Mind of my Stroked Brain

 Couple of weeks ago, I had mentioned about my teeth condition and the possibility that I might have to knock 1-2 as well ( https://mindofmystrokedbrain. blogspot.com/2024/07/20240728- pain-that-can-be-borne.html ). I went to the hospital yesterday for it. You might be wondering why I went to a hospital when I should have been going to a dental clinic for it. ​i) That's because in my condition, there are many emergencies that can happen and a dental clinic is not equipped with all the facilities that is required to cope with such emergencies. ii) More importantly, it is  because I didn't see a dentist but a " maxillofacial surgeon ".  "maxillofacial" - I came across that term only recently. ​  ​ I have always had a limited vocabulary in English... I wouldn't say it was poor, it was just adequate and limited to words used in regular speaking stuff.  I have always wondered what is the necessity of using complex words when we can say the same things with si

Ever since I have had my stroke and became bed ridden, I sleep on a mechanised hospital bed so that I can be inclined and reclined to different levels and heights. It is needed both for me (as my muscles don't support me and I can't get up on my own) as well as the nursing staff to be able to do many things needed for my care). The hospital bed, as you may have noticed in hospitals, has a mattress which is made of rexine upholstery (usually blue in colour - I don't know why). It needs to be a non absorbing upholstery to be able to wash/ wipe the mattress clean as it is very common to soil it for bed ridden people who are in diapers. That makes it hard unlike usual mattresses. Most importantly, I have been lying on an "airbed" on top of the mattress since my stroke, the airbed is also a very common feature for bedridden people (especially strokes like my case). Since we have absolutely no ability in our muscles on the back, waist, hips, etc., we can't turn arou

I wrote sometime back (a while back actually I think) that I used to have a very good teeth set but it has become more like a shark teeth set after the stroke. (https://mindofmystrokedbrain.blogspot.com/2021/11/20211125-my-teeth-set.html) One more effect of the stroke was that I couldn't open my jaw much for almost 3+ years. I could Max open my mouth 1-1½ cm. So for all that while I have not brushed my teeth. Though I was not consuming anything orally, i still used to have a mouthful of secretions from the lungs and the saliva. All of this would become a thick fluid because I can't swallow. Imagine it stagnating for hours together. Apart from the small of a septic tank, the other thing is what all this stagnation would have done to the teeth. From about 6m back, I have been able to open the mouth wide enough for a toothbrush head to sneak in (the electric toothbrush). I still can't open it wide enough to reach the back of the molars but I can get to the front of them  Recen

 Yesterday, a very good friend of mine had come home. We studied together in college.  While we were talking (rather she was speaking and I was mostly nodding along 😊), we realised it was 30 years since we went to college. It doesn't feel like that at all. I can remember some of the days/ incidents very clearly like it was just yesterday.  Same thing happens regularly when I think back of many things scattered all over the duration of my lifetime.  When we realised that it was 30 years ago, we also joked about our own ages now and we were getting old.,  I have similar moments when I see my daughters. Sometimes when I see them do something, It hits me that they are fast growing - and inturn I am fast growing old as well...  But am I?  As I mentioned, everything in my memory feels like yesterday or last week.. I feel very young as well and don't seem to realise I am almost 50. I think our minds are ageless. Over time, with many circumstances and experiences, it matures but does

I was talking to my dog this morning.  No! I have not lost my mind. It's perfectly normal to talk to your dog! It's weird if the dog talks back to you though...  She is very attached to my wife and daughters and gets very anxious when all 3 of them are not at home.  My wife and daughters have gone for a few days for a holiday. Ever since they left, she has been crying often ( read howling) and has been on a "Satyagraha" boycotting food.  So I was telling her this morning, that they are coming back tomorrow morning and everything will be fine.  And she gave me that strange, blank, questioning look probably wondering "what is this human telling me. I don't recognise this command".  And I realised with that blank look that she doesn't know tomorrow. For that matter, she doesn't know today. She only knows now.. she is living completely in the moment!  Not just her, every animal and being lives only in the moment.  Sure, some species gather and store

I keep getting a lot of stroke surveys to fill up from time to time.  I fill these religiously and provide the information the survey asks for. I fill them genuinely as I don't know what it is going to be used for generally.  Do you know the biggest underlying problem I find in all of them (I have not come across an exception till date). They all assume a stroke is a stroke is a stroke.. surely, we can draw conclusions with generalized assumptions.  Unfortunately, a stroke is not a stroke is not a stroke. If we get a headache, stomach ache or any other illnesses/ diseases they somehow can be generalized and we can understand the symptoms, causes and consequences thus having generalized treatments and care.  However, the only thing common for every stroke is that the root cause was deprivation of oxygen to the brain cells causing the cells to either weaken or die.  Where the stroke happened in the brain, for how long, how much impact did it cause and to what functions, the age of th

Transducers Came across this word recently when I was reading something. Hadn't come across it for a while. Its a word and concept I learnt in my electronics course (either in 12th or my 1st year engineering course I am not very sure now) A transducer, very plainly speaking, is something which helps bridging the analog world with the digital world.  For example, take the very simple digital thermometer in our homes. They can't directly measure temperature in digital form. They have a transducer inside which converts the temperature from a analog/ real world scale to a digital world scale so it can be displayed. Generally speaking, we can say it helps bridge the real world with the digital world. When I had my stroke and I was told I will struggle for balance, I was not able to understand why. My understanding (based on my school learning) was that balance is maintained by the inner ears. Of course we were not told how and I never bothered to ask. I just knew balance was maintai