Driving after a Stroke

I am still not driving and still do not feel as though I am ready or confident to drive even after four years.

It can be extremely frustrating having to rely on others to take me to places that public transport cannot.


After having a stroke, you may be eager to get back in the driving seat. The factsheet explains how stroke and transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) can affect your ability to drive and the procedures that you should follow if you want to drive again. It also lists organisations that can provide further advice and information.

 Follow this link to a fact sheet by the Stroke Association about driving after a Stroke:

http://www.stroke.org.uk/factsheet/driving-after-stroke

Exercise and Stroke

How often do you exercise?

Exercise is great for your health, as it can reduce your risk of stroke. Even if you find it difficult to move around, there are various ways you can be active.

Check out the Stroke Association's resource sheet that explains how exercise can improve your health, the type of activities and other places that can help.

http://www.stroke.org.uk/resource-sheet/exercise-and-stroke

You can scroll down to read this document or download it or even purchase a hard copy

Further interview with Andrew Marr's wife

Second interview with Jackie Ashley, wife of Andrew Marr:
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23530168

Andrew Marr's wife hits out at stroke care

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Andrew Marr to return to BBC roles
• BBC's Andrew Marr suffers stroke
• Andrew Marr: Why do healthy people have strokes?

The wife of the BBC journalist Andrew Marr has criticised the level of care available to people who have had a stroke, once they leave hospital.

Jackie Ashley, a Guardian columnist, has written a blog about caring for her husband in which she praises the NHS - but criticises community care.
She said the intensive daily care in hospital was replaced by - at best - weekly appointments.
Campaigners said many survivors felt "abandoned" when they returned home.
About 150,000 people have a stroke in England each year. A quarter of them are of working age.
Marr, 53, spent two months in hospital after suffering a stroke in January this year, followed by months of physiotherapy to help him walk again.
He will return to presenting his Sunday morning politics show in September, and BBC Radio 4's Start the Week programme later this year.
Three months after his stroke, Marr gave an interview to his own programme, in which he said: "I'm frankly lucky to be alive."
He blamed his stroke on overworking and intense periods of exercise.
He said his voice and memory had been unaffected but the left side of his body had been weakened.
'Evidence of cuts' In her blog, Ms Ashley wrote about how exhausting being a carer could be, and how it could be difficult to plan for when help might be needed.
She said the NHS had been "wonderful, wonderful, wonderful".

Ms Ashley is a political reporter for the Guardian

But she added: "The inflexibility of the system is staggering.
"I've been contacted by many, many stroke victims and the general view is that hospital care is excellent, but there's very little support after that.
"Daily, intensive physio and occupational therapy in the hospital are suddenly replaced with a visit once a week, if you are lucky, from the community services.
"Given that so many stroke victims, and others who have suffered neurological injuries, would be able to get back to work and look after themselves with better rehabilitation after leaving hospital, this is surely a false economy."
Jon Barrick, chief executive at the Stroke Association, said: "More people than ever are surviving a stroke and that's a welcome improvement.
"But many stroke survivors tell us that after all the effort to save their lives they then feel abandoned when they return home.
"The NHS and local authorities are failing in their responsibilities to provide appropriate and timely support to stroke survivors and their families.
"And the growing evidence of cuts for people currently getting services is very worrying."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "Carers make a huge contribution to society and we want to do all we can to support them.
"Proposals in the Care Bill will put carers on a similar legal footing as the people they support, with extended rights to an assessment of their needs, and the first ever right to support from their local authority."

Fund Raise with Gok Wan: August 2013

Gok’s charity of the month – August: Stroke Association

Happy Summertime my lovelies!
I hope you’re all having a wonderful, sun-filled summer and either enjoying your school holidays, or taking a break somewhere amazing!!!
It’s time to tell you about my charity of the month for August. They are the incredible Stroke Association. Now these guys are doing one hell of a job to help us understand more about what strokes are and also helping those who have suffered. You may not know, but three times more women die of a stroke every year than those who die of breast cancer…thats how serious this is guys. Please read on to find out how you can help this amazing charity and make a huge difference to so many peoples lives.


http://www.gokwan.com/ 

Viewpoint of a Carer: Andrew Marr's wife

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/01/caring-stroke-victim-andrew-marr-transformed

Caring for my stroke victim husband Andrew Marr changed my life

 

From the NHS to they way we conduct debates online, nursing Andrew back to his feet has transformed my perspective

• 
• • Jackie Ashley
  • The Guardian, Thursday 1 August 2013
  • Jump to comments (264)

Andrew Marr: 'After brilliant ­support from doctors, nurses and physio­therapists, he is back on his feet and returning to work.' Photograph: Nick Cunard / Rex Features

We all have our terrors – cancer, a plane crash, being knocked off the bicycle by a speeding lorry. But so often it's the unexpected that gets you. I thought a stroke was something suffered by people who were either very old, or overweight, or heavy smokers. Yet back in January my husband, Andrew Marr, who is none of those – really, 53 is not old – suffered a very serious stroke. He went from being a super-energetic, fit, over-worker to a half-paralysed invalid. His life had totally changed, but of course, as many kind friends have pointed out, mine had too.

