Please just let me vent

[Pete Zicato]

Some thoughts based on my experience after major surgery and prolonged recovery:

• You are not responsible for making other people feel better about your health. People hope you are making steady improvement, but there is no way you can guarantee this. I finally landed on the following: "I have good days and bad days." If I felt good that day I followed it with "Today's a good day". If not it was "Today's not so good".
  
• You have had a major setback. You will get depressed, if you're not already. If you're like me you're thinking, "Is this what it's going to be like for the rest of my life?" You need at least a few people that you can be honest with about what you're going through.
  
• On the other hand, the only people who can really understand are those who have been through what you're experiencing. Find a support group - online or irl. People in a support group will understand what you are going through and may be able to help with coping ideas. Reddit has a stroke group at http://www.reddit.com/r/stroke. I'm sure there are others out there.