My mother's battle to recover from a stroke -- putting things in perspective

It is 12:08 p.m. on Wednesday. I am still in my sweats, which have a dried smear of my toddler's breakfast banana on them, and a small pile of Hershey's kisses wrappers lie on the kitchen table to my right. Pretty picture, huh? LOL.

I am procrastinating going to the gym. At the start of my unemployment, I figured, oh man, I'll get four runs in a week instead of my normal three (which I've achieved during unemployment)and I'll get more cross-training in like yoga and workout DVDs (which I've done). But the hard part, at least this week, has been motivating myself to just go run when I know on days like today, I *really* have any time of the day to go -- previously, 5 a.m. was my only free time during the week, so I was up and running. If a little groggily sometimes. I swear, I am leaving the house by 1 to go run today.

I've decided to stop running outside for now -- sure, it coincides with Chicago's cold snap this week. But at just about six months, preggo, I can no longer keep up with my running buddies -- I keep getting these annoying ligament pains on my right side of my growing stomach that require slower speeds and walk breaks and I am too cheap to buy a maternity running belt when I'm three months away from having this baby. And now that it's icy out -- forget it. I am clumsy enough these days. I have mysterious bruises and cuts everywhere becasue I can't stop knocking into things.

But, these are very minor problems to have compared to what my mother is going through. I've posted about her here before and how she quit smoking a couple of months ago after smoking most of her life, go Mom.


Last week, following a second surgery in six weeks, she had another stroke. She couldn't talk, eat, or really do anything for herself. :-(  I flew home Friday to see her. It was sad to see her look so frail in a hospital bed, barely able to utter more than a word or two. She's only 62, way too young to be there.

That day, she was moved to another hospital for in-patient rehab, including physical, occupational and speech therapy. I'm so happy to report that in the three days I was there, I watched her learn to sit up in her wheelchair, saw her learn to feed herself again and by the third day have short conversations with me. She is learning to walk with a walker again in physical therapy.  She can now raise her right arm, but has quite a bit of work to do to regain her strength there and in her hand.

It took my mom having a stroke to get me out of my own stupid head -- so, so utterly focused on trying to find a new job and worrying about everything -- and think about and take care of someone else. I fed my mom, combed her hair, clipped her nails. It was a strange, new intimacy with my mother, with whom I've had a sometimes stormy relationship, sometimes OK relationship. It was oddly calming, and rewarding. I don't mean to make it about me, sorry, but I just felt so good that I could do something.

The outlook is pretty good, given the progress she's made in a short time. Time will tell, but I believe that if she keeps working as hard as she is, she could really bounce back and 2011 could be a wonderful, strong, active year for her. I so want to see her get her life back. I know she can do it. Go Mom go!