My year in health

[The Storyteller]

I've noticed that among my friends and family.

Retirement will likely help you heal further. Your brain will continue to heal long after doctors' predictions say it will. i'm happy you survived!

Thank you. Neurologist said many of the functions of the damaged areas will be farmed out to other parts of the brain. He said after a year, whatever adjustment my brain makes will be done, but I've been looking at the new research on how our brains continue to evolve over our entire lives, that they never stop changing, for better or worse. So, my hopes are high.

[The Storyteller]

What a year Storyteller! I'd say things can only get better, but I don't want to tempt fate

How are you spending your days now?

Still working right now, but just a few more months of it and I'm done! The plan then is to do more of the stuff I enjoy: read, meditate (I'd like to get up to 2 hours a day), walk/exercise (ditto), etc. And to do some stuff I just don't have enough time for right now, or at least imagine I don't.

Eventually volunteer somewhere. There's 2 museums, a library (the one I work at now), a substance abuse rehab place, and an arts auditorium, all within walkint distance of my house. Also maybe do some volunteer puppetry and storytelling various places for kiddos, writes some new shows, etc. Love all that stuff!

[The Storyteller]

I’d be interested in knowing if you can describe where your strength to go on came from?

I've been thinking about this since I saw it yesterday. I've toyed around with responding about how much meditation has helped me, or acceptance over the past couple of years of the impermanence of all things (including me), but to be honest... I don't know. It's a mystery.

But we really don't have any choice, do we? We just go on.

And what are the daily challenges you face going forward?

Just continuing to try to get healthier and happier. And kinder.

For a while I was having a hard time focusing, but that's gotten a lot better over the months.

[JaneV2.0]

Confronting and/or overcoming adversity normally goes a long way in making us kinder and more sympathetic to others who are struggling.

[Teacher Terry]

I am glad that you are continuing to recover. My Dad had a big stroke at 59 that he barely survived. He went from being a happy, go lucky , life of the party kind of guy to grumpy, unpleasant, mean, etc. The Neurologist said it was because of the part of his brain that was damaged. It was not his fault and he could not control it. It was a long 14 years until he died.