| My recovery from a stroke suffered in 2001 seemed | | | | uncontrollability that plagues me. Technically, the |
| glacially slow while it was taking place. Now, howeverI | | | | symptom may result from lesions in the internal |
| feel almost completely recovered, and the difficulties | | | | capsule and thalamus, basal ganglion, hypothalamus |
| with my right hand and arm and the speech problems | | | | and ventral pons or from a cortical infarct in the |
| are like dim recollections of something that happened | | | | territory supplied by the superior division of the middle |
| decades ago.I still have difficulty with cuff buttons on | | | | cerebral artery.Such laughter is often associated with |
| starched cuffs. My handwriting is slow. My singing | | | | weeping. I have not done much blubbering since my |
| voice is on furlough and recent attempts to throw a | | | | stroke, but I did some research on these matters In |
| ball have been errant embarrassments, but I haven't | | | | recent weeks I have discovered in myself new or at |
| taken the time to practice in order to restore either of | | | | least altered emotions. I am not merely getting in touch |
| those activities to previous levels of ability. Still, my golf | | | | with my feminine side but being overwhelmed by it. |
| game is pretty much back to where it was. I am | | | | About a month ago I was injected with a |
| exultant at having escaped the permanent serious | | | | time-released dose of Lupron, an activator of female |
| disabilities that are visited on so many stroke | | | | hormones. Each day I also ingest one tablet of |
| victims.One persistent symptom is pathological laughter. | | | | Casodex, which along with the injection serves to limit |
| When I think of something funny or just vaguely silly or | | | | my ordinary testosterone production, thereby shrinking |
| ironic, I crack up so badly that I am unable to speak for | | | | my hyperplastic prostate gland and stopping the |
| a minute or two. I never, previous to stroke, exhibited | | | | development of the malignancy contained therein. The |
| such idiotic laughter. On the plus side, my hysterics can | | | | doctors told me I could expect weight gain, loss of |
| be contagious. In social situations I often manage to get | | | | muscle mass, diminution of energy, hot flashes, possible |
| my companions laughing with nearly the same | | | | development of breast tissue and loss of body hair. |