My cats, Lois and Clark, forced me to go to bed at 10:30 Sunday night. After I had been gone all but one night in two and a half weeks, they decided to seize control of me again.
"Mommy, where on earth have you been?" they meowed in chorus as Lois laid on my right side and Clark took the left.
"Let's see, we went through Kentucky and Tennessee to get to Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. And then I went to Chicago this weekend for stroke camp."
"Stroke camp? What's that?"
"My friends Marylee and John Nunley created Retreat & Refresh Stroke Camp (www.strokecamp.org) a few years after John had a stroke. It's a place where stroke survivors and their caregivers can go and feel 'normal' for a weekend. Survivors meet other survivors and help each other. Family members and caregivers can share the many emotions and challenges they're experiencing. A stroke affects the entire family, and most people don't understand that."
"And what did you do there?"
"A lot of listening for my book because survivors and caregivers need to vent their frustrations and celebrate their triumphs. Their peers understand how important it is when a survivor can walk further than they did six months ago or how their speech has improved and new/old words have been relearned. They also share the pain of how people make fun of them or ignore them. That's made me more determined to write this book."
"So, we're going to have a lot of late nights with you planted at your computer again, huh?"
"Yep. And remember, I can only fit one of you at a time on my lap. I'll post the schedule on the door so sign up now for shifts …"
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