The Jersey Shore

During these months of recovery, outside of the daily practicing of writing, reading and speaking, I have been dabbling with some art projects and over the last few weeks I have been working on a particular art piece. 

I am really lucky that I did not experience any long paralysis during the stroke that may have been disastrous for me, however, currently the right side of my body has some nerve problems that I hope will dissipate over time. Part of my rehabilitation has been working with my hands on this new piece that includes an old photograph of mine, but also the subject brings my thoughts back home of New Jersey and my wonderful old friends. Jersey strong!

"Cape May"

Transfer and oil pastel on canvas

8" x 11"

The other side of illness

Husband, friend, business partner, confidante, lover, partner in crime, and.... 

Caregiver. 

Punch Buggy

There are so many reasons that I love him, but I love that my husband, Eric, enjoys a little friendly competition. It's one of the things that makes us so compatible. When we started dating we took a short road trip, and since that day we has been competing each other of the game, "Punch Buggy."

I have a history of the game, having had two 60s vintage VW bugs before. And because we are little competitors in the making, "Punch Buggy" is now a family game. (No arms are harmed during the games....usually).

Today's photo is from a nightlite that I bought for my son when he was an infant, then used by various boys around the house, and it is currently being used by the youngest. Maybe when the youngest is done with the nightlite I will get it back. :-)

Art of Communication

When I was in the hospital, I really wish I knew how to communicate with sign language. Before the stroke, truly I took the art of communication for granted. Obviously the loss of something brings value again.

Right after the stroke, my communication was so impairment that I could not tell you what my birthdate is or my full name. I could say "Kate", but for my last name, "Sorenson", I could not annunciate. Other things like my address, my social security number, passwords, etc. felt think they had deleted the hard drive of my brain. These are more concrete things and they came back after a few weeks.

Of course, I never thought I could ever lose my ability to communicate. These concrete things in our daily lives and they have limited values. But the soul of my thoughts, my relationships, my memories - these are so more complicated within my unlimited potential. It is nice to say "I love you" to my husband. It is a wonderful thing to say WHY I love him.

Convalescence

It has been a long time since I wrote anything on this blog. This time it is going to be even harder to write. Not figuratively because I don't know what to write, but literally. It is literally a chore to communicate.

On November 9, 2012, I had a stroke.

Not because I was in poor health, but because I fell down the stairs which dissected my carotid artery. Subsequent I found out that my artery had a defect called, FMD, which caused a stroke. There is nothing I can do about the diagnosis for FMD since there is no cure.

For the stroke, the left part of my brain that controls communication and memory was damaged. This is what I meant at the beginning of this post and why this is literally a chore to communication. It has been a long time of rehabilitation to learn again to speak, write and read and I'm just starting to get better each day. So far I'm getting better about more complicated books, reply emails, quick texts, etc. to that I can be part of the human race again. The fact that I'm able to even write these paragraphs is a huge feat. (I'm proud!)

It has taken me about 2 hours to pull these thoughts on this post and I'm really tired. Make a long story short, part of my rehabilitation I need to practice writing and reading and visualizing my world each day.

Self-Portrait: Convalescence