Walking with a 4-pronged cane 8-18-2010

Here I am walking with a 4-pronged cane. ---------------------------- On November 25, 2009, I had a stroke. An aneurysm burst in my brain, I began to slur my words and then (apparently) I collapsed on the floor of my apartment in San Luis Obispo. I was only 21 years old at the time. I was airlifted by helicopter to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara. Dr. Alois Zauner, a nationally respected neurosurgeon on staff, began immediately to try to determine how to stop the bleeding. By early the next morning, he was able to stop the bleeding by opening up my skull and putting two clips on the bleeding artery. By that time, my parents had arrived and were informed that I needed to be put into a medically induced coma. I was kept in a coma for four weeks to allow my brain to heal and any swelling to go away. In total, I was in the hospital in Santa Barbara for five months. I came home to Moraga, California in March 2010 and weighed only 102 lbs -- having lost over 40 lbs. during my hospital stay. The doctors believe I should fully recover, but the process takes quite a bit of time. Fortunately, I'm young, so my body and my brain's ability to recover is very good. My recovery includes improving the use of my right arm and leg and my brain's ability to retrieve and use the right words when speaking and writing. Right now, I am using Dragon Dictate software to help write this story. Because of the stroke, it is difficult for me to type with only my left hand and also because I'm still having a bit of difficulty spelling words correctly. As you can see from the videos, my language skills and my walking have improved a lot since the stroke. The videos you see show my slow but positive recovery beginning in April 2010 and continuing to this day.