The theme/prompt for this week, May 19, is:
TAILS - "Brave"
Tell about a time when you felt brave or showed bravery. (This is TAILS so it needs to be a true/real post from your own life.)
I'm not entirely sure this fits with a tails... but it is what comes to mind when I think of the word brave.
When my mother was 65 she suffered a massive stroke. It left her left side paralyzed and had a huge affect on her vision. She spent eight weeks in rehab learning how to do everything again, including walking and tying her shoes.
It would've been easy for her to give up. None of her doctors believed she would ever regain the use of her arm or her leg. They believed she would be in a care facility for the rest of her life. I can remember thinking, while listening to the doctor give us his doomsday diagnosis, that this man didn't know my mother.
Eight weeks later, she walked out of the hospital, under her own power. Yes, it was with a cane, and it was a difficult thing to watch. She was slow and a bit clumsy. But she was walking under her own power.
Life after her stroke was never easy. She had to fight for everything, especially those things we take for granted, like walking. With her vision problem, reading was difficult as was doing her crossword puzzles. Even being around a group of friends was difficult because any amount of noise made it hard for her to concentrate like she needed to.
I watched her fight to regain every bit of her ability that she could. I watched her continuing struggle in the years after her stroke. I watched as she began to give up the fight. I watched this amazing woman and I knew I was witnessing one of the bravest things I'd ever seen in my life.
I still believe that to this day.
3 comments:
Your mother was indeed a very brave woman.. Determined, too. It's impressive that she didn't just give up. Nice of that doctor not to encourage her. NOT!
My aunt had a stroke many years ago and it affected her lifestyle of course but she found many ways to work around her "impairments." Then about twenty years after she went to one of those old time revivals things. She had hands laid on her and she was cured. Honest to God.
When faced with adversity we have two choices, lay down and do nothing or determine to come out the other end as best you can. Your mother had the courage to take the 2nd route despite the difficulties. My father had a major accident as a child and was told that he would never use his arm again. He too had the courage to prove the doctors wrong.
you know i always believed that it's mind over matter. it's a good thing that your mother did not think of her doctor's diagnosis. she is indeed a brave woman.
thanks for the visit.
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