National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – the Aftermath
May 9, 2007 by Lillie
Table of contents for Stroke
- National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – the Beginning
- National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – The Next Three Days
- National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – the Aftermath
As part of Stroke Awareness Month, I’m sharing my stroke experience. You can read about the beginning and the first three days in previous posts.
From the third day after the stroke when I could move my fingers and lift my shoulder off the bed, I knew I would become functional again. But it took several years and lots of therapy and more prayers for that to happen.
I spent five years in a wheelchair (actually I used a motorized scooter) but have been ambulatory for ten years. My speech returned to normal fairly quickly, and I have prisms in my glasses to prevent double, triple, or quadruple vision. My balance is very poor, but I have learned to compensate very well.
I still have sensation and neurological problems on my left side, and a few years ago I developed a myoclonic seizure disorder which seems to be related to the damage from the stroke. Many factors – bright lights, certain sounds or frequencies, air movement, cold temperatures, a touch on my left side … and often nothing – trigger seizures. The people in my church are very understanding and are used to my strange sounds and movements. Otherwise, I seldom go out in public, and when I do I usually have a series of seizures that exhaust me, so I have to come home and sleep for hours.
But I am so thankful that I made progress in those critical three days and am not lying in a bed unable to see, talk, or move.
I’m so thankful that I had a loving husband who cared for me when I couldn’t do anything for myself and wonderful parents and siblings who supported me throughout my recovery.
I’m so thankful that I never lost my thinking ability, my ability to communicate verbally returned quickly, and I relearned to type and regained my former level of skill.
I’m so thankful that I had dedicated employees who kept my business operating while I was recovering.
And I’m so thankful that
God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28, NKJV)
I had always dreamed of writing “someday” but had delayed my dream while I ran a business. After the stroke, I realized that “someday” is today, and as soon as I was physically able, I started my first novel.
Since I was so dependent on my husband, I wondered how someone who didn’t have such a support system could manage during a stroke recovery. The result of my musings was Stroke of Luck, a romance novel about a woman who goes through the same kind of stroke I did. What happens to her in the story is what really happened to me, except I already had my real-life hero, and my character has to find her hero and her romance after her stroke.
Stroke of Luck has received some nice reviews, and most of them noted that the heroine was disabled. In fact, a handicapped heroine didn’t appeal to most publishers. One editor told me, “No one wants to read about a cripple.” We were at a conference, and I was sitting in my wheelchair talking to her!
I had almost decided that writing the book had been great therapy for me, but it would never be published. Then I found an e-publisher looking for stories with disabled main characters. Although my novel didn’t become a bestseller, I am thrilled to show that handicapped characters can love, laugh, and live as successfully and joyously as anyone else.
Related Post:
National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – the Beginning
National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – the Next Three Days
[tags]stroke, National Stroke Awareness Month, Stroke of Luck[/tags]
Lillie, your story… so deep, so painful and yet, so full of hope! I admire you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t find words to tell you how I felt after the three entries describing your struggles and hopes. I’m touched.
But this… this…
Guess who was the cripple! – intellectual cripple in this situation and that’s worse than anything else! I hate it when people talk without thinking. But it happens so often. It’s sad.
I thank God you had the luck of being surrounded by those who deeply care about you. And I can only pray for the ones who have to face such mishaps alone.
You are right: a stroke can happen at any age. My best friend’s brother had a stroke last year and he is only 25. He lost his job, he lost his power to work… he lost his hope… And we are too far to really help him. Too far…
Lillie — I have enjoyed reading what you posted these past three days. I have come away from all of this with a renewed appreciation for brain attacks and encouraged that your faith in God has not only held up, but grown stronger.
It is virtually impossible to know someone you haven’t met, but I believe that I have gotten to know you a lot better since finding your blog.
Thanks for being inspiring and a faithful witness.
Mig,
Thank you so much for your beautiful, caring words.
I am so sorry to hear about your young friend. The good news about stroke is that there can be improvement for many years – it took me five years to get out of a wheelchair. I pray your friend makes improvement and, even if he doesn’t, he feels the love and caring of you and his family.
Matt,
I’m so glad that my words have helped to renew your appreciation for stroke. That’s why I posted my story during Stroke Awareness Month.
Thank you for your kind words. It’s wonderful to get to know people all over the world through this blog. We hear so much about the negatives of the Internet, but there are so many positives as well.
Thanks for sharing this very personal story. I admire your courage and honesty.
Thank you, Laura. I just want my experience to help with stroke awareness.
You are a true inspiration to me – and so many others. Mig summed it all up well when she talks of intellectual cripples. People like that publisher are blind to what life and living are all about. They are crippled by their own ignorance. Hooray for you and all your accomplishments in life!
Thank you for sharing your story!
Lisa
Thank you, Lisa. I appreciate your kind words.
I cannot believe what that editor said to you. Some people are just thoughtless jerks. I’m so glad you didn’t give up on your writing dream.
The same people that say cripple get mad at people when they say a racial term. Kind of a double standard.
I am impressed with how far along you have come. My grandpa was paralyzed on the left side after he had a stroke.
-Dave
Thanks, Lisa. I couldn’t believe what she said when I first heard it!
Dave,
You’re so right. Certain classes of people are treated with politically correct kid gloves, but the disabled, mentally ill, and elderly aren’t given the same respect.
I hope your grandpa does well in spite of his paralysis.
thanks for sharing this. it touched me. God bless you in all your endeavours. keep it up!
-rob
Rob,
Thank you for your kind comment.
It got me to click on your link and read your advice that making comments on other blogs is a great way to promote your own blog. It worked – I read your blog and subscribed to it.
Lillie, your comeback from the stroke is remarkable. You have learned to compensate and manage life efficiently despite having such a disaster. I pray to god for your good health and I must say how inspiring you are. Your musings become such a great book and I think I should learn so many things from small things around me. Hats off to you. I am sure you had a great life partner in Jack. May God bless you guys forever.
Girish@Car Rental Auckland´s last blog ..Rugby World Cup Car Rentals
Girish,
Thank you so much for your generous comments. Jack and I appreciate the good wishes and must say that God has blessed us richly. May the Lord bless you and yours.
Lillie, reading this post brought tears in my eyes. I know several families who deal with stroke and cerebral palsy. Their lives are not easy and colorful just like ours. I wish I could do something for them irrespective of its form. I appreciate your thoughts and awareness promotion through these series of posts.
Alan,
I hope this series helps educate people about stroke and encourage those who have experienced it.
I remember reading recently that birth control pills increases the stroke risk. This is alarming and instructs us to be aware of this dreadful thing irrespective of the gender and age.
Michael,
I hadn’t heard that about birth control pills. But I hadn’t heard that chiropractic manipulations can cause stroke until it happened to me. Medical science is learning more all the time.
Glad to hear the outcome…would make a great inspirational movie.
David,
Thank you. There are thousands of similar stories taking place every day with strokes and many other situations.
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