Jane V.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
By: Jane V.

Survivor

While on the operating table having my aortic and mitral valves replaced, I had a stroke. This was in late June 1999. After a week of being hospitalized, I went to a rehab facility. I was there until early September 1999 receiving excellent physical therapy. I was completely paralyzed on my left side when I arrived there. Very unexpectedly, I was suddenly able to raise my left arm to scratch my nose. When I left in September I was able to walk using a walker, or even a cane. It has been a struggle but is well worth it. I met a nurse eight years later who told me she told other patients about me, whom she called her "wonder patient." When I'd arrived in the rehab center, she saw that I couldn't move in bed, and she was sure I'd be going to a nursing home, but I surprised everyone. I am now in an assisted living facility, but manage to go to my home on an island in Maine each summer. God is good. My brain was not affected.

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