You may remember earlier this summer (Day 160) a friend of mine suffered a severe stroke. Michael, a long-time community advocate here in DC, suffered a stroke in the brain stem and has been battling back ever since. He was finally discharged from the hospital and is now in an assisted living center up in Maryland.
I visited Michael last weekend. He looked a lot better than the last time I saw him, but he still couldn’t speak at all. Communicating with him was very frustrating – I just couldn’t understand what he was trying to tell me. It must be so hard for him.
I can’t visit him as much as I used to since he’s now much further away, so I thought I would send him a letter today.
Dear Michael,
It was great to see you last week. You looked great – you’ve improved a lot since I last saw you on the day that you were being released from GW.
As I was leaving I realized you were probably trying to signal me to give your roommate back his chair. I wasn’t really aware that he was using it, I thought it was for visitors. Sorry.
You’ve got some good strength in your right arm, that was impressive. I imagine they are providing you some physical therapy, which is good for you.
I stopped by the nurse’s station to try to get a little more information about your care. Unfortunately I had a hard time getting someone who know enough about your situation – several new people were on duty. I will be back to see you, it’s a little harder now given your new location.
Stay strong and keep working hard on your recovery. You can do it.
Reed