Six months on, after brilliant support from doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, he is back on his feet and returning to work. I have re-entered the political world, but with a different perspective on life. Since so many people have been asking me what it's like to have your life turned upside down by an unexpected illness, here are six random thoughts from my six months off.

First, although I knew a lot about disability and about caring (my father, the late Lord Jack Ashley was totally deaf and suffered from Parkinson's), I had never been a full-time carer. It is, above all, exhausting. It can also be extremely monotonous and frustrating for both the patient and the carer. Every single one of life's daily routines takes twice, if not four times, as long as it used to, from getting through the shower to putting on shoes. Physio routines, which need practice every day, require hundreds and hundreds of small repetitive movements.

Friends would ask repeatedly why I didn't "just get someone in to help". I did at first. Yet, as many carers will know, it's not that simple. You book someone to help with the morning routine at seven each morning and suddenly the patient wants to get up at six. There's a physio appointment; so a complete change of clothes is necessary in the early afternoon. The times of the appointments change every day, on the day, so you never quite know when a lift will be needed … so you either have someone in full-time attendance; or you do it yourself. Then there's the additional stress of not knowing, because all strokes are different, how long and how full the recovery will be.

I am no Florence Nightingale and there's no damn halo visible when I look in the mirror: this is just what any decent relative would do for someone who is physically disabled. One stroke victim wrote to tell me he thought that carers for stroke sufferers all experience some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. I wouldn't go that far, but it can be tough, and carers everywhere need support and breaks.

Second, the NHS is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. The doctors saved my husband's life, the physios have restored him to strength, and for most of them nothing has been too much trouble. But the inflexibility of the system is staggering. I've been contacted by many, many stroke victims and the general view is that hospital care is excellent, but there's very little support after that. Daily, intensive physio and occupational therapy in the hospital are suddenly replaced with a visit once a week, if you are lucky, from the community services. Given that so many stroke victims, and others who have suffered neurological injuries, would be able to get back to work and look after themselves with better rehabilitation after leaving hospital, this is surely a false economy.

Third, returning to Westminster life, I have never been so frustrated at the gap between the arguments in the House of Commons and the real issues in the NHS. I came back just as the Keogh report into failing hospitals was being debated. All I heard were politicians on both sides slagging off each other – it was all "it's your fault", "no, it's your fault". For those thousands of people and their relatives currently in hospital this is the last thing we require of our MPs. There are huge issues of priorities and management and accountability to be sorted out, and rather than mudslinging, politicians should be working together to do this.

Fourth, my re-entry into the world of Twitter was an unpleasant reminder of just how nasty the public debate can be. It coincided with the 24 hours of rape threats suffered by Caroline Criado-Perez for giving a radio interview from a feminist perspective.

If you follow Twitter regularly, it's easy to believe that many of our fellow citizens are cruel, mean, misogynist and foul-mouthed. But suffering a serious illness means that you see the better side of human nature. Countless acts of kindness, messages of goodwill – including on Twitter – and examples of supreme bravery will stay with me for ever. During his rehabilitation my husband was treated for a while at the Douglas Bader wing at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. There were scores of amputees, all coping with appalling disabilities with immense fortitude and often a beaming smile. Truly, we are better than the Twitter trolls.

Fifth, from talking to the scores of people I met in hospital, and the vast postbag I have received, it's clear that for many women these urgent caring tasks for close relatives come out of the blue. Sometimes they last for years, sometimes, as is my own case, it's just a matter of months. Yet the world of work is not set up to deal with this. Too many older women lose their jobs after a few months off to care for an elderly parent, or other relative. Just as we now accept that women need to take some time out for childcare, surely we should be able to re-arrange the world of work so that "carer's leave" becomes a normal part of all our lives, men included.

And finally, and perhaps most important, I have become aware of just how fragile life is. We walk in the sunlight, ignoring the shadows. In the blink of an eye lives can be changed utterly. Every year 150,000 people suffer a stroke, and 50,000 of them are still of working age. It can happen while leaning back in the basin at the hairdresser, or even turning your head in the car to look out of the rear window. This is not to say it's best to spend one's life worrying about what horrible illnesses or accidents may strike. But there is nothing like a near-death experience to put life's little annoyances into perspective and to learn to live each day for the day.

Blog Statistics

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.

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.

Dubrovnik   

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.

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.