• 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
    • 2,467 views

Yallingup

Western Australia is in what must be an enviable position, no lockdowns in regional areas except right at the beginning, March last year.   The city has had two, maybe three short lockdowns overall.   Anyway, Wayne and I decided to travel 8 hours away, to Yallingup in the state's beautiful south west.   We drove to Perth and spent a night there. Caught up with some friends.    Yallingup the next day.  The whole area is full of wineries. Neither Wayne or I

GreenQueen

GreenQueen in Not quite 50!

New everything!

Hello friends! Things have change in my life almost ( but not quite ) as fast as they did when I stroked. New house new state and kinda new life too. Right after November we were hit with the desire to change our location and move closer to my daughter's family and my 2 Grandsons 7 and 10 years old. Boom talk about good timing. We made the 100 plus year old farm house pretty much maintenance free as planned but 2 and a half acres was becoming a bit much. for a 66 year old women in spite of her e

Willis

Willis in New Everything

Trying to keep positive

It seems a long time since I last posted a blog. I have been in what feels like imposed solitude since June 26th along with 5 million or so other people. We are in a huge area known as Greater Sydney, we haven't had many cases but because so many people commute from the Central Coast to businesses in Sydney and the surrounding areas whenever parts of Sydney go into lockdown we do too. It annoys the locals as we don't get the benefit of living in Sydney just the side effects. We will not come out

swilkinson

swilkinson in General

Celebration of Life

Finally got back to Colorado the first week in July to have Gary's Celebration of Life gathering.   Thanks to COVID-19 we had to delay that for well over a year as he passed away at home on Feb. 10, 2020.   It was a long drive, but I had help with the driving from a friend who took a few days off from her waitressing job to help me out.   We dropped the dogs off south of Tucson at my youngest sister's house, then headed up through NM and into Colorado from there.   My younger sister from MD flew

SarahR

SarahR in Closure

we are back home from our amazing vacation

We are back home happy & safe, this year we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. I am usually vacation planner at our home, I wanted to go to Greece, but due to covid uncertainties hubby's suggestion was we should go somewhere in USA only.  one of our earlier vacation we took in USA is California with our son who was still baby & was in car seat  & in diapers, we had drove from sanfranscisco to Arizona covering all national parks,17 mile drive in Monterey Bay & had so much fu

Yet again; It's been a while since I have blogged (or much else honestly)

I want to start by saying I need and I miss my friends and support here at Strokenet. It's been somewhat of a tough year for me I suppose emotionally, mentally and physically. I know I'm not alone when I say "I'm so tired". Man, am I so tired! I'm not even sure what was going on in my life when I was more active in the forums and in my blogs... I'll have to go back and pay attention to when it started to fade to catch up on where I am now (well what's been happening since then).    No

HostTracy

HostTracy in Blog

Thoughts from my isolation

We in Greater Sydney are in lockdown. This was supposed to be a great week with Trev and Alice here for her first week of the school holidays. They arrived on Saturday morning and left at 5pm on Saturday afternoon. This was due to an order that came out that we were going into lockdown because of cases of Covid-19 increasing in Sydney, the  virulent Delta strain.They had two choices, get out of the Greater Sydney area before 6pm to go home and quarantine there in Broken Hill or to stay here for

swilkinson

swilkinson in General

An Experiment in Camping

My Tenting Adventure - 2017 Summer   For your amusement...a fellow stroke survivor's first attempt at tent camping, posted here with his permission. Now you see why I have a tiny trailer, basically a bed in a box. This was NOT ME. Name withheld to protect the funny frustrated one: Well I did it 3 years and slept in a tent. All I can say is what an ordeal. I'll post photos on main site. Not really roughing it. Air mattress and power cord port in new tent. Getting down no

Madade

Madade in Stroke Adventure

Traveling while we can…

Well life has been busy here for sure. Lesley had a great time for two weeks in Iceland. She saw the volcano erupting there and many other things of interest. She has convinced me to go there in July. She wants to go back and see some areas she missed and I want to see it as well, so off we go. She went to Dollywood earlier this week with a lady friend of hers and that lady’s two twin grandchildren. After a swim upon arrival, the lady got a call and her father had passed away unexpectedly. So th

GeorgeLesley

GeorgeLesley in General

Good Week / Bad Week

Why can't a good week just be a good week?   These up and downs play havoc with my emotional stability.  I comfort eat, don't drink enough, if any, water. Don't sleep well...drained physically and mentally.    Connor turned 17 last week. In Australia, you don't get your driver's licence until you are at least 17, and (in WA) done at least 50 hours on a learner's permit.   So on Connor's birthday he sat his test and passed. Happy boy.   We also enrolled him

Feels like snow

No it is not snowing but the wind is howling around the house, the wind chill factor is making it feel around zero and I am only going outside when I have too. Sitting reading or crocheting or even mending which I hate is better than being outside. I wanted to do some gardening today but that will have to wait till the sun is out again. The weeds still grow regardless and I need to go on topping up the potplants but it is not worth risking a cold on a day like today. I get my second Covid shot n

swilkinson

swilkinson in General

I keep on coming back & marveling at my own life & amazed by how it has shaped up my life with my own choices

