All the things that changed.

This post is mostly for me, so that years down the road (I hope) I can look back and see progress in each of these areas that were affected on October 5, 2009. I'm going to try and somehow "rank" them in terms of impact to my life, and I'm grateful because it could have been much, much worse.

Huge Impact
- Insomnia. About a month into the whole episode, I stopped sleeping. Not your regular insomnia where you only get 5-6 hours of sleep, but I get 1-2. This is still an issue, but seems to be slowly getting better. Now sleep can be up to 5 hours with no meds.

High Impact
- Walking. For about three months, up until I came home from the big house, I couldn't walk much at all. Hallways were long and forbidding. Distance very slowly increased to the point where today 5km is quite doable, although the last 2km or so are quite slow. I can increase this distance if I have a half-hour rest somewhere in the middle.
- Running. I still can't run. I describe this best by using a metaphor. Try running in a swimming pool up to your waist in water. That's what it feels like. I hope to start trying again, and push through the awkwardness, when the weather improves this spring and summer.
- Swallowing. For a few weeks at the beginning, I couldn't voluntarily swallow, and couldn't drink liquids. Again, slowly I got most of that back, but swallowing water without coughing took until just a few weeks ago.
- Talking. I lost all my ability to talk for several days. It never came back the way I used to talk, and it continues to improve, but very slowly. I have a cold now, and with my voice deeper because of the congestion I actually sound more like the old me than usual. I think this may come back all the way, but much of it is tied to my ability to inflate my lungs - another affected area.

Medium Impact
- Breathing. I have half the ability to breath deeply as I used to. It was about 9 months before I could cough properly, and on demand. I still have to wait for the "feeling" that I can take a deep breath. This affects speech as well.

Minor Impact
- Balance. I cannot carry a glass of liquid in my right hand. It will spill.
- Shivering. I shiver very noticeable once in a while, and only for a second. This is gradually diminishing.
- Morning pain. This is a consequence of the insomnia. When I don't sleep well (all the time) I am really sore (almost arthritic) when I get up in the morning. This goes away in about an hour.
- Sneezing. I now seem to sneeze at least once a day. One time. Pre-stroke, I would always sneeze in sets of two. Now it's one.
- Swimming. Can't swim. Sink like a rock. Used to swim like a fish. Although a few weeks ago, I found I - could float on my back for a short time.

The stroke was in my cerebellum, so it impacts all those basic systems -movement, breathing, swallowing, etc. So I'm really lucky it didn't affect the most important one - living.