HostAsha

shelly: welcome to wonderful world of blogging. please don't do the same mistake I did & suffered with depression. don't try to look too far in future looking at your present condition thinking it will remain same, since I discovered only change is permanant & things do change & improve so your life will be far different than what you will be torturing yourself with today's thoughts. So My advice to you is don't worry about future & stay in present & enjoy your present since that is our gift from God. I also believe volunteering & having routine in life helps adjust to new normal fast. hope to get to know you more through your blogs. Asha

Things finallly settled down & back to routine at our house. we ended our summer with back to school shopping & going to beach like most of americans do cause both places were jam packed. hubby declared he will remember not to ever visit outlet stores for next few years since he was our bag carrier & driver for a day Today is first day of our school & it went pretty nicely, kido was all ready & eagar to go to school. he is turning into responsible young adult & want to take care of his things by himself. yesterday I was reminding him to take out his clothes for school, he was like mom I m not going to prom tomorrow, its just first day of school lol. So I guess I have to now sit back, relax & enjoy his growing years. slowly I am realizing & relaxing to idea of him not needing us anymore though I have realized that does not mean I am not needed. we are always going to be there for him in his life whenever he will need us. So I guess as a parent you allow them to grow & I know he will do some mistakes in his life, but as long as he learns from those mistakes & we will be there to help him get up, things will be fine. At the end of the day they all came with their own destiny & we are there to guide them & support them when they need us & asks us. Asha

Sue: you & Ray will be in my thoughts and prayers. I understand what you are going through is monumental right now, but believe that whatever is going to happen in your life is for your own good & though you are not able to see what Good is going to come out of this, but trust on God, he knows whole story & things will work out for your family. Asha

Fred: hope you had great labor day.This year I celebrated labor day American style going to beach with family & shopping for kido for his new school year. hope you had great time with your family. Asha

Fred: for me NJ is home though my niece has decided to move to fort worth texas. so I am sure we will be visiting them in future. Asha

babz: thats great news. having family close by will be big plus. Asha

Sue: Even reading this was so hard I can imagine dealing with it on personal level must be so hard for you & your family right now. I pray for your strength to get through this difficult time right now. remember all decisions taken with right heart are good decisions so don't second guess yourself. When we do right things even God also help us in rearranging things to go right way. you both & your family will be in my thoughts & prayers. Asha

Lydia: thanks for update. Any abrupt change in life brings in lot of frustration & "whyme" for sure. but I am sure you being there for Garion will make him realize he is not that worse off & things are going to better only now. Asha

Debbie: I am glad you both are safe & things are being taken care by specialist in their field. I can so relate with you on your observation about post stroke acceptance. I feel the same way & love my everyday routine, who would have thought doing chores around house & exercises also I will look forward to, I guess that's when you know we are on even keel in our post stroke life & have reached acceptance. we were fortunate Irene didn't hit us badly though our neigbhouring town was flooded. Asha

Leah: I agree with Sue courage don't overcome fear but your love for Jerry will ease his fears for sure. you both are in my thoughts & prayers. Asha

hey Jim's wife welcome to wonderful world of blogging. Stroke affects the whole family differently. I stroked at age 34 which left me paralyed on my left side & retired me from the job I loved. I never thought I would find happiness again. but with the help of my hubby & kido & this site I have found my happiness again. Now I can look back at stroke & think as just bump in our life's journey. For me life is still good just little different. Asha(now 41 year old survivor)

Lynn: thanks for update. Make it therapy to walk on uneven surface. I know for me more I walked on it, my ankle became stronger & has stopped turning now thank god. so solution to your problem, every day as a therapy walk 5 mins on uneven surface with brace first & then slowly without brace. slowly increase your time. & you will see the difference. Asha

debbie: here in central newjersey irene did not affect us much except lot of rain, but we all are fine. though after reading your blog about how you are cooking for your neigbhours, my belief in the statement " give work to someone who is already busy wil get done" got trengthen after reading your blog. hope you ride out storm as easy as we did. Asha

hi Mike: welcome to wonderful world of blogging. first year id the hardest to deal with emotionally & physically. but as years go on you will find your new normal & wil get comfortable with your post stroke life. hope to see you around more often in our blog & chatworld. Asha

