• A  blog is a personal journal of your daily life as a stroke survivor or stroke caregiver.  Surprisingly, countless members have called it therapeautic to write down their thoughts and to vent their frustrations.  You can make it private, just for your eyes or public and share your personal thoughts with your friends.  Why not try it, create your blog and start writing and see if it helps you.  

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  • swilkinson

    Living on angel time.

    By swilkinson

    I went to see the neurosurgeon on Tuesday. I was interviewed by a young Asian associate doctor and sent for a 3D MRI and angiogram, a brand new way of showing  the blood supply within the brain. The results were given to me by the associate and then I saw the specialist. It appears the aneurysm is larger and deeper than previously thought but at my age they are not going to operate as it would mean a full brain surgery. Coiling, one method of dealing with an aneurysm, is not an option. I think I
    • 12 comments
    • 2,462 views

Holiday time and status update

Hi all, just a quick status update before I go off on a months holiday. I'm not expecting to have internet for most of it, and where I do it'll be on the smart phone, so not easy to do, I don't expect to be checking in here.   I'm heading off on a 3 week cruise from Sydney to Perth - over the top. Then a week in Perth before I fly home. Jade will be staying at home on her own, with the cat sitter coming in every day. She'll be so cross with me but she'd hate being in the boarding cattery e

heathber

heathber

Lots of Needles, Machines and Therapy...

Before I started therapy I ha a multitude of test. EEG, CT Angiogram, Echo-cardiogram with bubble study, Zio Patch for 2 weeks...I had so much blood drawn it was like 10 vials! I was freaking out because I was severely anemic and I thought to myself I don't have much blood to spare Lady. My Anitcardiolipin was checked, CBC, BMP serum or plasma, Factor V Activity plasma, Lipid panel, Von Willebrand Factor, Anti-Thrombin III Antigen, Protein S activity, Protein C activity, TSH, CMP, Total Iron Bin

HostTracy

HostTracy

had such beautiful & feel good weekend

Recently we were invited our friends Indian classical dance performance. we have seen this little girl growing up right in front of our eyes. So hubby & I chose to went. The whole event was so well planned & feel great event. you feel happy inside seeing these young girls grown into such a thoughtful beautiful young girls, and how greatly their parents raised them. one thing that stayed with me long after when event ended was chief guest & our spiritual guru with whom we periodicall

HostAsha

HostAsha

Gloomy here, glorious in Rio.

I spent all morning watching the Closing Ceremony of the Rio Olympics. I didn't watch the Olympics as much this time as I have in the past as I think like so many I got disillusioned by the scandals and the drug cheats. I always had such an admiration for those who won a medal, I sat up late watching those Olympic sports in which people made a huge effort to train themselves and I of course wanted our Aussie team to be the best. I was unaware until the past few years of the amount of cheating

swilkinson

swilkinson

Going Home, Learning the Truth, and the Next Step...

When I got home I really don't remember very much. I still had no diagnosis and life was still going to go on...bills, eating, using the restroom, period (this has been a real problem health wise), being alone, just surviving. I was helped to my bed and all I remember for the next week is my daughter who graciously made me something to eat and gave me snacks and drinks which lay on the bed next to me. I ate but I don't remember it. I do remember having to use the bathroom which was a potty seat

HostTracy

HostTracy

The Day It Happened

This is a copy of what happened when I had my stroke that I posted in my introduction. It is the beginning a new journey.   I had a Cerebellar Stroke on July 5, 2015 at 11:30 pm on my bedroom floor. I was 43 and the stroke was on both sides of my cerebellum. Since that day it has been a roller coaster that started with the tallest, most scary drop and loop you can imagine. I've been begging for months to get off and it never stops just slows down. When the stroke happened, I just collapsed. I

HostTracy

HostTracy

Time to get back into blog mode

I need a place to put my thoughts about the approaching clinical trial I am on track to take part in. I want a place where I can share the results, trials and tribulations. The thought of having a hole drilled into my head to implant stem cells is a little scary but the phase 1 studies were quite good. And then I consider, what if I end up in the control group? 1/3 of participants are in that group. But that also means 2/3 are not controls. Here is the actual study listing https://clinicaltrials

scottm

scottm

oh boy

There is never a moment with hanging out with me. I woke up one night I noticed a very delicious looking recipe for sliced cucumbers and I knew exactly what I had to do. While my son and I were watching the Olympics on television I decided it would be the best time to slice my cucumbers. I did not expect is that them to sliced so smoothly then again, that’s what the mandolin was designed for. I was swinging my arms back and forth effortlessly cutting the cucumber and the next thing I knew I had

ksmith

ksmith

100 Things You Don't Know About Me...

I got inspiration for this blog by reading another blogger's post on his blog and I found it interesting. So here it goes...   1. I'm adopted   2. I grew up in the country in Tennessee.   3. I am afraid of clowns.   4. As a child we found a puppy on the freeway so "Freeway" was his name.   5. I got a baby goose one Easter. He grew up and was named Pretty boy...as an adult he was not nice.   6.My second car was a 1982 Datsun 280 ZX with T-tops...I loved that car.   7. I have two bir

HostTracy

HostTracy

The First Year in The Little Pink House

We moved into the house in February of 2014. I retrieved all the vital things out out of their box homes and began to fill my new little abode that was heaven sent. Before we actually moved into the home we (Myself, my Daughter, my Husband, my Mom, and my Step Dad) wiped down all the walls and baseboards and then painted the two bedrooms. My daughter picked out her color(a beautiful bright lavender) and I picked out our bedroom color (Sandstone) and we brightened up the rooms quite a bit. We pai

HostTracy

HostTracy

Rain, and more Rain

Well folks you probably already know the rain is still falling in many states and places which looks like everywhere to me.... I have been glued to the TV watching the places that are flooded and the number of people where their homes are under water, it is so sad to see but I realize God is in charge so I pray for folks everywhere every day and night....   I haven't been outside much on my scooter to look at my own area but for now the water is just on the curb sides and flowing pretty good n

fking

fking

do i want to be disabled?

