How to Enjoy Your Life After Suffering a Hemorrhagic Stroke

• 1). Join a support group. There are local support groups within your community that are comprised of people just like you-stroke survivors. Ask your doctor to recommend a group located at your local health facility. Contact the American Stroke Association to make a connection and obtain a free subscription to the Connection magazine.
  
  
• 2). Journal your story. There is a place where I have gone for so much more support than I received any other place and that is The Aneurysm and AVM support site, sponsored by the University of Georgia.
  It helps to talk about your stroke and share your experience with others. You have undergone a traumatic event in your life and you need to talk about it. You are alive, that is a happy ending but at the moment, you may be feeling otherwise. All stroke survivors struggle at some point in the recovery process.
  
  The Aneurysm and AVM support site has thousands of narratives written by folks just like you and me who have suffered hemorrhagic strokes, and they correspond and support each other. The site is international and you can even compare treatments to those in other countries.
  
  
• 3). Locate a doctor who is sensitive to your recovery process. If your doctor does not spend the time to listen to your concerns, find another doctor. The doctor to patient relationship should be a nurturing one and is critical in the recovery process. My doctor was never too busy to accept my phone calls. This kind of support is crucial.
  
  
• 4). Allow time to heal. Do not beat yourself up during the recovery period. It is too easy to lay blame and chastise yourself for your inability to accomplish even the smallest of tasks. Taking a shower was difficult for me, as I often forgot to remove my clothes prior to climbing into the shower stall. Ridiculous as it may sound, the injured brain plays horrendous tricks on your memory. While it may never completely return, it does get better over time.
  
  
• 5). Rest, then rest some more. I cannot stress the importance of resting enough. All things require time to heal and the resting process speeds the healing. Through sustained rest periods, the brain begins to regenerate itself and the headaches fade, memories return and the healing begins. You may even find yourself laughing a little more when you have had a good nap. I know I did.
  
  
• 6). Reward your accomplishments no matter how small. I remember the first time that I was left alone at home after my stroke. For a forty-something year old, this may not appear as a milestone, but it was the first time in eight months that I was alone. I did not burn down the house even though I was still forgetting to turn off the stove. I didn't go near the stove because I remembered that I sometimes forgot to turn it off. That was a huge breakthrough for me. To celebrate, I scooped a big bowl of ice cream and ate it outside in the fresh air. Learning to navigate through the short-term memory loss has made my life easier and I celebrate the successful navigating, both big and small.