Hello I am Chas and I’ve been looking after a dear friend, Kerry, who has a stroke at the end of June 23.
Kerry spent a week in the local hospital and was lucky enough to get a place in an amazing Rehab centre in Welwyn in Hertfordshire.
When she went into rehab Kerry could not get out of bed without the assistance of two and could not go to the toilet or shower herself.
After 5 gruelling weeks of Physio and OT she could walk unaided get herself up, dressed and showered (while sitting down.
That was early August and Kerry is still fighting and we see small but exciting improvements each day, along with some setbacks.
She still feels very tired and gets a bit upset because she does not feel “normal”, but on the whole is doing very well.
We are hoping to go to visit Kerry’s sister in Cornwall in March and maybe go to Berlin in June for her birthday. Time will tell but that’s out aim at the moment.
Hi & welcome @chasd so sorry to hear of Kerry’s stroke but sounds like she is doing amazing although i’m sure it has taken much hard work & involved plenty of frustration.
Fatigue & getting upset are very common as is not feeling “normal”. We often have to adjust to version 2 of ourselves & that takes some accepting as it isn’t what we would want. Version 2 can still be good though.
You have some lovely goals to aim for & I really hope you get to do them.
Best wishes
Ann x
Hi and a big welcome. Sorry to hear of Kerry’s stroke. Sounds like after lots of hardwork and dedication, she is doing really well. It’s still early days in her recovery but she has made an amazing recovery so far. To be honest I don’t think anyone would claim to feel “normal” after a stroke. I know I definitely don’t feel anything like “normal” some days. Un fortunately she will suffer some setbacks along the road to recovery but that’s perfectly normal, as is feeling post stroke fatigue. Setting small improvements and goals along the road to recovery is very important and gives her something to work towards
and gjves you an amazing boost to your confidence when you achieve them, however large or small they may be.
Hopefully you will find this forum a useful source of information and we look forward to hearing from you and Kerry when you feel ready to reach out.
Best wishes and I hope you achieve your goals.
Regards Sue
Hi @chasd Chas, sorry to hear about Kerry but she sounds a very strong woman and really focused on getting fighting fit. Keep your goals in mind - get a picture of Cornwall on your wall or mirror and look at it every day, and then tell us all about it when you go in March! Take care, John aka Bert
Thank you for all for your responses and great encouragement.
You have reassured Kerry that her constant tiredness is a normal part of the recovery process.
I’m sure that this will help her to push on an meet the challenges that we both know lay ahead.
Hi @chasd
I Meant to say hello when you first posted. Somehow got distracted (I didn’t have enough spoons) and then my strokie brain took over - If it isn’t right in front of me it never existed!! - so let me say hello and welcome now.
As you’ve already seen there is a friendly bunch here. There’s a whole bunch of things that we normally save to newcomers when we become aware of them that some of us put into a [welcome post tap the blue text] (Welcome - what we wish we'd heard at the start) - You might have seen it but as you’ve only read a few posts so far here’s a link.
It definitely covers fatigue and other things - note post stroke fatigue isn’t just part of recovery for some. it may be a (semi?) permanent part of Kerry’s future. There is a good chance of reducing over time with awareness and management - and a chance of it re-emerging when she over does it.
Some of us find keeping a diary of nutrition hydration excitement medication activity lights noise etc etc etc and of our fatigue and its characteristics and then looking for correlations
Good luck with the goals that you’ve set such as going to Berlin 
Ciao
Simon
hello and welcome, sorry to read that Kerry has had a stroke, hopefully she will get better with the right care shes getting
Hi @chasd just popped in to welcome you, so good to hear of Kerry’s progress 
Cornwall will be a good test drive for Berlin, to work out and establish a reasonable pace for her to avoid the dreaded fatigue. Onwards and upwards 
Hi @chasd ,
Thank you for sharing your introducing yourself to this forum. Welcome to you and your dear friend Kerry. Very pleased Kerry has made good progress and I hope this will continue. Carry on doing the good work and enjoy your trips to Cornwall and Berlin.
Take care. 