well on march 19th 2001 i had a stroke it was an ischemic stroke i spent in the hospital in vancouver for 7 mounths when i was sent home i couldn"t walk i went in a wheel chair and i couldn"t even ssit up witjout leaning and i had so munch tone i couldn"t even put on my on shoes so to eliminate the problem that i had i just wear myshoes to bed . my wife/caregiver use to have to dress me and shower i was absolutly unable to do any thing for myself i didn"t go away munch at all had a hard time learning how to keep appointments or even tell time i was in very bad shape right after my stroke i always feel like i was in a fog i was scared and basically felt helpless , and i basically had to learn how to do just about every thing however the one thing y=that i had going for me was likei was told that even though i had a stroke i was very healthy i was on medications warfarin to control my blood from clotting and i was on pentasa as i was diognose as having a mild case of collitus, that was just after my stroke after in recovery i now dress myself and i can now put on my shoes the tone has subsided enough to allow me to put on my shoes , so now i sleep in my barefoot and now i am taking a shower by myself and now i am even able to walk myself twice a day and if i am wearing the bioness wityout the use of a cane , and now i go every where on my sxcooter and i make appointments to go to physiotherapy and to massage therapy and to stroke club so time and figuring what time i have to leave to get there on time is no problem i go to stroke club and i even work as a mentor i am not feeling that i am in the clouds i don"t fedel helpless i have come a very long way in my 10 years of recovery.i still want to get better and i am sure that i will because the one thing i am sure about recovery from strokes is as long as you are getting better you willo continue to do so , so don"t stop now and don"t give up now not sure how long it will take but i know that it will come because just look at how far i have come oveer the years, so what do i expect well i expect to continue to improve not sure if it will ever be 100percent but i can always try to improve all the best to you in your recovery it does take a long time but it does happen oh and did i tell you about my arm ?still a work in progress but i still can swing my arm as i walk and bend my elbow before it was stuck in one position it was always up my family use to say that when i start to stress out or get angry my arm user to rise even more kinda life a barometer but now after working as munch as ido my arm stas straight and hangs straight down i love it and yes it will come just be patient stay positive