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My apologies for the typos of late
September 28, 2017
By Mike Weland
Editor

Mike Weland
For those who've noticed an inordinate number of typos in NewsBF articles over the last couple of days, my apologies. I've gone back through and tried to do a bit of clean up, and while I'm remiss, I'm pretty excited, too.

Five-plus years post-stroke, I now have a doctor, provided through the VA, who believes I can regain at least some use on my left side, and possibly get out of the mobility scooter I use at home.

On Wednesday morning, I started a potent muscle relaxer, baclofen, that she prescribed in preparation for starting a new round of physical and occupational therapy I begin at Boundary Community Hospital next week.

It's funny ... when I raised my right hand to enlist for a four-year stint in the Army 38 years ago, I never gave thought to the future, I just enjoyed my tour and did the best I could to learn and be ready for the call that never came.

Until two years ago I never realized I even qualified for a benefit such as that provided by the VA; I thought you had to serve 20 years, or survive the wounds of combat. I was amazed and fortunate to learn it only takes an honorable discharge.

It's not 100-percent free, but I've learned that it can be a most valuable benefit.

I never imagined that a time I still look back on as the best four years of my life would make such a profound difference all these years on.

Four years post-stroke, it was a VA doctor who figured out that my strokes (I'd had two by then, and 15 "mini-strokes") were caused by chronic high blood pressure, and I was prescribed medications that brought my blood pressure down and ended the TIAs.

This summer, the VA, at the advice of a neurologist they let me see, connected me with a physiatrist -- a doctor who specializes restoring function to those with physical impairments or disabilities.

She thinks that if I work at it, if I'm diligent, I can regain the ability to walk ... maybe even (as I still dream I do) run. It's a little less likely, but not out of the realm of possibility, she said, that I might even regain the motor skill in my left hand necessary to type again with both hands!

She made no promises, but her offering the hope is a huge step, and I intend to put forth my best effort, even if the medication she said I need comes with a few side effects, such as a reduction in the attentiveness needed by an journalist and editor.

Again, I apologize ... but I hope, if you'll afford me the lenience, that I won't be too sloppy for too long, that before long, maybe, just maybe, I'll again have a bit more use of parts of me that for so long served me well.
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