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Stroke Recovery Successes and Setbacks
Now that Steve only has therapy twice a week at the CP Aquatic Center, the responsibility lies on me to help him with physical and occupational therapy at home. The therapists at the hospital gave us a therapy program to follow, but it takes a lot of diligence, and it’s very strenuous on my hands. But I do the best I can. Steve is usually cooperative but he tires easily. He’s not sleeping well at night and is still struggling with sleep apnea and shortness of breath. He just can’t get used to the CPAP mask, and all options for other masks have been exhausted, so we will be returning the CPAP machine.
The exercises would be easier for him if he could feel the left side of his body. His leg, foot, toes, arm, hand and fingers are still tingling and numb, along with the side of his face, ear, mouth, and neck. Another setback has been with his big toe, which has become painful because of an ingrown toenail and tone in the toe. Tone is stiffness in the muscle. His toe becomes spastic and stiff and it just sticks up pushing it against the shoe making it painful to walk. His physical therapist noticed the tone about 3 months ago and told us that it may make the toe so stiff that it will stay that way, so we need to be diligent to flex it and force it down.