Sometimes I feel as if all my progress has come to a halt for now. It's hard to explain when you remember how well you have been doing since the stroke, in my case 5 years ago. Recently I have lost my weak side control no matter what I do to keep it moving. You ever felt like rope or tape is around your body holding your arm down? Then your leg feels like it's not there or your foot is not touching the floor. That's a funny feeling for sure.

Hopefully it will go away soon. The pain has decreased but that tied up feeling last all day and night. I was lucky to have all my appointments scheduled in one day at the doctors offices and the hospital same locations. I could tell some of them wanted to say don't come back, you are going to be this way for some time to come. So I think I have accepted the fact that I may not walk unassisted again but I am walking, driving and riding my scooter.

I don't see the medical supply world running out of scooters anytime soon so with my cane and scooter at my age, I feel pretty confident I can make it. I just don't want anything else to happen where I can not get around. I really think some of my problems are the things that happens to a person as they age. Either way I have come a long, long way from where I started 5 years ago. At that point I thought I'd never walk again. I'm keeping my wheelchair however!

Here I am going back to work next Saturday so I'm not complaining just uncomfortable in the way I feel sometimes without really knowing the cause or problem if there is one. I think a lot of what keeps me going is the members on here I get to express my views about strokes and recovery.

Then to look out at my fellow soldiers coming back from the war zones so young and wounded with limbs missing. I hurts me to my heart and the VA doesn't want to compensate them properly like they are doing me. Still others who has paid the ultimate price...their lives. You probably can't or don't get the true feeling of sacrifice until you look in the faces of these young warriors, their kids and wives or husbands. It's all here at Ft Hood everyday.

I can feel perhaps why our ex-president didn't want to live this close to a military base seeing these soldiers and families suffering so much pain and grief from a war he lied to the American people and soldiers to get in to. It's to the point now where three out of four vehicles carry a handicap license plate. Any public establishment or business now has more handicap spaces than regular spaces for parking.

Progress or not on my behalf my heart goes all out to everyone here and I pray continuously that God will get us through our circumstances in his time. When we start feeling bad about ourselves not being able to do as we once did before our stroke(s), stop and think for a minute of the many veterans living with no arms or legs, men and women. I suppose with out peace among nations there will always be wars in the world

I also feel there will always be strokes and survivors and I hope this Stroke Net and message board to share information and progress to all affected. A Place we can all come together for a common cause, Love and Understanding for each other. "We are all in the same boat" We strive for progress in our conditions as best we can no matter how long it takes us.