Stroke Survivor Blog

Today was my day off, but Pam was with Steve all day and watched him in therapy. The therapists have certainly been taking him out of his comfort zone, and Steve being so cautious to begin with was very concerned that he would fall. But when he’s able to trust his therapists to support him when he steps on his left leg, he’s shown to progress at a faster pace. He did really well today and he called me to tell me all about it. He walked more than 150 ft. using the cane, and he climbed 4 or 5 steps and came back down them! I am so proud of him because that took all of his effort. He’s been pushing himself to the max because he wants to come home.

He brought to my attention that the fishing waders I’ve been wanting went on sale at Fleet Farm this week and he told me to go and get them. They’re around $100 so we’ve been hesitant to spend the money and have been patching up the old ones for a few years. But I think he needs me to make this purchase now as a step of faith that we’ll be going trout fishing again.

He misses all the little things we did together like on Thursday nights when we made homemade pizzas and watched Survivor. He misses going to church and our ritual of going out for lunch afterwards, and then coming home to read the newspaper ads to see what bargain we can find. He misses our napping on the couch while the heat of the fireplace lulled us to sleep. You can see why it’s so important for me to be there with him as much as I can. I’m trying to bring normalcy back to his life, something he can look forward to everyday when he can’t be at home.

These are things that we don’t give a thought to when we’re able to do them. If there’s anything I can encourage you in, it is this:

Seize the moment and spend time with your loved ones without thinking about the million and one things you have to do. Lay aside your own agenda and make every moment count. You only have today. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come. And you don’t want any regrets. Ask yourself this: If my (husband, wife, child, parent, brother, sister) is gone tomorrow, what would I do differently today? Then do it!

I’m so glad that I took the last 2 years off specifically to spend time with my husband. At God’s urging I laid aside things I loved and was involved in (good things like leading a Bible study and my involvement in a ministry), to spend more time with Steve. And we had a blast together and still laugh about the many funny fishing mishaps we’ve had. These are wonderful memories that keep driving him on to get better. I’m glad I don’t have any regrets.

As Pastor Jerry always says, “The best is yet to come”, and I believe that with all my heart.

Until next time…

Love, Kathy