Lydi: I am glad you have great family support system for you & Sam. nothing matters as long as you both are okay with what's going on in your life. you are fortunate to have loving family who wants to take care of things for you, not everyone is lucky like that. Asha

Lydi: I am glad Garion is healing well in his own house, I know how painful last few months must be for you, I am happy to see your feet feels like touching the ground & things r getting stable for all of you. hope to see you in our chatroom soon too. Asha

Sue: I am amazed by your strength & resilience with Ray's health problems this time around. you are strong woman. I know with that strength light at the end of tunnel is just around the bend. hang in there fot little longer. you both are in my thoughts & prayers. Asha

Dave: I am glad you have had great recovery from stroke I feel every stroke damage is different & based on that damage our recovery will be different. I cringe to believe that someone's recovery is better than others because they worked harder towards their recovery. Though I believe harder you push yourself doing things you did prestroke things will be much easier post stroke. Asha

MC: I am so glad you were not badly hurt, falling is scary, hopefully you will learn to slow down so that future falls can be avoided. I feel falling is invietable in our post stroke journey, hopefully we will learn something from it & avoid future falls. Asha

Dave: welcome to our wonderful blog community. I know exactly what you mean cause when I stroked at age 34 which left me paralysed on my left side & retired me from the job I loved, I did not know what to make out of my new life I still wanted & loved my old life so change for me was hard pill to adjust, but with the help of my family, friends & this site I have created new normal for me & I am happy to say today life is still great today just little different than I had in mind. Though I have learnt given time & willingness to move forward something good always comes out of change. Though I strongly feel its your life & happiness is a choice, you have to take right actions in your life to be able to thrive in your new normal. Asha (now 41 year old survivor)

Patti: I agree with Debbie fully. It is normal to feel anxious when our kids fly out of nest for first time, but as a parent its our responsibility to give them little nudge over cliff so that they learn to fly. have a routine for you for every day & you will not feel bored, you will actually look forward to your routine may it be exercise , reading, cooking or any other work. Asha

We are back from our beautiful vacation. Vacation was quite fun, saw beautiful national park & beauty of nature this country has to offer. Though our vacation started on bad note first day of our vacation learnt sad news of my 59 year old uncle passing in India, though we could give comfort to each other by praying & knowing he is better place. Though on last day of our vacation learnt very bad news, recently married cousin of ours fell to his death from 18th floor of his apartment building, sad & hard part of this news is the guy was just recently married 28 year old guy & working in canada. the guy was coming to US same day to meet his grandparents in US who had recently came from India. his bag was packed & tickets were on table. his wife had driven day earlier to US to drop her parents at the airport & was at grandparents waiting for him to arrive. the guy had decided to fly few days later since he could not get out from work. this news were hardest to take & we visited our extended family as soon as we landed from our vacation. The hard part is not knowing what happened & how helpless you feel dealing with authority in completly different country where you don't know anyone. On top of this problems we still have to sort out our car problems. Yes compared to loss of the loved ones our car troubles seems minor. death in family does brings in perspective. though ofcourse its hassle to deal with. & we have to deal with I guess we will get there by doing one thing at a time. Asha

kimmie: I am wishing you good luck for future, but please master in how to get up from floor when you fall down. I know thats the first thing i forced my PTs to show me, I m glad I did since it has come quite handy ince stroke cause have fallen many times. Asha

lenny: have fun in your vacation I am sure its going to be great game & you will have great time with your wife, visit space needle if u get chance. Asha

Fred: your poem has your sense of humor stamp on it & its great even after coming from damaged brain lol Asha