What's Your Handicap?

About the Book

When stroke comes into your life, it often comes without warning, or at least without recognizable warning. Its impact is often devastating. Even the most resourceful families will often find themselves at sea when it comes to knowing what to do. They will need to make major decisions while under considerable stress—and often in the absence of information. This, of course, is never a winning combination. When my “big one” came, it wasn’t entirely unexpected—I’d had some warning signs—but doctors weren’t able to predict when, or if, it would occur. One day I was living the life of an international consultant, just as likely to find myself in Nairobi as in Washington or Ottawa; the next day I was flat on my back in the IC room of the local general hospital. I had no idea that this was the first day of my new life or that I would spend the next year of my life in hospital. But while my life has completely changed, I wouldn’t want you to think that it’s been only for the worse. Far from it! I had my stroke twenty years ago, and I know that things are better now, but I’m not sure that they’ve improved that much. I was fortunate in that I had a very resourceful family, but in spite of this, I know that they had a great deal of difficulty finding useful information. There was a need then, and I believe there is a need now, for information to be centralized and accessible. At the time of my stroke, a reasonable amount of medical information was available, but it was spread all over the map. The amount of available information on stroke recovery, however, was only minimal. Unless one of your caregivers or friends was the sort of person who was curious and went out of his or her way to become involved in your rehabilitation program, you were left swimming in a sea of ignorance.

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