Day After

January 14, 2007 | By User Image bokjae | In Family

Rock is not functioning well for the past week. She grieved for Stephen and her emotions are not on the up-beat. Her walking is poor, find difficulty in lifting her affected leg hence a bit of a drag on that side. Her affected arm also pulls-in quite a bit and the degree of stiffness also quite high.

One thing I learned as a caregiver is that whenever a strokee feels emotionally down, her physical is also affected. On top of it, rock spends a lot of time sleeping and perhaps brooding over what has happened for the past couple of days. I can empathize with her and have to be kind and considerate in view of the circumstances.

Even well meaning relatives who dropped in to take us out for dinner was declined. A strokee gets tense whenever he or she goes into a new environment and especially so when there is a crowd. They are very self-conscious. As I have mentioned before, to show sympathy is easy but to understand is not so easy. A couple of times I have heard from relatives saying that she must learn to get used to crowds. Yes, of course they are right but time is the essence. Slowly but surely, with a lot of encouragement, a strokee will overcome this anxiety with crowds and the stares of people.

To those who have stroke survivors in their families, I advise them to be extra kind, patient and try to understand the emotions of a stroke survivor. We must try to understand from their perspective and not from ours who are able bodied and strong.