How do you define recovery?
Here is the definition by the merrium-webster web site: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recovery
When I was in the hospital just after having had the C.V.A. (stroke),I was told by the medical professionals that although it was not known if I could/would recover at all, the best chance of gaining recovery is in the first three months post stroke involving intense physical therapy due to something called neuro-plasticity, creating new pathways within the brain. After a month in acute, hospital, rehabilitation (rehab), followed by two months in a rehab, nursing home, then able to walk some with assistance (orthosis equipment and a quad cane), and both, dress myself (mostly, I still cannot put on my socks) and use the toilet unassisted(provided the toilet was adequately accessible and equipped for my disabilities), I apparently, was considered "recovered" enough to be sent home; however, still having paralysis, poor balance, easily fatigued, and needing to require assistance with many daily basic needs and activities, I most certainly had not truly recovered (at least, not how I imagined and hoped). Here I am, nearly two years post-stroke and post-therapies (which I continued on an out-patient basis once returning home until I reached a plateau in my progress in May, 2014) and still disabled and dependent on my husband and son for so many things (I am so grateful for having the best, most caring, loving and devoted husband in the world! But what happens when he is no longer physically unable to assist me?)
Anyway, the point that I am trying to make here is...I had believed that if I followed the rules and program of therapies as I had been guided, than one day, I would regain a more full recovery (no more paralysis, a return to the independent way of living life as I had before, etc.); however, I have since come to the conclusion that the purpose of the therapies, for me, were not for attaining a full recovery, but rather a training in discovering to do things in new ways, or rather, learning how to be differently-abled. Learning to do things one-handed and learning to strengthen my torso and carry my weight differently to enable me to walk and sit without falling over from the dead-weight of my paralysis...which acts like an anchor pulling me down on the left side.
Bottom line...I'm fairly certain that a full recovery is not to be achieved by me, especially given my age and the new fact that the joints on my strong side, unaffected by the stroke, are now starting to wear out and pain me.
I also believe that the damage to my brain was more severe than many of the others of whom I've read about on the stroke support forums. Many there have talked about different sensations felt from their paralyzed limbs than that which I have experienced feeling as well as describing higher functioning therapies than those I have been able to perform...my sense is that they retained some neurological signals from the brain which enabled them to perform repetitive tasks thereby allowing the creation of new pathways in their brains and thus recovering prior functions and abilities, where, I seem to have lost all the neurological connections eliminating the chance to reroute my neurological pathways. I cannot lift my left arm, nor move, nor wriggle my fingers, nor can I move my foot, ankle or toes in any way. The only reason that I am able to walk at all is because (1) orthotics and a quad-cane and (2) I've learned to swing my leg around and forward from my hip, I don't have control of my knee at all, I don't bend it and lift upward the way most people do when they walk.
