Hobbies after a stroke (CVA).

Index:                                                                                      

Introduction:

May I introduce myself.  

My name is Gerda (born in 1939).

In 1993 I was struck down with a stroke caused by an infarct of the brainstem. The consequences of this were dramatic, I was totally paralysed and suffered speech-loss.

After 5 weeks in hospital and 6 months at a rehabilitation-centre in Wijk aan Zee (Heliomare) I began to speak again, all was it a partial recovery as was the use of my left side, partial and with functional restrictions.

Besides having extensive physiotherapy and speech therapy I am practising daily exercises to keep things going. Fortunately I do not have speech-loss (aphasia) but I do have difficulty in articulating the words (slurred-speech = dysarthria). I know what I want to say and can say it, but it costs me time, patience and determination .

I spend my time doing embroider, reading and making a lot of trips with my mobile-scooter, weather permitting. My husband (on the bike) and I (on the scooter) make long trips of 40 - 50 km per day.
Lovely, highly recommanded!  

We try once in the 2 years to make a long cycling expedition through Holland (LF-route); all our luggage on the back of the bike and scooter.We only do this once in the 2 years because it involves a lot of organisation, after a distance of about  50 km we have to find a hotel nearby the route, and a hotel that caters for disabled persons and where I can shower (a roomy one!). Also there has to be a wheel chair available so that the booster can be re-charged. 

Up till now we have made 3 such trips:

in 1998 the "Boerenlandroute"  from Heiloo to Enschede and back;

in 2000 the "Oeverlandroute" from Heiloo to Maastricht and back (see photo) 

and in 2002 the "Fietserpad" from Maastricht to Pieterburen (777 km) and back by train to Maastricht to pick up our car.

In  2004 we took our first holiday abroad  - Ile d'Oléron in France - of course the bike and the booster went with us; we were able to lend a scooter too at the bungalow-park.
What was extra pleasurable about this holiday was that the park is running by Dutch people so no language-problem. The park has 8 really lovely bungalows fully equipped and accessible for disabled persons and it has a swimming-pool. There are voluntary nurses and cooks. You can get all the nursing care you need, and also there is technical staff available should you have trouble with the scooter or whatever.
For example - the scooter got a flat tyre, just one phone-call to the park and we were picked up and taken back to the park (by Pope mobile!) where the tyre was repaired. What a service - wonderful or not?!

The swimming-pool is accessible for all disabled persons in whatever "category"; professional voluntary help is available.

We can thoroughly recommend this park, also for persons who are wary about travelling abroad with a disabled person/ disability

See website www.l-accolade.nl .

Purpose of this website.

I want to show you just what is possible - keywords are determination and perseverance.

I hope to stimulate others in the same situation, keep practising, you can see the progression in the following handwork pieces since the beginning of my handicap up till now.

Photo's of the embroidery and explanation:

The links on the left refer to the various embroideries; in chronological order beginning with "the bag".

I use an embroidery-ring and a magnifying-glass as you can see up here.

The patterns are not traced, but I count them out on the fabric.

I used to be right-handed but now I have learnt to use my left hand and that is still not easy.

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Last update: October 2004