The real challenge

There are many challengees that a stroke survivor faces. Among them, is rediscovering the joy of living; how to earn a living; and how to reconcile the death of your pre-stroke life with the limitations of your new one. In the seven stages of grief, they say the first stage is denial. That is because it is the easiest to get to and everybody knows where it is. The second stage is bargaining, and that is also easy because never in our heart do we imagine that we will have to pay the price we offer.
Since the first of January, every day I have prayed to God and Mother Mary for a complete recovery. In return, I’ve offered to be a missionary. I always wanted a reason to go to Africa. As I told my parish priest, Fr. Peter, I’m not afraid that God will reject my offer; I’m afraid that he will accept it. However, as my wife is right to remind me, I have to do more than just pray for recovery, and if I want to go to Africa, I would do well to make alternative plans. Please keep me in your prayers.
The most difficult challenge is making a committment to recovery. It is very hard work, requiring fortitude and discipline. The hardest part is to work consistently at those things that you can do, such as moving an arm or a limb. PT is often referred to as “Pain and Torture” for a reason—it hurts. The simple act of stretching an arm, as with many of the things that one could do without thinking in one’s pre-stroke life, requires the innate ability to lean into a left hook. Instictively we shy away from pain, with good reason. But for a stroke survivor, you have to learn to work through the pain, and that is the most difficult challenge that I face.