I do believe wholeheartedly choices we make in our life creates our destiny, I know that for fact. I have made some great choices in life & some not great, that's why I am happy with wherever I am today in my life. I feel all those experiences were needed for me to become the person I am today. Some choices I made out of my own stubbornness to prove it to parent(Mom) I am no less in my brilliance just because I am girl & should be provided equal or more opportunities because I am capable

Moving on with life

As I write this Lesley is traveling around Iceland in a rental car. She is on a two week adventure there alone and having a ball. She has fallen in love with the people and the unique countryside. I did not go because somebody had to take care of our 14 yr old dog Tippy. Just before Lesley left we unexpectedly had to put Tippy down. So I am actually alone now and we may go back to Iceland together at some point, she really wants me to see it. Being alone has given me a chance to catch up on many

GeorgeLesley

GeorgeLesley in General

Short days of rain

It had to come, short rainy days, dark nights and I have to go out tonight! But apart from that life is back to being routine, I am going to meetings, out to lunch about once a week, keeping up with friends again. There are still people who go out very rarely but that is really motivated by their own fears. There is very little chance of Covid infection. I feel sorry for those who listen to the many rumours floating around about the vaccinations and are afraid to have one but I have had my first

swilkinson

swilkinson in General

Ups and downs of Home care Support and government funding

Hi All I haven't blogged for ages, thought it was time for a quick update.   I've been self funded for all my care and therapy since my stroke but with the shutdowns here in early 2020 I was forced into the realisation that I am not as independent as I thought I was.  So I finally applied for government assistance with health, self care and therapy costs through our NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme). It's been a roller coaster over the last 14 months getting all the informati

heathber

heathber in update

climbed that mountain... but still have my gear for another climb

I believe I hit a mile stone. I was always trying to not accept how far were my limits or what I can do for I always wanted to keep the hope alive that, even though I knew what was realistic, could be better... When I reached that point ( reaching my limitations), I got scared angry because I didn’t want it to be ‘ my cap’.   Now that it’s happened ,holy cow ,I feel better but I do understand that I may revert back to other “stages of grief  but sadly my co workers heard the 12 years of trying t

ksmith

ksmith in inner peace

Friends

Ive known a gal and her family for 25 plus years -- not super close, but that connection you get with people you meet sometimes. Kinda like a mirror- they seem just like you and they are - you are genuinely happy for them and vice versa. Words can not communicate the bond. there simply was not a need for the daily communication. after Dan stroked I watched there family from afar - they were the mirror of what our family used to be and would have been minus no stroke. similar- ages , beliefs, val

nancyl

nancyl in Time Marches on

Checking In

A short bio since I've been off of StrokeNet for almost eight years.    I live in Indiana which is in the middle of the US.  My husband, Dan, stroked in 2009 and passed away in 2013 as a result of surgery.  I truly can't believe that he's been gone so long, I still think of him and miss him every day.  People say that you eventually get over the death of a loved one, I don't believe that to be true.  I don't think you ever "get over" it rather you are able to accept it for what it is. 

MaryJo

MaryJo in General

"Darls"

In Australia a lot of service type people call older ladies "Darls" short for darling, an inoffensive term of endearment and often a substitute for other words such as "sweetie" (sweetheart) or "pet" which were often used a couple of decades ago. This morning a trolley boy took my trolley back to the trolley bay after asking if he could "take it Darls" and last week another young man offered to help unload my groceries. All this shows I am an older woman now, a fact given away by the grey hair a

swilkinson

swilkinson in General

I feel blessed that I married such a secure & confident guy who is always enabler

like I said before recently reconnected with old friend who used to proclaim that he loved me, but was so insecure that minute I got into Engineering  due to my good grades & he did not, he stopped the teasing & chase, I guess he realized I was in different league now. So I very nicely finished my undergraduate degree in Engineering & after I finished my degree parents found guy who was more educated than me   & was here in USA pursuing his graduate degree, hubby met my brother &

PB&J

I don't do this often and forgot where this stuff is to be added sometimes. Grrrr.... PB& Jelly daggers  For our 4 hour car ride to my daughter’s,  my wife (who does all the driving)  makes PB&J sandwiches so we don’t have to stop and eat. Even bigger than that we are not big fans of restaurant food anymore anyway.  April is the throw nothing away queen so the past several sandwiches I got were made with a jelly my daughter gave us because she didn’t like it. I don’t blame her

Willis

Willis in Daggers

Why speech therapist are so important, and not just for talking

So I work for the an organization that supports individuals with both mental and physical disabilities and mostly are adults, at least I where I have been. With anyone, aging may cause other health issues like dementia, Alzheimer's.  I worked with a man, who was on a chopped diet, ( food cut no more the 1 inch and eliminating foods that could cause choking) and I would explain to him that I also had issues with swallowing too. Well, I got moved to another program in since December, he had to go

ksmith

ksmith