HostAsha

Pam : I know acceptance is not easy, but once you make peace with it, & start playing cards you are dealt with best of your abilities, life becomes very enjoyable. Asha

Nancy : I feel taking him to work & giving him simple jobs to do is brilliant idea, I know volunteering at work worked brilliantly for me. It makes you feel great for many reasons, 1. people appreciating your work makes one feel useful in life, helps rebuild your self esteem which hits rock bottom after job loss & you feel worthless. So let Dan keep coming to your work place, your boss might find something useful for him to do at work. & one more thing interacting with people smarter than you makes survivor also learn new things which r all great positives. Asha

Sarah : you are one strong woman & caregiver, taking care of severely disabled person is not easy, when person is suffering they are not very happy or grateful person to be around. wish you lot of blessings in life Asha

ok found reason for my good leg knee pain, I have torn miniscus in my knee. if it hurts a lot then surgery needed to remove it, but in future it can cause arthritis & knee replacement surgery or deal with pain meds since knee is not yet so bad that it gives out or locks. you know how the world feels when you are in pain, sunshine, flowers, warm temp, ocean water, beauty, money all feels worthless when you are in pain lol. how our view on life & world can change in an instant when you are in pain. of course I have very loving family who gets stronger & closer when one of us in trouble, & usually its me cause hubby is stronger tan me in dealing with these kind of things. they both call me high maintenance person since I feel & see their love when they both are by my side & keeps on checking on me by phone calls or texts. Anyway I am old enough to know I still got of positives in my life to focus on in life than just focus on this little pain Asha

Tracy : Since I don't have vertigo issues like you & kelli have, I can't even imagine what are your daily struggles. No two strokes are alike , so r symptoms or recovery. All we can do is play cards we are dealt with best of our ability, So I am sorry if I can't give better support I can only give you virtual hugs & spiritual pep talk. BTW I understand why you visited Adrian, but I think its time to move on & start building your new life, you never know something will better come out of this new window of opportunity, no need to go backward, its time march on forward with new you" best is yet to come" Asha

Right now I am going through severe pain in my good leg & I feel guilty for putting my lovely family through trouble because of me. I was thinking how will I ever compensate my family for putting them through my health melodrama. I was praying to God that maybe I should get lottery & if I win that way at least I won't be burden on them. My "rich"(content) husband reminded me he has enough & all he wants is my health nothing more. I was telling him money is not for him, money is there for me to make me feel better about my existence lol. I just pray OTC pain meds works & I m pain free. Asha

praying for you Pam, I pray you get break soon. Asha

Pam : your blog inspired me & like Sue I find strength to fight on from you. Seeing you give such a strong fight to stroke & all side effects came with it. Sometimes people say dumbest things, what she says does not reflect on you, it is more on her that how she is scared of handling all what you have handled in life. don't block her educate her in being compassionate to others, & forgive her, let hr know how you felt so hurt by her remarks. you survived for a reason & have been touching countless lives by your toughness & fighter spirit. Sending you lots of virtual hugs & peace Asha

Pam : good to see you blog again, glad your pain is in control which allows you to focus on some of the positivesaspects of life. keep on trying whatever works for you. Asha

As I am going through my own life's experiences, I am realizing power of grit. hubby always says I am very fast in some of the things than him, but there is underlying difference between him & me, hubby never gives up on any thing even when things get very hard case in point our own marriage after my stroke, giving up on us was so easy, I was so close to doing it, thank god for our young son & all support from my family & friends, that I persisted & learnt valuable lesson of life, to be successful in life Grit & being organized plays valuable role in life. Slowly & steadily I am developing that grit muscle in my life. I guess what I am trying to say here as long as one don't give up & keep on trying help comes along & life becomes beautiful again, that's my spiritual lesson of the week " Never give up & keep on pushing the envelope & somehow God will help out along the way & you will be on your path of happy new normal" Asha

