Boy, this has been a week of newbie post and comments sounding just like I did when I first came here looking for all the help I could find! I just hope as a senior member I gave them a bit of encouragements to continue therapy and doing all they can to get their bodies working again to be more independent and not having to depend on the care giver as much as they did at first!!

Strokes are the one thing many people know nothing about in how to get better and in the recovery process! Even in the hospitals and therapies they will tell you they can't say if you will get better or not and how long it takes for recovery because each person is different and probably had different kinds of strokes at different ages!! For the most part it becomes a guessing game on how and when you will recover and what you can expect down the road!!

I tried to answer some of their questions from my own experiences for the last eight years of my own recovery process!! Strokes are so different and can happen in so many ways however being a stroke survivor is the goal to achieve and we know that doesn't always happen! When it does and gives us a second chance at living we need to do just that "LIVE" the best life we can with what we got left!! Normally we got our spouse, care giver or a loved one we care about so we want to live life and enjoy our loved ones, the few friends we got left and our families and children!!

I learned so much about recovery in the last few years that gave me insight to try and inform other survivors of the journey to their recoveries with what they got left! In many cases we suffer paralyses on one side or the other while other may be affected on both sides or unable to walk at all! In any case we should strive to do all we can to recover and love our families like never before!! I feel the worse thing we can encounter as survivors is a separation or divorce after so many years living together through all sorts of circumstances!!

I really hope I may have helped someone along the way to recovery giving them a desire to live the best life they can at this time with all the joy of being with their loved ones!! It's not an easy road but more manageable when we work together! There is so much fear of having another stroke early on in our recovery until many times that is all we can focus our minds on and it interferes with our sex lives making that become a problem for many of us! Strokes are not like heart attacks where your veins become clogged and you may need a stint put in to not have another heart attack!

The recovery process is a real challenge and hard work if we intend to become independent again!!! Recovery never stops but it can and will slow down if we allow it to do that so remember hard work is the only way day and night weekends too!! There will be bumps in the road but we got our meds and sometimes they have to be changed to continue helping us feel better everyday! Ask your doctors, talk with them they will advise you of the best solution for your case!! We here only know from our own experiences with stroke and recovery!!