Occasionally I look at the statistics for this blog.
Amongst the statistics I can tell the countries where people are reading the blog and also which are the entries that have been read the most.
I have been amazed that it is being read from the USA & Canada to Australia & New Zealand. Other "top readers" are: UK, Spain, Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, Greece, Latvia, India, Ukraine, Germany, France, Malaysia and Chile.
The entries that have been most read:
Five Small Minutes, Stroke Awareness Day 2011 & 2013, Chairobics, Botox entries, Splints Discharge, Stroke Association fact sheets, Observations and Comments and the First Weekend.
I started the Blog as I needed to fill in endless hours of "not being able to do very much". I had been in full time employment for fifteen years prior to the Stroke and also had a busy social life and amongst other things - latterly with a small nucleus of friends fund-raising for our local theatre.
One of my children suggested that it would be a good idea to chart my progress to recovery and from that seed it has grown and has to date had 4,100 hits, which is truly astonishing.
To all of you people who are reading the blog, I would like to say thank you and I hope that it may either be helping with your recovery or giving an insight into what can be a very long road to recovery. I always advise people that you have to be prepared for a marathon and not a sprint.
After four years I am still showing signs of improvement and my
family and all of my friends have helped in my recovery, they have
been my inspiration and reason to want to conquer this temporary state as I call it.
Last week was my 60th birthday & I had an extended weekend of celebrations - more of this later!
I am still going to carry on writing but I still, so far, have not revisited several of the entries.
Monday 15 July 2013
Friday 12 July 2013
June 2013
June was a good month - although I got off to a rather difficult start.
I have no idea what causes my neck to become very painful, as it sporadically does, but when this happens it becomes very painful indeed. Not only did I have a re-occurence of this but I also managed to pop out my diaphragm. After two treatment sessions to rectify these problems I felt much better and just had to take things very steadily once more.
I still also continue with acupuncture and the needles are inserted for maximum effect of where I need the assistance most on any particular treatment day.
All of these combined treatments are helping me to recover in an all round way. Effectively I am being treated with skeletal, eastern and western medicine.
The last two weeks in June was time for our holiday and this year we have had an Adriatic cruise followed by a week at a small family run hotel in Corfu.
The cruise itinerary:-
Fly to Corfu to join the ship, first day at sea and then the following ports:
Kopor-Slovenia, Venice, Sibenik and Dubrovnik-Croatia and finally Kotor-Montenegro.
The cruise was chosen as the ship anchored for the day in all of these ports, except for Venice and Sibenik where it was transfer by tender. Organised day trips were not really necessary and that gave us plenty of time to wander around places at our leisure.
The scenery was stunning and the sail away from Venice was truly memorable as three members of the showteam were on the upper deck and sang Italian arias and songs in Italian as we passed by all the spectacular sights that only Venice can have. An event not to be forgotten.
After the cruise we stayed at The Costas Golden Beach Hotel, Aghios Georgios, Corfu for one week.
A small family run hotel where relaxation is everything. The family owners simply cannot do enough for you. A perfect place to relax after the schedule of a cruise.
http://www.costasgoldenbeachhotel.com/index.html
On the Monday whilst we were at the hotel I became slightly unwell, probably a combination of tiredness and heat. I went to rest at lunchtime and did not actually get up until the following morning! The hotel owner's daughter sent some plain food to our room and made sure that I was ok.
At this point I must mention that whilst we were on the cruise the weather just got hotter as the week progressed. Venice was particularly so, and in actual fact one person on the cruise collapsed in the heat and was taken to hospital by water ambulance. I seemed to manage in these conditions but once back on board my breathing was slightly shallow with no deep breathing. I drank lots more water and had eventually had to rest for a couple of hours. I did also see the ship's doctor one morning due to sunburn, he gave me a thorough examination and asked me to go back a further twice so he could check my blood pressure and sats levels. So this was reassurance that was particularly welcome.
I managed to keep my feet from swelling by wearing canvas lace-up pumps and more importantly wearing my foot-up splint. However, on three occasions I had really bad leg cramp overnight which disturbed my sleeping. Overall, a wonderful and memorable holiday with just a couple of minor problems.
At the UK & Corfu airports I had assistance: I still cannot cope with lots of people and the rigour of going through security. I still get the "racing" head and my emotions run high. Even after the assistance at Corfu, once I got in the departure area I had to sit quietly and once again shed a few tears. I cannot explain why this happens and I would like to think that I am getting better with regard to this - but am clearly not - not yet!
