Tools of the Trade

I have always liked tools. My garage is full of them. Unfortunately, most of them will not be used anymore, not by me anyways. But I’m keeping them, at least some of them. I like that tools can help me create things, beautiful things and useful things. 

Although I have a pretty robust toolbox of tools, I realize now that I am using tools of a different kind. More tools for different things.

The tools that I am using now were given to me by scientists and therapists. There is this thing called neuroplasticity, something I had never heard of. Sitting on my desk is a device called FitMi. I had heard about it and I asked my daughter Holly, who is an occupation therapist, if it would help. She said absolutely it will help. She knew all about neuroplasticity. It is a tool that encourages repetitive motion, doing the same thing over and over again. I don’t know if I would call it beautiful, but it is certainly useful. 

Right now, there is a lot of research going on in neuroplasticity. They are discovering things about how brains work, and more importantly, how they heal themselves.  Because of that, I have some tools to work on my life. 

Along with that, there are loads of games and apps, all of which can help heal your brain. I can remember the day I came home from the hospital.  My son Bryan showed up with an iPad with a couple programs, one of them was a program about name recognition. It just shows pictures that I need to identify.  Things like elephants, and airplanes, and people, like doctors and teachers. A task that a 5-year-old could do. But I couldn’t. So, I worked on that. Doing 30 pictures at a time, and getting 80% of them wrong.  Day after day getting 80% wrong. 

I can distinctly remember the day when I got 80% of them right. Out of the blue, I went from 20% to 80%. That gave me so much hope. The next time I did it, I got only 20% of them right again, but that was OK. Improvement was possible. And it happened gradually, but it got better. 40% 50% 60% 70%. 70% was where I was hovering about when I stopped using that program and started working on different things. That was one and half years ago. Today, well let’s see. I am going to test myself and report back at the end of this post.

Tools are great. So, I am working with the tools that I have.  I’m working on fixing the problems in my life. And I am hoping for something beautiful and useful. 

Along with the tools that I used to use, and the tools that therapy has offered, I realize now that God have given me a set of tools as well.  2 Peter 1.3 says this, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life…” God has given us everything we need, everything we need to live a beautiful life. Everything. Wow.  Hebrews 13.21 tells the same thing, God will “equip you with everything good for doing his will…” He has equipped us with everything we need. God has given me a toolbox full of tools, that is so encouraging to me. God is giving me a way to work on my life. A way to work on redeeming my slice of this world.

So, I’m thinking about the tools in my other toolbox. And I’m thinking about how I can create beauty in my life. Using the tools that God provides, things like prayer, wisdom, and the words of God. Tools that can change my life. Tools that deal not just with the problems that happened from the stroke, but deal with the problems that were already there.  God has given me a set of tools more robust than anything I could imagine. Tools to make things beautiful. I have everything I need; I just have to use them.  

So how am I doing? Let me say this, my tools are being used. 

I used a lot of my garage tools to build a kitchen for the clubhouse. The grandkids helped with the decisions. I was little worried when I gave them a color chart and told them to pick some colors. But orange and yellow works for me.

And we also went online to pick knobs,14 of them, none of them the same. Each grandkid picked 3, one was selected for Maggie, my daughters’ dog. And to round it out I picked one as well, if you’re wondering, I am the papa bear next to the firebird (dragon).  It was several months of using my tools to create something fun.

My therapy tools are not being used as much as they used to be, but they are being used some. The summer has been hard, the heat and the fatigue has been sapping my motivation to do therapy. I started swimming for exercise. I am writing, obviously. Suzanne and I started to play dominos, which is surprisingly good therapy. I am reading books and doing crossword puzzles.  The support group that I was going to every week at Mt Sac was off for the summer, and it hasn’t come back. I’m not sure what happened there. So, it’s a mixed bag, but I am planning to change that.  

The iPad which had been laying idle for a while has been charged up. Mainly because I wanted to see how I do with name recognition. But also, to work on things.  Like numbers. Believe it or not I have an app for that.

So, I ran the name recognition program and I scored 100%. I didn’t think it would be so easy. I was expecting 80%. There are tons of words that I can’t recall when I try to talk. But apparently with picture cues, naming things is something that I can do. Man, I am thinking of those days where I couldn’t name an elephant. I realize now how far I have come. I am sitting here with tears in my eyes. 

What about the tools that God has given me. That are being used as well.  Every morning I greet the day with my bible open. It is the foundation of my day. That is new for me, I used to begin my day thinking about work and listening to talk radio. And I am praying. Not as often as I should, but a lot more than I used to.  And I am asking for wisdom. For too long I have relied on my brain, I am a smart guy, but not smart enough. So, I’m asking for wisdom.

So, I am using my tools. Working on my life from every angle. And I am hoping for something beautiful.