Tracy : hope you feel better soon, drink lot of fluids with vitamin C & you will be fine in few days Asha

kelli: I thought I had written comment on this post, maybe I did & forgot to post it. sorry about your ripping of the lense, glad it is covered by insurance. I believe that things happen for reason & something better is going to come out of this hardship. as long as you learnt your lesson, it hasn't gone wasted. will pray for you in your love & crush department. Asha

Sandy : this is excellent idea, for me personally my pocketbook calender sent to me by Dept of disabled veterans saved me & gave me some structure in life. I used it big time in scheduling my son's activities in it & following it to T. It kinda gave me structure & control I had lost after my stroke. I still make sure to donate to this every year after so many years. That pocketbook calender & this site saved me big time in my initial despair. Asha

I am really blessed person to be married to real patient guy who has always lifted me up from day we got married, yes he has its own other faults, he is man of very few words, & he is not romantic guy. but he does right things, he is our encourager in chief. When we first married & I came to this country, we were starting out in this foreign land with nothing but just each other & two suitcase of clothes & some pots & pans. he was making sure to save enough so that he can send me to graduate school, luckily I got job right away in high tech company based on my college education & company I worked for paid partially for my graduate studies. so we were fine, but hubby has always encouraged me to do more in my life, while I was working full time & going to college in the evening, he was my equal support system I can count on. fast forward 10-15 years in my life & I had to go through my stroke journey & without this patient caregiver who has made me thrive back in my life so much easier. I learnt valuable lesson of what love really means. Every time I wanted to give up in this post stroke journey he gave me strength, reason & hope for better tomorrow, & glad I persisted, life has become so much fulfilling & I love to be around people. I never had thought I would find happiness again. my husband is is such a patient guy, he never rushed to helped me, & would wait patiently till I figure out how to do things for myself & ready to help me any time if I ask for any help. Those qualities of his made me more independent & confident in my new abilities. Anyway later in my life after kido went to college he encouraged me again to do more for myself, he encouraged me to learn new things in near by community college & step out of my comfort zone & learn new things, and once again I m thriving & enjoying life again. Anyhow I feel so lucky to be married to such a great guy who has supported me every day & when he is around me, I know we will be fine whatever happens in our life. Asha

Sue: you are handling this new uncertainty in your life so gracefully. I have noticed if you want something get done ask busy person & he will find time to get job done, same way people gone through their own trobles in life have empathy to understand trouble of others. after my stroke I have become more aware of struggles of others. Asha

So many things going on in my life, that I have it to get off my brain & on here, so that I can make a room for new fun-filled memories. one of the highlight is our son just turned 21 & also scored well in his exams. the way he procrastinates till last moment, hubby & I were wondering & congratulating ourselves, that maybe someone watching over him for him to do so well without working hard. He does work hard but at very last moment & that does make both of us sweat & make very uncomfortable. Anyhow now to next unpleasant topic I do have knee pain in my good leg, I am managing it with OTC meds & other pain relief ointments. Pain is no fun though it does have power to put things in perspective. Another thing I am noticing about people around me people have stopped excusing me for using my stroke card like we do for our son. he can't use excuses for not doing something he was asked for. Asha

Sue : I am so glad you are back home & feeling this good, I guess u have harvested that inner strength in you to get out of this another difficult chapter life has thrown at you, but by being in present & taking one day at time & of course friends & family we can get through all troubles in life. you are in my thoughts & prayers. hugs, Asha

Nothing new to report here, time just fly by. I blink & weekend is gone & so does the week. recently after my fall on stairs I was having pain in my good leg knee, went to doctor to get it checked & according to him, he did not see any fracture or any other major trouble so his suggestion was take OTC pain relievers like aleve or anti-inflammation pills. pain is no fun, though it has power to push you to dark place fast if you don't keep eye on your thoughts. So I am keeping eye on my thoughts. Sunday is usually reserved for watching my super soul sunday show on oprah's OWN channel which does great job of mood equalizer and puts me on right direction. yesterday she was talking to author Iyanla vanzat about her new book trust. listening to author about her life experiences which were rock bottom & still finding courage to climb up from that muck was quite inspiring. We all are total sum of our experiences in life & our decisions & choices we make during our life's journey. I realize having great set of parents & family did give me head start in my life, parents who made sure to give us best education & always looking out for us, things we take for granted. Asha

