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To Live and Enjoy Life 12/29/2011 2:58:32 PM
My systolic was 174. My diastolic was 110. My sister who suffered a stroke last week and was confined to a hospital for four days said, “Those were the numbers when I suffered a stroke. What can I say but I said that “it’s probably because I have just awakened.”
I did not suffer like my sister wherein the left portion of her body was timid and unresponsive. I did not tire easily. And, I was not irritable. I was actually calm. It was two and a half years ago when I suffered a stroke which affected a different part of my brain. I did not speak; I stuttered. I kept my thoughts to myself and like a person with dual or multiple personality debated with each other. My handwriting was relegated to a dot because I cannot swirl my wrist; and my hands shook. I forgot names of places and my short term memory could not recall the event that just happened. If you can see me then, I looked like I was normal unless you spoke to me.
This morning, we ate a sensible breakfast. She ate fruits, the white of the eggs and Quaker Oats while I enjoyed four small rolls with Nutella. She was looking at sheets of paper with the food we should and should not take. Those sheets spelled out advice on which food to choose and avoid. She said that she loved cheese and food heavy with oil. Then she turned her attention to food she will target like egg whites (I don’t or seldom eat eggs), fish (grilled), whole wheat (that included muffins), tofu, canned tuna (which she will purchase a whole lot of) and cook her food with Olive or canola oil (rather than oil with high Trans fats).
She said that she wanted to live longer. I, too, wanted to live longer. Just imagine that we’re just both in our fifties. Our cousin just died two weeks ago at fifty-seven. Some of our uncles died in their thirties. My aunt, the sister of my mom, died at fifty-six. They actually died because of a stroke or heart attack. You see, we wanted to live longer because there are still many things in life we wanted to do. I certainly loved to write…and travel. I have traveled a whole lot but lost interest in it. But I am regaining that gusto. My sister wanted to see her younger girl, Taylor, graduate…and travel. I like to spend time dilly-dallying my whiles in Oakland and Berkeley…that in the hubbub of life, I can still see and be part of it and not be a vegetable or be dead. My sister, likewise.
So, what can we promise ourselves? Surely, we can try. We can’t promise but we can try our darndest!
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