Skip to main content

I have spent most of my time here talking about me...

I want to spend this post talking about everyone else. It never dawned on me how much everyone else had to rearrange their schedules to take care of me. There was the person (names will not be released to protect the innocent...not really, but I forget so easily) that took care of my girls for the time I was in the hospital. Even when I was out, my girls were picked up every day religiously. Then, there were the people that brought meals so that my family (which has been known to devour a little food) could be fed. There were the countless people that gave of their time so that my wife could be with me. There was the person that took me to my appointments at the local VA before I got my license, then there was another person that took me to my appointments at the local VA. All of these people gave so that I could recover. They allowed their lives to be rearranged (although they would think it a small task) to make sure I was cared for.

Then, there was my parents and my brothers. They drove 600+ miles to be with me so that while I was recovering they would be there. My parents were in Knoxville for almost a full month, and then back again for my first Sunday back. My brothers Dennis and Dave drove from western Nebraska to be in Knoxville for 3 days. They were a real boost to my morale. They made me laugh, and it felt good to laugh in the hospital (there wasn't much to laugh about, so they joked about how much of my brain was taken out and what I could remember). My parents and brothers sat by my bed, and they shopped, but more than anything else they spent time away from home.

But, my wife is the real hero here. She sat with me through thick and thin. When the Dr. said that I may not survive the surgery, she was there; when the Dr. said that I might not wake up, she was there; when the Dr. said that I might not ever be the same, she was there, and when I finally walked again, she was there. She was there when she was not sure if I would remember her name; she was there for my fever; she was there every agonizing step. When I finally got released, she was there. Now that I have to take medicine every 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. she is there. When I have to go to the VA for follow-up appointments, she is there. She is there in the good times, but she is also there in the bad time - she sees me struggle with things that used to be second nature to me; she sees me when I am weak even though I used to be strong; she sees me when I am emotional, even though I never used to be emotional. The truth is that she has been faithful to me even when I did not have the capability to be faithful for her. She is the true epitome of the phrase "in good times and bad" in the marriage vows. Without her, I don't know if I would be where I am today.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Does it get any worse than a stroke? Yes

On December 8, 2008, my life changed forever. I had a double sided cerebellar stroke with 2 brain stem compressions. It was not until December 10, 40 hours after my stroke, that surgery was finally done to relieve the pressure. Dr. Piper, the neuro-surgeon from Iowa Methodist hospital in Des Moines, told my wife that surgery was nothing more than an attempt to save my life, but that it would not erase the deficiencies as a result of the stroke. Although she admits that she did not really understand what Dr. Piper had just said, my wife, Laura, agreed to the surgery and the care team performed a decrompessive craniotomy, to hopefully relieve the pressure and allow my brain to function somewhat normally. For those who have followed my blog for the last 14+ years, the surgery was successful, I returned to the church and I now live a relatively normal life, although I do have some pretty severe, though not always visible, defieciencies. I really thought that life could not get any worse th
Post a Comment
Read more

Sometimes I forget...and sometimes I just have a problem putting words together

It has been almost 15 years since my stroke, so you would think that, by now, I would be readily prepared for everything that life can throw my way; but, I often forget what it's like to have a simple head cold after my stroke. Now, understand, I am not suggesting that other people don't feel bad when they have a cold; it is just that it is different for a stroke survivor. Maybe some of the other stroke survivors feel the same way: many times when I get a head cold with the congestion, suffy nose, fever, etc., it begins to feel like I'm having a stroke again. For those who don't know what this is like, let me try to explain. I get up at night, whether to go to the bathroom or some other reason, and I feel completely disoriented for a few seconds. Not like I'm groggy, but that I feel the room is spinning, I can't tell which direction I am going, I forget where the bathroom is for an instant, things like that. On the first day of this last cold, I was going down
Post a Comment
Read more

Sometimes my new life stinks...

For the last few weeks I have been experiencing some pretty terrible headaches; not the kind that you can relieve by rubbing your temples or taking Tylenol, but headaches that radiate from the back of my head. It seems as though I have tried several things to relieve them: taking naps, lying down on heating pads, taking Tylenol, turning the lights of, etc. but nothing seems to help. Now, I don't have them all the time, only a few days a week and I can tell that they are more from muscle tightness than anything else. I have been instructed to go the ER if they flare up again, because of my past history of headaches before my stroke, but most likely it is due to the muscles that were cut in the back of my head for the Craniotomy. I would say that most days I do not struggle with headaches at all; but, the days I do have headaches they are a doozy. I don't have blurred vision with them or sensitivity to light or sound; it just hurts. As I look back over the past 3+ years I realize
8 comments
Read more