The Anonymous Widower

Mind and Body Changes

In the previous post on Sudoku, I speculated how my problem solving ability was changing.

But this is not the only change that is happening.

Just after the second stroke in Hong Kong, my balance was not good and walking in a straight line was difficult.  In fact when I went to physiotherapy or  X-ray, it was always in a wheel chair.  Incidentally, once in Addenbrookes, I was generally left to my own devices, after the first few hours.  But that is in the main down to a difference in cultures.

But take what happened on my first day in Addenbrookes.  I was taken to a kitchen and asked to make a cup of tea for myself. It tasted better than any cup of tea, I have ever made.

What that cup of tea taught me, was that you have to think differently and take in all possible outcomes, when you do something.

Now that I’ve been home for a  few weeks and virtually looking after my cooking and personal needs on my own for the last three or so, I can see that my brain has developed new ways of doing things. As an example, I am sure, I’ve  devised new ways of doing things to get round the problems I have, say with my left hand. But then I’ve done this before, when my arm was broken at school. For years, I avoided using it, as it didn’t work too well, So I sometimes used my right hand, when everybody else would have used their left.

Underneath it all, we all have several ways of doing things and when one is no longer available, we just use another one we know or devise a new one. As an example, how many of us are naturally left-handed, but have been made to write with the other hand. And then you have Ken Rosewall, who some would say was the finest tennis player of all time, but he was naturally left-handed and had been made to play with his right by his father.

July 23, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Health | Addenbrooke's, Brain, Hong Kong, Stroke