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When you have a stroke your life changes, immediately. Men and women, come on - let us deal with the implications for stroke victims. It takes a long time to rehabilitate. I can't wash my face. One can be affected in many different ways... including on physical, spiritual, psychological, and of course, emotional levels.
Women, we allow ourselves to be under stress; we like to think we are super women. How long have you ignored that headache, thinking "it's a minor thing. I will take some aspirin in few .... dinner is almost ready ... and those kid can eat" etc. If high blood pressure is indictated, in most cases a good deal of stress is involved too. If you have a family, a husband and a job, you have a great deal of stress in your life. Get a phyician's report! Have your blood pressure checked out. COPING WITH STROKE!
Having a stoke is not a contagious disease. So often society
treats those of us who have been afflicted with a stroke as though we have the plague. But guess what, we don't! What we have is a medical condition that affects the way we talk, the way we walk, and the manner in which we communicate.
Having a stroke does not mean we are stupid. We may have various challenges but we have a mind, we have integrity, and most of all we have heart! We have feelings and we possess love and repect for ourselves and for others.
We often experience a variety of frustrations. So please be patient with us. Don't be afraid of us, bear with us. We are still the same as you deep inside. When you meet stroke survivors, love, support, acceptance, patience, and encour-
agement is what we need most of all from our family and friends.
HOW CAN YOU COPE WITH HAVING A STROKE?
One way is through group interaction. Some of us who live in the Detroit metropolitan area participate in the Speech Therapy and Education Program for Stroke Survivors at Wayne State University. The STEPSS program allows us an opportunity to interact with other stroke survivors, encourage one another, and utilize the various compensatory strategies that we learned in our individual therapy sessions. We consider the STEPSS program invaluable! And we strongly encourage other stroke survivors and family members to look for support groups in your local area.
Contact the American Stroke Association or the National Aphasia
Association for more information.
This editorial was humbly submitted by members of the Wayne
State University STEPSS program:
Mike, Modesta, Rose,
William, Sam, Melvin,
Vernice, Esther, Waymon,
Chuck, Patricia, Lydia, &
Michael |
