One of the things that happened after the stroke was something called neglect. It’s where you brain fails to register something that it sees, so although you can see something, you can’t see it. I would leave food on my plate when I thought I had finished everything, not because my eyes weren’t properly, but because my brain wasn’t. I would walk into things like door frames and fridges, not because I couldn’t see them, but because there was something not quite right with my brain.
Now, people look at me and say they can’t tell I’ve had a stroke. I have full mobility of my entire left side, but there are still some very subtle things that I can tell are wrong. This morning, I dropped my glasses on the floor. It was dark, so I was feeling around with my left hand for them. My hand could not distinguish between the various cords and cables and my glasses. I used my right hand to find them.
There have been times where I’ve been holding something in my left hand and looked away and then wonder where said item was, not because I don’t have feeling in my left hand, but perhaps because awareness and sensitivity aren’t as good. I need to look at whatever my left hand is doing, and doing things like holding or grasping still require concentration, and I look more uncoordinated than I used to.
But I can do up bra straps, buttons, zippers on jeans, tie shoelaces, type, go downstairs without holding onto the railings, sit up by myself, walk, run… These deficits are only minor in the grand scheme of things.
