I'm a middle-aged guy who, until September 14, 2008 let a pretty normal, upper-middle-class life. I left a big company, started a little, had a partner, was struggling to pay the bills while we hit it big. Then, the world as I knew it came to an end. I had a stroke, a blood clot in the middle of my brain.
I couldn't walk, I couldn't use my right arm, my memory was almost gone. They told my kids to come and visit me because they didn't know if I would survive it.Well, fooled them! I'm still alive. In fact, I'm walking (well limping more accurately, and usually with a cane), talking , and even remembering things. Reading is a weird problem. I can spell, and I can tell you what a word is if you spell it to me, but I lost my ability to read words typed on a page. Not good for a guy whose livelihood depended on working on a computer. By the way, since my right arm doesn't work right, I dictate this blog into my computer using Dragon Naturally Speaking. I read it back on my computer using a product called the NaturalReader.
By the way, I feel a little bit like Rip van Winkle. I had my stroke in 2008, before the election. The economy was cooking right along. I woke up in rehab, and got lucent enough to go home,only to find out that the economy went in the tank!
All in all though, I wouldn't want to do it again, but my strokewas not a totally bad thing! I wouldn't want to do it again, mind you, but as you read through this -- you will see that being a vegetable for a period of time, and then recovering, in fact I'm still recovering, was an enlightening experience that, for the first time, taught me what's important in life.
I hope you enjoy this.
