Bart:

you are still here & not under the earth. so yes old Bart has died in stroke but new & improved Bart is ready to shine & reclaim his life back. even though we all have lost some of her physical abilities, there is still old you with in there who has courage to come out of this whole episode as a winner.

Asha

Several years ago, I had a doctor say to me that as long as you are alive there is hope. This seems reasonable to me. The human body is not a machine. It does continue to try to heal itself. I have had several emails from people saying they still see improvement after 20 years.

Speaking for myself, my stroke was in March 1997. I still experience improvement, but it is very very slow. Don't give up hope, but don't expect over night miracles. All one can do is keep working at it. Not everything doctors say is absolutely true. There are many in this network who would agree! Good luck and have a Happy Holiday.

Bart,

Asha and Lin both are so so correct. When I met up with stroke I was living in Arizona. The docs there were never really on my side. I had a neuro who told me after I hit the one year mark to get a life I'd never regain anything more. On 1-1-09 I will celebrate, yes celebrate my 4 year anniversary. I'm walkin, talkin, and yes have had further improvements although they are slow in coming. In 2007 I relocated to Pennsylvania to be closer to family. It was the best thing I've done as my doc now is fantastic and very supportive and encouraging.

We're all still here. You are right in not focusing on what the doc told you - keep forging ahead prove that doc wrong.