Longmont Journey: Turning therapy tasks into a business

What started as a form of occupational therapy — as Emily Rodriguez recovered from a stroke — has turned into a full fledged business hand-stitching clothes and toys. The aptly named PostStroke Stitchin’ has given Rodriguez new drive and opportunity for her life.

In September 2020, while everyone was worried about COVID, Rodriguez was worried about getting her thyroid removed. Rodriguez dealt with Graves’ disease —  an autoimmune disorder that causes hyperthyroidism — for eight years. The disorder nearly killed her, she said, landing her in the ICU more than once.

“People normally don’t make it through thyroid storms. I got really lucky and made it through two,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t know how, angels or something, but I’m stuck here.”

A month after her thyroid was removed, Rodriguez was delivering newspapers on her regular route when she had an incident that turned out to be a transient ischemic attack. According to the American Stroke Association, a transient ischemic attack is a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain, also known as a mini-stroke. Rodriguez recalled walking into a gas station and the lights were suddenly brighter, she couldn’t focus and she felt her whole left side go numb. 

“The last thing on my mind at 34-years-old was that I just had a major stroke,” Rodriguez said.

After her thyroid issues, Rodriguez attributed the issues to the prescriptions she was taking after having her thyroid removed. As the issues with numbness on her left side grew worse over the following days, Rodriguez procrastinated going to the hospital. If she’d gone sooner, doctors could have given her treatments to correct the symptoms, but Rodriguez said all her issues with Graves’ disease had left her hospital-averse.

The transient ischemic attack, or stroke, turned out to have been caused by a blood clot and complications from an arterial dissection — a tear on the inside of an artery that leads to blood clots —   after her thyroid was removed. Rodriguez finally went to the doctor after urging from her family, where it turned out she’d had several mini-strokes before the major one at the gas station. The damage had been done, by the time Rodriguez was admitted to Anschutz Medical Campus her entire left leg was dragging and she could hardly walk.

Rodriguez said after the thyroid surgery, she’d expected to find this new normal life free of being poked and prodded. Graves’ disease is essentially terminal without the surgery, Rodriguez said, and she finally had a sense of freedom. Rodriguez only had one month with her new normal before the stroke redefined her whole world again. The stroke not only caused numbness in her left arm and leg, impacting her dexterity and mobility, but had a significant effect on her brain.

In the year since the stroke, Rodriguez had to relearn how to walk — progressing from a wheelchair to a walker, then a cane — and she still struggles with it, she said. Though Rodriguez admitted to feeling angry and frustrated, giving up was never an option, she said, for herself or her two sons. While physical therapy would help her walk, Rodriguez needed occupational therapy to help remedy the nerve damage, learning how to talk again and rebuild pathways for her fine motor skills.

“I tried to keep positive and stay positive. It’s so up and down in a healing process like this, it only takes a slight mindset to just want to let it all go,” Rodriguez said. “But that’s why I have a great support system. I knew I could always reach out and they would listen to me.”

Rodriguez said it’s been a rough year, but she’s accomplished more in the last year than the preceding thirty-four. She feels like she has something to be proud of, overcoming the therapy and physical obstacles. Rodriguez doesn’t need a cane to walk these days and her motor skills are returning. Frustrated with some of the exercises from her occupational therapist, Rodriguez took up crochet to help with her grip.

Rodriguez learned to crochet with her mom as a child, but had only made hats and scarfs before the stroke. It was never her plan to start a business, the crochet was just a way for Rodriguez to regain the use of her hands. It wound up being a lot of fun, but more importantly Rodriguez said part of the neural issues from the stroke left her more willing to try things she might have balked at before. Rodriguez allowed herself to be ambitious, learning new techniques that worked with her disability, exploring new patterns, where she might have felt she wasn’t good enough before.

“I don’t give it a second thought, I don’t second guess myself. If it intrigues me, I just say ‘Cool, let’s do it,” Rodriguez said.

Love and support from her family have helped motivate and carry Rodriguez through the hardship, she said, particularly that of her two sons. The boys are excited by the crochet stuffed animals Rodriguez makes, even making requests of her. 

“It made my heart so full that they think ‘My mom can do that, she can do anything,’” she said.

The willingness to push herself and try new things extends beyond the crochet and into the rest of her life. Rodriguez said she’s more willing to take risks and explore, where before she might have stood in her own way. Selling her creations was never her plan, but Rodriguez had a plethora of knit goodies accumulating in her house and her business, PostStroke Stitchin’ was born.

Rodriguez set up an online store on Etsy to list all her items, along with an Instagram to show things off. Along with taking commissions online, Rodriguez started bringing her creations to local craft fairs. That led to helping to organize markets like this past weekend’s Harvest Festival at the Altona Grange Hall. She calls herself a steam engine because she never says no to things that intrigue her.

“I fought death for so long, I didn’t do it to sit around and do nothing,” she said. “I fought so hard to be here, I may as well do something with my life.”

The pain is still there when Rodriguez works on her crochet, but she appreciates it. It reminds her that her nerves are coming back, that she’s getting stronger with every new project. Through the ordeals of Graves’ disease and the stroke, Rodriguez is thankful and grateful for the opportunities she has for herself and her kids.

“To be able to feel it now, I’d take the pain any day. Because it means that maybe one day I’ll wake up and feel my fingers,” Rodriguez said.

If you or someone you know has a journey to share please email the Leader at [email protected].