I have been doing in home physical therapy that has been focused on the areas that I have had the most difficulty with. I went to a physical therapist for a short while, then started a physical therapy program in house using resources available online. I am a self motivated person, so this seemed to work best for me. I would not recommend this approach for everyone, I have come across a few stroke survivors that have found ways to get around their challenges rather than work to improve. The key for me is I don't take short cuts to work around my challenges, trying to get back to where I was versus changing how I do certain tasks. I can't tell you how many times I spilled my coffee in the morning or the dog's water bowl over the past 6 months because of the lack of coordination in my right hand!

I have a 20 - 30 minute exercise routine that I now focus on mainly during the week, It took about 5 months to improve enough to get back into projects on the weekend that are a little more physical in nature than my PT and require me to use fine motor skills, so I skip PT on the weekends so I don't get overly tired, causes me to get stiff and uncoordinated when I do.

I have also incorporated the guitar into my PT. I started with just getting comfortable with strumming again, moved on to doing basic scales to improve the fine motor skills now I am probably 85% of where I was pre-stroke, I am hoping to be 100% by the 8 month mark from my stroke. Playing is a daily routine that lasts for at least 30 minutes.

I did not have any formal occupational therapy, once again, did it all in home. Started by learning to write again, using a mouse, using a keyboard and so on. I am fortunate to have an office job, so I am forced into a daily occupational therapy program!

With my exercises, when I get comfortable in a certain area, I change it up a bit and move on to the next challenge. The next big challenges are getting back to running and being able to hold the guitar pick without 2-sided tape.