neurorehabilitationFromTheTrenches

 I know I've Outlined the contents of a similar pack before, but those things, although still valid,  represent tools that have made my early experiences more tolerable, not to mention, it is possible to decide to get them AFTER the fact. This grouping represents critical corner stones of my rehabilitation. In no particular order then, departing from my new format, I'd like to outline two major advantages that I've enjoyed. Partner This is probably true of other existential crises that you could face, but a solid partner is essential to neuroreabilitation. I've a long way to go, but when I get there, and I will, I will have Claire to thank. As well as the endlessness of it all, she encourages me not to accept the status quo, and instead, to train harder to better my condition. It helps that she, like me, has been researching neurorehabilitation, and understands that a person only gets out, what they put in. One of her frequent taunts is --and I'll have to paraphras

 As will become customary, this October update comes one month late, which means I will submit the following month's update in a few weeks, in order to get back on top of things. No problem. Walking Walking is proving difficult, especially with the Weinachtsmarkt, self-imposed deadline for independent cane walking looming. I will therefore scrap that deadline, in favour of next xmas, as a more achievable goal. It won't be for the lack of trying, as you will see, with the following regime, I've been using. Every morning I do some stretches in the bed before I get up. I then go downstairs for breakfast and coffee. I eat my breakfast then hop on the treadmill, for 15 minutes or 500 meters, whichever guarantees that I cover 500 meters. As soon as I compose myself, following said exertions, I grab my cane and do 10 "lengths", as they're affectionately called. They are, in fact, walking from my seat, down as far as the recliner (circa. 15 Meters), then walking back

 On-tour: Valencia We had our first post-covid, determental-for-the-environment, flight-getaway last month, and it included much training, and lots of good times. We went to Valencia, Spain. First-off, Valencia is a great City. There was no shortage of vegan eateries. Especially in our locale-while-there.  Valencia's main focal point -- but, by no means their only one -- is the Turia river, which is gone. You can read about that here . What's left in its stead is 9k of parkland as wide as the Turia river once was. You have to hand it to the Valencians, they make great use of this space. I remarked to Claire that it was a triathlete's paradise; with intermittent exercise zones, not to mention the beach which is just beyond the City. I brought my Liegerad with me for getting around and I'm glad I did because there's plenty to see and do. Like, for example, this , which saw me soften my stance on zoos.  It is as cruel as the treatment of humans in [**SPOILER ALERT!!M.

It' s not August, but I would like to maintain the illusion of regularity. Further to this aim, I would like to relegate my bi-monthly book review post, to a section in my monthly status update.  So every month, starting this month, I will provide a book recommendation. I won't know myself with all this time; putting out fires all over the place. Onto August's belated update. Walking As you will see in the later pic., I have reached the holy grail of 1 KM, I have also been quietly ramping up the pace. My ultimate mid-term goal, if you'll pardon the contradiction-in-terms, is to get to 2 KMPH, and thus a 30 minute workout.  I have also reconfigured my training schedule as follows; I take to the treadmill every morning before breakfast, then, after work, I sweat it out on the Peloton, if we have not planned to go for a real cycle with the Liegerad. I have also re-started a stretching routine in the bed before I get up. I also mean to take a half hour in the evenings for s

Tomorrow, Monday, will see the start of 2-weeks' holiday. I am spending most of that first week in Bavaria, having traveled here on Saturday by train, for the first time without the wheelchair. It wasn't that different from the last time, when I left the wheelchair in the car boot for the duration of my stay, but it does represent change; onward and upward. Walking The treadmill has made it into my rehab rotation. I now alternate between the Peloton and treadmill each morning. On treadmill day, I simply walk while holding on, for dear life, to the convenient handles, which double as a pulse reader. Early on, I learned that I needed to wear some kind of covering, to protect the inside of my left thumb, which became the source of a bloodbath on my maiden attempt, by becoming frayed by an inoffensive, easily-avoidable plastic joint. Now, as I march with my blue marigold on one hand -- and my safety clip -- I reach the blistering pace of 1.2KMPH, which has been gradually increased

  Very Good, Jeeves! :  That is not a typo, The book is entitled 'Very Good, Jeeves!'. Everyman is the publisher*. They have produced, among other things, the entire Wodehouse back catalog in sleeved hardback, complete with consistent artwork. I jumped ahead, and bought ' Something Fresh ', produced by a different company, and I'll have to purchase it again as an Everyman;  otherwise my Wodehouse collection will be lacking, when I finally complete it. * not true, the publisher is Outlook; Everyman is the name of the series of reprints. Wodehouse was a master of writing witty prose. He has two recurring sagas, This is part of the "Jeeves & Wooster" saga, and it is a suitable entry point to this saga, as it contains marvelously constructed, funny short-stories: a new tale per chapter, which is not that dissimilar to what I've seen of Jeeves so far, where each new chapter deals with a problem requiring Jeeves's intervention. Thank you, Jeeves Wod

 A lot has happened since my last update; so here's a summary: We went on our first post-covid holiday, since we are fully vaccinated. We left for Aarhus, Denmark in a rental car. It was a hassle-free drive of circa. 3.5 hours. There was an expected checking of our papers at the border; this was a Friday before we would get the all-clear on Sunday, following the mandatory 2-weeks post-2nd-vaccination-shot, so we had to get tests and show proof of same. No sweat. I had reserved a cargo bike (trike) for getting around while there. Cargo bikes are all the rage in Denmark, so I wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. Our hotel was fairly central so when we had freedom to roam from Sunday, roam we did. Aarhus is a great City, that I fully recommend. There was a street-food area, conveniently near our hotel, which we made great use of, and the beaches near the City were wonderfully empty. The weather, aside from a little rain one of the days, was perfect. Then we returned to Hamburg on

