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Released by Kenny Chesney in 2007, he sang, “Don’t blink. Life goes faster than you think.” 

And so it is. The year 2023 has zoomed by (or maybe it’s my advanced age when the years have flown faster the older I get). Anyway, it’s time for New Year’s Resolutions. I’m writing before the end of year so perhaps you’ll read them again with more meaning the second time around.

I shouldn’t have had a stroke–low cholesterol and blood pressure, no diabetes, no smoking, not a drinker–but I had one anyway. The cause? Protein C and Protein S deficiency which cause blood clots, and guess what happens when the clots hit my brain. If it isn’t treated right away, bingo! Lousy genes promoting a stroke! 

But I digress. The Resolutions follow:

I started and stopped Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (deceased by hanging in 2008) seven times since 2010. But enough already. My motto is, even as a stroke survivor, I finish what I start. Always. I liked what I read by starting over each time. One reviewer said, “The book attracted a cult of fans (and critics, too) for its subversive writing, which was by turns hallucinogenically stream of consciousness, jubilantly anecdotal, winkingly sardonic, and self-consciously literary.”

At a doctor’s suggestion, Wallace had gone off the medication for depression in June 2007. It reminds me of the time when my doctor told me to go off of blood thinners and I winded up with a pulmonary embolism. Both Wallace and I had the disastrous effects a year later, though his ended his life. In his 1000-word plus novel, here’s to the spirit of David Foster Wallace! May he live on in people’s minds forever. 

 

If you’re not already vegan, or tried it out for a week or two and thought you’d resume your carnivorous lifestyle, think again. I’m vegan and a stroke survivor, and I never felt better! Diet is practically everything! 

Most often, I am asked, “How do you get protein?” Basically, seitan, tofu, beans, and lentils can provide protein in a vegan diet. Try veganism for a month, and let me know if you’re feeling better with what ails you, like headaches, digestive issues, and muscle soreness

 

Ok. At my newly-found, older age, I’ve given up on running. I say newly-found because within the past year, I got the unwelcoming news that soon I would be 75 when I felt  three decades younger. Of course, I knew that age eventually would overcome me.

So what do I do instead? Sedentary activities like writing and reading which satisfy me. I want to walk, but not yet. I  broke my toe (neck of the 5th metatarsal) and now in Rehab. The thing is, I have fallen many times and the falls, this time in particular, set me back where I have to take baby steps to assume my previous level. It’s a tough road with a stroke.

As a stroke survivor or an ABI survivor, can you find your do-able passion? I hope so.

 

I’m not done with therapy–ever! I’m a stroke survivor warrior and giving up is not in my lexicon. So once I leave in-patient rehab following two monumental falls, I’ll get Home Health therapy, available from most hospitals.

The way most work is that they come twice a week for 3 weeks and once a week for 3 weeks, a total of 6 weeks. Then a break where you do all the exercises, and it starts again. Check your policy to see if that’s available for you. 

 

People get angry. It’s one of the more common human emotions. But I’m going to see if I CANNOT get angry during the whole year at the stupid shit, like:

  • sending me to the wrong office, and then THEY were mad at ME about the mistake
  • mixing up my very common name with another Hoffman, then the woman giggled about it
  • unsubscribing from an app and then continuing to get emails from the app

 

When I had my hemorrhagic stroke 14 years ago, the team of doctors put me on Coumadin. (The story behind Coumadin — Warfarin is the same thing — is fascinating. It’s here!)

Anyway, it’s not a big deal to prick my finger to get tested for clotting. But if I was having a dreadful day, I used to take out my frustrations, with having to prick my finger at all, on my caregiver by screaming obscenities. #@&$%!!!

Enough already! No more of THAT anger in the coming year. 

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Hope the holidays bring you peace and serenity. Here’s to 2024!

Joyce Hoffman

Joyce Hoffman

Joyce Hoffman is one of the world's top 10 stroke bloggers according to the Medical News Today. You can find the original post and other blogs Joyce wrote in Tales of a Stroke Survivor. (https://talesofastrokesurvivor.blog)
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