Loren
My wife, Connie, and I eat meals together three times a day, but mostly
in silence. I can’t talk when I’m eating or I’ll choke. I listen to her talk
about her day. As she tells me her long list of things to do, I wish I could
help her. I used to do about half of the things she has on her list these past
six and a half years. I do what I can from my wheelchair. I spend a lot of time
keeping track of finances down to the finest minutia. I make phone calls and
order medicine, make appointments and figure out health insurance. But
sometimes it gets frustrating due to my garbled speech. It takes effort to
speak clearly and I’m exhausted after a phone call. I get exercise shuffling
with my walker to the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen, the sun room and
out on the back porch when it’s nice. I like to sit in the sun. I go to church
on Sundays. That’s my outing for the week. It’s hard to watch my wife fling the
fifty-pound motorized chair in the hatchback with an umph. This situation gets
depressing, but I know if I fall into a pity party, I’ll make things worse. I
take it a day at a time, pray, and get the most joy I can out of life as is and
be thankful for the wonderful things I do have, like the Lord, my wife, and the
ability to think.
Almost seven years
Two pontine strokes (at brain stem)
Making best of it
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