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Journal Entry : 2/7/05

On Dec 9’ 04 life as I had known it for 64 years stopped. Life was good, I was

happy. I had no warning that everything in my life was about to change. My

youngest son Jeff and his wife Allison were driving me to Nashville for a two day

hospital stay: 11 days later, I returned home to Greeneville with almost no

memory of what happened to me. With the help of my family, good friends, Dr

MCKinney, the staff of Tacoma, Suzy Findley my therapist, and of course God, I

decided life was worth the trouble of living again.

I have always been a people person, I like people, I like interacting with people, I

like to talk to people. When the stroke hit, instantaneously the ability to

communicate was lost. I could talk to Jeff, but what I had to say was nonsense to

him, but it made perfect sense to me. The words did not sound like I intended to

say. This was very frightening and left me with two choices, to trust people or go

crazy. I chose to trust the people that I love. Suzy had been working with me for a

few weeks and I was living at home again. For nearly two months I felt like a child,

I had done nothing for myself and I had doubt that I would ever be able to be a

worthwhile member of society again. Suzy was a wonderful member of the team

that helped me progress, She was strong, forceful, professional, loving, caring

and compassionate. These qualities were important for me to progress toward the

lifestyle I once enjoyed.

Thursday,

2-3-05, I had to use my own mind to do something at the house and it

worked. I cannot tell you how happy I was to do this small task by myself. It was

trivial, but for me it was huge. The self worth level went out of the top. I have a

tremendous amount of work to accomplish, but now I am not afraid to apply myself

to the daily pitfalls which happen to me. I want to have a happy productive life

again.