At least it was May when I started this. Walking  This has been a busy month. Firstly I have made the following changes to my hourly exercises: Every hour, on the hour, I get to my feet without using any objects as leverage; once up, I maintain my hands-off approach by completing some* mini-squats -- I can't stress enough how pathetic these are, I don't manage the full 90 degree, knee-bend -- then I continue my standing balance training, with my feet shoulder width apart to run out the ten-minute countdown timer. This is during working hours, Monday-Friday. At the weekend, I follow this up with a plank or press-ups (again, pathetic), and I finish with 100 crunches.  *It started out as 50 but I've been adding 10 each week that I remember to do so. It's 90 now. I also do a weekly hour of free-standing. My Vision  We went to an eye doctor, who specialises in neurology. He didn't recommend that I go for an operation to attempt a correction of the double vision, as ther

 Here follows an ordered list, in order of preference, of three books by coincidentally deceased authors. The Missionary Position This was my second reading thereof, having received it as an Xmas present. I’m delighted to report that a fuzzy memory may well mean, I can enjoy many other old favorites. It’s very brief, and like all Hitchens’s work, it makes one think. I remember reading about Mother Teresa in a primary-school, religion book, in a chapter dedicated to her. This book takes a different angle on the now-saint --despite Christopher Hitchens’s best efforts-- I won’t ruin it; get yourself a copy, but two quotes kept coming to me as I read. Both I learned about through Christopher Hitchens, in happier times. “With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion.” ― Steven Weinberg "Give a man a reputation as an early riser, and he can sleep 'til noon." — Mark Twain The thing about Mot

Spring is here! I’ll probably have my lying-bike for the next neurorehabilitation report, which will hopefully follow this new format; which is basically an update on each of the main component parts; namely, in no specific order, speaking, my Harm, double-vision and walking. You see, the gradualism of my healing, it occurs to me, is irrelevant because I couldn’t know where, in the big picture, I am. What I mean by that is; I am aware of small improvements taking place but I am aware also that I’m miles away from where I want to be, somewhere on the trajectory. So I’d rather focus on the component parts and trust that it will all come together in the end. Speaking I must sound like an imbecile, but I can assure you all that the slowness of my speech has little to do with my cognition. Rather, it is a malfunctioning of the various body parts involved in producing speech. This involves mainly breathing but my speech is also hindered by a general numbness of the left side of my face and m

I underestimated my task, so that I have planned to reorganise my plans, as follows. My processing speed is such that I can only realistically plan 1.5 books per month, so 3 books in 2 months is achievable; and I'll plan to review all of them at that time; rather than reviewing the most deserving; starting next month, I'll review all 3, in descending order, from best to worst. All the while, I'll provide my neurorehabilitation report, from the trenches, monthly.  So, onto the "winner" last month; the truth is that the direct competitor has been pushed out to April, but I believe we have nonetheless a deserving winner here. The premise is intriguing; what if Charles Lindburgh was elected president, and he supported, on behalf of America, Hitler's Germany in WW2. We are left to imagine the implications that would have on World politics today, but we are told this story, through the eyes of a working-class Jewish family in New Jersey (Newark). There are many set-

This has been a hell of a month, where to start... I will soon be the proud owner of a Liegerad, or lying bike, which will help me maintain my normal BMI, while contributing to my rehabilitation. February has been a month of firsts, and has truly ushered in Life 2.0 . Last weekend, I essentially showered unaided. This consisted of me making my way to the bathroom –alone, but within earshot of Claire-- I then made my way on to the shower-chair, and began showering; meanwhile,  Claire prepared my clothes for me, leaving them in the bathroom, ready for me when I finished showering, and left the apartment for the weekly shop. Once finished, I managed to leave the shower, dry myself and get ready for the day. After my roaring success with the shower. I decided to dispense with the Augenklappe for good. It felt like the first time using the cane but totally worth it. My brain will simply have to forge new neural pathways without reliable help from my autonomic nervous system. To celebrate th

Here is my first neurorehabilitation status update, that is part of my resolutions for 2021. Going forward this is how it will work: Dividing the month in two, roughly, from February onward, I will start the month, after a couple of weeks’ preparation , with a status update, as well as naming the two books that will go head to head for a chance to feature in the subsequent review, approximately 2 weeks later.  What about that update? This “lockdown” is not as impactful for me as I’m sure it is for many of you. It is not without challenges, though, for me. I, for example, don’t get a chance to further improve on my records in Athlevo , and I do miss the occasional eating-out, that we enjoyed.  I feel I must mention the second book from January, as it relates to my rehabilitation. SAL ; It makes an excellent companion book for Ultralearning . Even though, it’s worth mentioning that, the former was published some 2 years prior; giving Ultralearning’s author plenty of time to --being kind-

And now for the first segment of my New Year's resolution of 2021. My New Year's resolutions include such things as reading two books per month, of which I'll review the most deserving on this blog. Since I'll be reviewing once a month, I'll also provide a monthly update on my rehabilitation; so a bi-weekly (twice-monthly believe it or not ) blog article is another of my resolutions. I have decided to include some fiction in my resolution, so one of each, fiction and non-fiction, bi-weekly. Being that my non-fiction for January is very short, coupled with the fact that I have not yet started it, you will be treated, deservedly or not, to a review of Memoirs of a Geisha (MG). You know I don't like to give much away, so I'll outline my motives for choosing it and let you know if it lived up to the promise. I only know of two books that I greedily read through, which upon finishing, I was sad that it was over. I received MG as an xmas present from someone who