Starting Here...

It has taken me a long time to get to this point, but I am finally ready to start chronicling the journey that has gotten me to this point.  Ten months ago, I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, which is basically a bleed in my brain.  The stroke happened 10 days after I had my first child.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), I don't remember anything about the day of my stroke.  All I know is that I was life-flighted from my local hospital to a major hospital in Philadelphia, where I remained for the next five days (a few of those days in a coma).

When I was discharged from the hospital, I was transferred to a rehab hospital where I stayed for 12 days, learning how to walk, talk, and perform what is known in the rehab world as "ADL", or Activities of Daily Living.  I received Speech Communication, Physical, and Occupational therapies, which were all challenging but literally life saving as they allowed me to recover a lot of what I lost when I suffered the stroke. 

I left inpatient rehab, and spent the next 3 months attending outpatient rehab three days a week.  I never knew I could ever work so hard while experiencing something so sad and frustrating.  I can honestly say that I am a better person because of the experience, but I would not wish it on anyone.

I want to blog about this experience for a couple of reasons:
First of all, my blogging and reliving the past several months is great therapy for me.  It will allow me to face things that I had to put on the back burner while I was trying to get better, and at the same time, it will help me try to remember certain events that were (and sadly still remain) blurry.

Secondly, I hope that blogging about this will serve as a testament to at least one woman who has experienced a stroke or something as equally life-changing that things can and will get better. It just takes a lot of time and most importantly a lot of patience with yourself.  You are going to face struggles, frustrations, and probably a lot of tears, but that's all a part of the process and you must give yourself the permission to go through it all - good and bad.

Finally, I want to use this blog as a way to share my story with my family and friends, who stood by me through it all, even when I did not thank them - because I wasn't physically able to or I just didn't remember to.

I will try to stay true to the story, and when I don't remember things as they happened, I'll just be honest and let you know.