Stroke Survivor Blog

Sexual intimacy after stroke is challenging for many stroke survivors and their spouses. They miss the closeness of making love the way they enjoyed pre-stroke. Most husbands feel like they have failed as lovers if they can’t meet the sexual needs of their wives. This attacks at the very core of their self-esteem and worth. [...]

Caregiver grief is not something we often talk about. Usually the focus is on the stroke survivor and what they have lost. But consider the caregiver who has given up their life to care for a loved one. They may feel it’s selfish to grieve the life they once had and the freedom they once [...]

House repairs and maintenance are things that my husband used to do before he had his stroke in February 2008. As a former home builder, Steve always did a fantastic job of maintaining our home. He designed it and built it in 1978, and knew how to fix anything that went wrong. But since his [...]

Caregiver Stress is the emotional strain of caregiving for a loved one, or attending to the needs of a child or dependent adult. Sometimes demands may be so great that it’s difficult to slow down and take a deep breath, causing stress and worry about everything. Caregiving can have a major impact on the caregiver’s [...]

Steve and I recently celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary at the restaurant where we went on our first date. It brought back many memories of those early days when we were only teenagers madly in love with one another. For over forty years Steve provided a good life for me and our four daughters. He [...]

I learned by “trial and error” how to care for a stroke survivor when my husband, Steve, had a massive stroke which completely disabled him. When he was in the hospital under the care of therapists and nurses, I observed what they did. However, nothing really prepared me for the daunting responsibility of caregiving until [...]

It’s easy for caregivers to get discouraged, and that’s the way I feel right now. Not because Steve’s stroke recovery is slow, but because he won’t try to get better. I try to motivate him and get him connected with others struggling with the disability caused by stroke, but he uses their long-standing disability as [...]