Sue : you are loved and sorely missed when not around board. Its so easy to forget life can only be lived in now, life happens when we are making other plans. Enjoy your kids & grandkids they grow up way too fast hugs, Asha

as most of you who follow my blogs will know this about me that I love reading books & get very energized by spiritual thoughts or books or movies that make me think & go AHA there that's what I feel & now feel wow its all now falling into place. Today heard Hoda kotb on Today's show mentioning that just talent in itself does not make you successful, Its also other trait that you don't give up & still show up day after day even when things get tougher, that makes person successful & that line clicked with me that was my AHA moment of the day. its sticking out with something you feel is worthwhile is underline good quality of the successful people. now next to another interesting topic recently watched movie POST after hearing great reviews about it & gotten recommendation from blogger I admire, was in my list to do this last weekend, & boy we were not disappointed . Near the end of the movie they quoted Justice Hugo Black’s argument for ruling in favor of the two newspaper’s right to publish the then-classified Pentagon Papers and against Nixon’s attempt to control the press and I was able to google his words. They’re important words, words that matter today every bit as much as they did in 1971 when the court ruled 6 to 3. He wrote, “In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. my life today is so much richer & interesting because of these two different subjects. I am loving the new me. I feel making me aware of all good, bad traits about me is giving me opportunity to grow into person I am proud of. like I know I still need to develop trait of being assertive without feeling bitchy about it, the trait The Washington Post's Katharine Graham (Streep) developed over the course of her stepping into role of first female publisher of the post after her husband's death. Asha

Sandy : Bob looks so happy with his hat collection his niece knows her uncle well. Kelli gave good solution for highlighting text problem, maybe some of the button might have gotten accidentally pressed, play with them to see how to turn off Asha

Hey Chris : you got amazing attitude towards your stroke, I remember at 34 when I suffered stroke I thought life is not fair at all & wallowed in self pity for few months, till I found this support group. I depended so heavily on my family, friends & this site to get to serene place of acceptance where life is all good now. What I found being young & suffering stroke had its own benefits since I was able to build my new normal & happy with life again. I feel my post traumatic stress event did convert in post traumatic growth & life is beautiful again. not again I will ever take simple joys of life for granted again. we do have M-F afternoon chats from 3-4 EST & evening 8-9 EST on M,W & F. hope to bump into there, since I am more active there & in our blog world Asha

hi Chris : welcome to best online stroke support group. I agree with overcoming this adversity we have indeed gained lot of wisdom what hasn't killed us did make us stronger & better. hope to see you around often in our chatroom & blog world. Asha

I am so tired & need vacation to recover from our vacation. after we came home from our vacation we had guests from India & canada, so I did not get breather to recover from our vacation & my fall right after our vacation was also no help. luckily it was nothing major & just bruised ego & scared me for few days. hubby was also sick so no help anywhere. I think now that guests r gone I will be able to recover this weekend & get into my old routine back. I get all rattled when my routine is upset, though I end up going with flow & enjoy the day, but still feel something amiss in my day. Currently I am reading great book. I don't know how but I have always found for me I have found right people, books, friends in my life when I needed them most. & some with lot of efforts on my part, some fell in my lap on its own like this book, which has made me firm believer there r no accidents in life. any how life has its own ups & downs some days r good, some not so but eh who cares I am happy person as long as I get up & have my morning coffee with amazing breakfast, life is good in my mind lol. book I m reading right now is following one. Asha' SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully Sep 13, 2016 by Jane McGonigal

Sue : some one once told me on this site "worry is down payment on debt we may never owe", I love that line why worry & waste beautiful day given to us today. I know it is easy said than done. serenity prayers also helps me when I m scared "God grant me the serenity to accept things I can not change & courage to change things I can & wisdom to know the difference". I know waiting for results are always scary uncertainty is tough one. but remember God never gives us more than we can handle & he will provide right tools & right people in your life to get through whatever happens in our life. sending you positive vibes for positive results. hugs, Asha