I have gone through a strange identity crisis. My wrist was bent for so long that I knew I looked disabled to other people. I used to hate that bent wrist and I felt like that was the first thing people noticed when they looked at me. Now it feels kind of weird to look semi normal or whatever. Even though I can straighten my elbow I find myself choosing to keep it bent. I dont know why. My therapist thinks I want people to feel sorry for me but its not that its just I want them to still know Im

CagedBird

CagedBird

Finally, Something Changed

As I was saying, my boss talked to me one day about a friend of hers. He and his wife were looking to move and he was going to rent out his house. She said she would get all the information from him and let me know. My manager (boss) has been my friend sorta and I have worked with her 8 out of the 1 years. We used to live in the same apartment bldg. just 2 floors between us and we have sorta been buddies for a long time. When she called me back she told me that she had let her friend know that I

HostTracy

HostTracy

The Before the Stroke Positive is Not All I Remember...

Last entry I remembered how active I was and how much I did and was responsible for. Looking back helps me see that I was important. I touched a lot of souls I think and I know they touched mine. So let me back up just a bit. I had a really hard year leading up to my stroke maybe year and a half. I have struggled with bouts of recurrent depression for many years but through therapy I learned to control this pretty good. So when I lost my apartment (yes I was evicted because the rent kept going u

HostTracy

HostTracy

3000 Mile Trip

We are back from our trip to Colorado to bury our son, Dan and on to N. Dakota to my 50th class reunion and to bury Mom. What a trip!!!   Gary didn't sleep much the whole trip, so really busted our backs getting him in and out the vehicle or in to bed or a shower or on a toilet. Hotel grab bars for the most part were in all the wrong places for him so we had to improvise, which meant more strain on mine and Kelly's backs when he didn't help because he was overtired all the time. The first day

srademacher

srademacher

My First Step Forward

My first step here will be a very happy hello. :happydance: I had my stroke last year the day after 4th of July. Bilateral Cerebellar Infarct. I was 43, just helped close down all the stores in our city (which were the only ones in the state) where I had been working for close to 10 years. I was the bread winner as you call it in my home. Active, feeling the best about myself probably ever, looking forward to a future that I felt could only get better. Prime of my life I guess. Even with past

HostTracy

HostTracy

Thankful for Another Blessing

the day after the wedding we had a number of family members over to our house the day after the wedding we had a number of family members over to our house many of the nice Cinepolis grew up at on the lake with us so now it's time for beer kids to experience life on the way with huge waves and the kids just squealing with the light I had to sit back and thank God for saving my life and bringing me to that day so that I could enjoy the screens are the light from my grandchildren what a blessing I

Jayallen

Jayallen

So lucky

Only one more month of winter. I can feel Spring is on the way when the sun shines like it did today and I am able to get out more. Love those days. In winter we are not locked in like you are in the colder parts of the northern hemisphere but the short grey sky days inhibit the actions I would like to take. The garden is dormant, the possums just ate off half the remaining baby spinach, the wind dries the tenderer garden plants out and until the temps rise the plants will just look as if the

swilkinson

swilkinson

Zipline

My son says I'm too old, too fat and too disabled. I am trying so hard to pull myself out of this stroke suvivor rut. I need support.

Pearls

Pearls

Second time around

The silence of the night surrounds me. While it should be peaceful everything with in it is screaming out in more of a painful cry. Even still I am somber. Tears do not seem to form or fall from my face. I sit and watch my husband take each breath. The room is dark with the exception of the neon glowing lights of the heart monitor. I watch him as his chest rises and falls. I hold his hand and caress it ever so gently. He is calm, peaceful and serene. Aside from the wires that are connecte

Strokewife

Strokewife

I wore it out!!

I got a Bowflex exercise machine about six months before my stroke. For six months it made a nice clothes rack and one more thing to dust. Then my stroke in Dec 2006. As soon as I got home from the hospital and was able I started to use it. Just a little at first, then as I was able I used it more.   Now the good news. The roller seat no longer worked because of wear. The resistance rods also lost all their resistance and now sag uselessly. So a new seat has been installed and I turned the rod

GeorgeLesley

GeorgeLesley

School Will Be Starting This Month

Well that time is almost here in Texas where schools will be starting later this month and I think for my grand daughter it's on her birthday which is 17 August..... I think she will be bussed from her old school to her new school this year so at this time I don't know yet if I will be dropping her of at her old school to catch the bus to her new school or her mom will be taking her...   Her mom doesn't explain things very good to me and right now she doesn't seem to be working as she was bef

fking

fking

AHA moment about my feeling towards Change in life

Other day I was just thinking about all changes they have come in my life. Some did feel like wildfires in forest though it felt pointless at the time when I was going through it, but now looking back at it, It feels like it was perfect timing. Sometimes you need that kind of change which feels like wildfires in your life to burn dead & dry trees & weed so that something fresh can be reborn at its place. yes in wildfire along with dead weeds some of green grass can be burned too but th

HostAsha

HostAsha