Stroke survivors, we’re still the same people at heart, despite the challenges we face. Our experiences may have altered our memories or introduced new disabilities, but these changes don’t redefine who we are inside. Please don’t distance yourselves or cut us out of your lives. We cherish the bonds we’ve built over time, and we can still share laughter and be great company. If you’re worried that there might be nothing left in common or that conversation might falter, remember, true friendship is much more profound than shared interests or endless chatter. It’s about being there for one another, supporting each other through thick and thin. Let’s continue to nurture our connections and embrace the moments we have together. 
#StrokeSurvivors #StillHere #FriendshipMatters #InclusionMatters #LaughTogether #StayConnected
@sonia158
Never a truer word spoken Thank you for sharing, good luck 
Thank you., you certainly find out who your true friends are.
Lovely words and so very true thank you for sharing 
So true. Thank you. My friends have been great & I am so grateful to them for all they have done for me. xx
Alan has not been so lucky and that is why I wrote that. We have not heard from any of his friends. If we bump into them when we are out and about they make all the right noises and promise to visit or to take him out for a drink etc. but we never see them. The real kicker though was we went to visit Alans dad last week and his elder brother and his wife were there and they hardly acknowledged him let alone ask how he is doing.
Oh that is such a shame. It’s hard enough without people blocking you out. They might not know what to say or do but saying nothing is worse than saying the wrong thing in my opinion.
Xxx
It is so sad but I guess that is just human nature. Do not know what to say so staying away is easier.. It breaks my heart as he had such a big friend network and now nothing.
Sonia firstly, best wishes to Alan, like others will say we know too well these feelings. I’m blessed with a strong family and some real close friends, close ones are always wary around me but mainly because they never know what to say through both fear and ignorance both in the larger senses.
Hope people open both their eyes and minds and see Alan is still Alan despite some changes.
I’ve posted about how my job/ work has affected my recovery so far but equally gave me inspiration, kids have no filter and one asked how’d we know you’ve suffered a stroke or brain injury you are as dumb as a freezer. That youthful innocence cracked me up the kids don’t see me as different as before just tell you what they think.
Oh no that’s such a shame and must make Alan feel terrible. We can all make excuses for our friends but to have your brother and his wife behave like that must be heart breaking for him.
Best wishes and regards to both of you
XxX
This is truly awful Sonia and I feel for Alan. I’d like to offer some sort of comforting words or advice but I am at a loss 
From what you are saying, Alan’s brother was not this way before Alan’s stroke i.e. they had a good relationship and so perhaps he is shocked and struggling to cope with what has happened to Alan and finding it difficult to connect with the “new” Alan?
I have seen similar breakdowns in families where siblings fall out, don’t get on for any number of reasons and it’s never nice. Perhaps you can talk to Alan’s brother to see if he is struggling to cope with what has happened to Alan?
I am sorry and I wish there was more I could offer.
Aye, aye. And I also need to include this sentence to make up the twenty characters … 
@Sonia158 @IreneFC @Susan_Jane @ManjiB @Mrs5K @Rups @EmeraldEyes @Norma751 @Mich-mm
Stroke seems to have robbed you of everything.
It’s different for each one of us but I think we are all left mourning some loss.
Friends, family, ability, independence and so much more, all gone.
Quite often it is affecting both oneself and a carer. It is a double burden.
We need to mourn, we need to look back and grieve. It is not something to be ignored. It is a part of what and who we now are.
But, this is now.
We are still here. We are finding ways to carry on.
We have something left and it is going to be what we will build with.
There will be a tomorrow.
We can use it to make a way forward. There are many of us. We are not alone.
Others who follow will see there is good reason to hope.
There is a way forward for us all.
keep on keepin on
Photo by Arwan Sutanto on Unsplash
@Bobbi
Such true words
Thank you for sharing
Beautiful words Bobbi and so very true, that brought a tear to my eyes 
.
Thank you for sharing.
Regards Sue
So true @Bobbi. I think we have all lost a part of us but we have to keep moving forward. I do look back and wonder sometimes and on the days when I feel sorry for myself I allow myself to indulge in that for a short while then I pick myself up and start to focus on moving forward again. Life for me and my hubby will never be the same but we have a life and I always tell myself it could have been so much worse. I have a level of independence. I would like more but I am happy that I have more than I did at the start of the journey. I am grateful that my employer allows me to work from home and to work part time which gives me a focus and some “virtual” company at times when it would otherwise be lonely. We all have each other to keep us motivated too and I love that we do that for each other. Hey, if I hadn’t had my stroke imagine how much more peaceful your lives would be without me popping in from time to time I think I’d miss you all though
Keep going everyone you’re all doing great.
It is true good friends dont desert you and the ones that do aren’t true friends. After my stroke and when I could I was taken to the local pub for a zero half and enjoyed the male company by a true friend.
Thank you for sharing, very touching.
You just have to pick up what bits are left and make something out of that.
Or, rather, I do. We each somehow are finding a way out of this mess.
For me, it is my own mess and my own way.
Sometimes I find and sometimes I am lost, but always it goes on.
Try to smile, the world is a beautiful place filled with beautiful people.
keep on keepin on
To be honest, there are times I look at other people going about their business, seemingly, without a care in the word, and I long for that feeling again. It is a moment of envy and also wistfulness. It’s a shallow type of envy, only seeing how they are on the surface but simple things like someone running down the street or doing their shopping. I get fatigued from the fatigue 
and sometimes fatigued just thinking about the fatigue. I treasure the days when I feel well, even when symptoms are acute, if I at least feel well, I can manage it. Every effort is an achievement, sometimes it takes me hours to prepare myself for the day ahead. Sometimes, I would rather just lie in bed and other times I get bored lying in bed and it springs me into some kind of action. I have learned that any sort of stress can set me off, so I have a thousand and one ways to manage stress, sometimes I could do with a thousand and four.