Mind of my Stroked Brain

When you brush your teeth in the morning, do you remember if you keep your eyes opened or closed initially when you take the brush to the teeth? Check tomorrow morning if you are not sure 🙂 before my stroke, I used to have my eyes closed when I started brushing. I don't know why I used to do it, but that is what I did. Maybe it is some sort of a reflex to close the eyes when we open the mouth wide - I don't know. For about 3½+ years I didn't brush my teeth. It was cleaned by my nurses with some gauze dipped in mouthwash and cleaning what they could with artery scissors. In the last couple of months I have been using an electric toothbrush as I have the strength to hold it and move it around a bit. I still can't use toothpaste as I can't rinse my mouth with water. I still just dip the toothbrush in mouthwash and swirl it around a bit.  Every morning I think about this - because I keep my eyes open when I start now.  Even with my eyes open wide, I am unable to bring

"Spasticity" is a term I've encountered only after my stroke. It is very common in the neuro recovery/ rehab world. It's when various parts of the body become stiff/rigid, either involuntarily or through limited muscle action but is not yet receiving messages from the brain to release/relax. sometimes your affected body part feels like a stone and sometimes very painful. But you just have to wait for it to relax on its own. It feels like nothing like a cramp. It starts with more intensity in the morning and reduces slowly as the day progresses, I guess as there are some movements and more blood circulation. I don't know. My sleep on most nights is very broken due to cough or waking up frequently for bathroom breaks or something else. It's rare that I get more than 1hr at one stretch. But what I have observed, more importantly, is that I have a very increased spasticity and I am able do something new which I never could before, when I have a good night's s