After returning home to Fairbanks, I was isolated. It felt like a different country. I couldn’t talk or understand other people’s conversations. They sounded like a foreign language. Everything was very hard for me, and I contemplated suicide.
About nine months after I came home. I had to face the inevitable. My marriage was over. I’m different now.
I left and moved back to my family’s home. It was calm and peaceful, and it made me realize I should have moved a long time ago.
I was the oldest in the family. When I moved home my youngest siblings the twins were in high school, focusing on homework and sports. All the focus on homework helped me channel my energy.
I wanted to be normal, back to before the stroke. I didn’t need to study the traditional curriculum like reading writing and arithmetic, but physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech.
The biggest hurdle was speech. I could not read, I could not write, and talking was minimal, but I was determined.
The Physical Therapy was the easiest for me I had passed most of the tests in Seattle before I came home. In Fairbanks, they told me, your physical is complete. I still wanted to go back to the gym, but part of my skull was still missing and I was told to hold off until my final surgery healed, then I could go to the gym.
OT (Occupational Therapy) was harder and that lasted about one year. Looking back, it was fairly simple in the grand scheme of things compared to some of the other challenges.
Stay tuned for Fairbanks Part 2 and why I overcome for OT.
Dave Keller 