Recovering from a stroke can take a LONG time

 

Just when I thought I had it all together 😏

    Since my stroke I had developed an excellent routine in my stroke recovery journey. I began riding my bike that my husband who is a leading bike specialist in our area prepared for me; a good bike and correct positioning. I started small, I rode around the block, literally around the block maybe 2 kilometers. During my group rehabilitation, my balance was one side effect that made me lose my confidence in anything exercise related but improved with allied heath professionals encouragement. A bike for me was perfect and all of my allied health professionals were excited because they knew that it is an brilliant way for stroke survivers to recuperate. 

However, as per usual for someone like me, I took it too far after regaining my confidence and pushed the limits. 15 kilometers and climbing. I downloaded STRAVA and tracked my rides to watch my progress. With all my exuberance I noticed that when I rode past a certain length my foot started to go numb. Paresthesia This was confirmed by my stroke specialist.

This paresthesia progressed to pain in my muscles from them spasming. These spasms are small enough not to see them happen but enough for the pain to be real and eventually head up to my whole right side. EXHAUSTING. This took me weeks to recover from. Did I give up? DANG NO!!! I waited until I recovered, tested distances and found my sweet sweat spot and stopped there, I just ride that distance more often. 15 kms is just too far.