (other discount supermarkets are available, lol) without my stick. It wasn't pretty, I staggered a bit at times, but it was another achievement. Another victory for 'there is no such word as can't'. And a good end to a week which confirmed my faith in human nature.
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