The weekend prior to the holiday proved to be an eventful one as it was the annual Bed Race in the town where I live.
I have no idea what causes my neck to become very painful, as it sporadically does, but when this happens it becomes very painful indeed. Not only did I have a re-occurence of this but I also managed to pop out my diaphragm. After two treatment sessions to rectify these problems I felt much better and just had to take things very steadily once more.
I still also continue with acupuncture and the needles are inserted for maximum effect of where I need the assistance most on any particular treatment day.
All of these combined treatments are helping me to recover in an all round way. Effectively I am being treated with skeletal, eastern and western medicine.
The last two weeks in June was time for our holiday and this year we have had an Adriatic cruise followed by a week at a small family run hotel in Corfu.
The cruise itinerary:-
Fly to Corfu to join the ship, first day at sea and then the following ports:
Kopor-Slovenia, Venice, Sibenik and Dubrovnik-Croatia and finally Kotor-Montenegro.
The cruise was chosen as the ship anchored for the day in all of these ports, except for Venice and Sibenik where it was transfer by tender. Organised day trips were not really necessary and that gave us plenty of time to wander around places at our leisure.
The scenery was stunning and the sail away from Venice was truly memorable as three members of the showteam were on the upper deck and sang Italian arias and songs in Italian as we passed by all the spectacular sights that only Venice can have. An event not to be forgotten.
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| Dubrovnik |
A small family run hotel where relaxation is everything. The family owners simply cannot do enough for you. A perfect place to relax after the schedule of a cruise.
http://www.costasgoldenbeachhotel.com/index.html
On the Monday whilst we were at the hotel I became slightly unwell, probably a combination of tiredness and heat. I went to rest at lunchtime and did not actually get up until the following morning! The hotel owner's daughter sent some plain food to our room and made sure that I was ok.
At this point I must mention that whilst we were on the cruise the weather just got hotter as the week progressed. Venice was particularly so, and in actual fact one person on the cruise collapsed in the heat and was taken to hospital by water ambulance. I seemed to manage in these conditions but once back on board my breathing was slightly shallow with no deep breathing. I drank lots more water and had eventually had to rest for a couple of hours. I did also see the ship's doctor one morning due to sunburn, he gave me a thorough examination and asked me to go back a further twice so he could check my blood pressure and sats levels. So this was reassurance that was particularly welcome.
I managed to keep my feet from swelling by wearing canvas lace-up pumps and more importantly wearing my foot-up splint. However, on three occasions I had really bad leg cramp overnight which disturbed my sleeping. Overall, a wonderful and memorable holiday with just a couple of minor problems.
At the UK & Corfu airports I had assistance: I still cannot cope with lots of people and the rigour of going through security. I still get the "racing" head and my emotions run high. Even after the assistance at Corfu, once I got in the departure area I had to sit quietly and once again shed a few tears. I cannot explain why this happens and I would like to think that I am getting better with regard to this - but am clearly not - not yet!
The weekend prior to the holiday proved to be an eventful one as it was the annual Bed Race in the town where I live.
| Local branches of National organisations, clubs and individuals pre-plan for around nine months of the year to make this annual event a huge success. On the day after the bed race I attended a re-union of the area where I was brought up until being about ten years of age. A photograph of the local children had appeared in the local paper sixty years ago, marking the coronation of Queen Elizabeth 11, and at the re-union the photograph was recreated by as many people as possible who were on the original. A buffet lunch was provided and ex-neighbours chatted, reminisced, took photographs and swapped contact details. How wonderful and unique this must be - but it was a unique time growing up in the '50's in such a safe environment in this little area of the town where I grew up. Another memorable occasion, one that we have decided to carry on and meet up every two years. So, to summarize, June proved to be an amazing month, with lots of treasured moments. My health is still improving & I still get the occasional glitch, however, I have finally learnt not to worry when it happens and be accepting of the fact that things cannot get back to where they were four years ago. Sometimes, this can be very frustrating: I would have liked to have gone on a couple of walks with my husband whilst we were in Corfu, but knew that it was not possible. He has been very accepting of the fact that we cannot go on long walks together and is understanding of my limitations and has also come to accept that some things he must do on his own. He now goes with a camera and takes lots of photographs and explains what he has seen, so I don't miss out too much.  |
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