HEALTH

Can Writing Save Your Life?

Everything became more difficult after my stroke, but the desire to write won’t die

Image licensed from Adobe Stock; Duotone added by author

Everything is hard after a hemorrhagic stroke.

I’m glad that the good folks in the ICU didn’t tell me that people with the kind of stroke I had back on November 3rd have a 75% mortality rate. That might have been the ultimate example of too much information during those initial hours of recovery.

Most of those people perish in the first week. But it’s been half a year now, and my chances improve each day. Since those early days, my slow recovery has accelerated. But it still often feels like every part of my body is in full rebellion, punishing me, perhaps, for that hit of acid I did in high school or for the various other insults I hurled against my brain during a sometimes sloppy, messy life.

During the first few weeks, you wouldn’t have wanted me to do so much as hold a lit candle. My right shoulder hurt when I brushed my teeth. Showers were an adventure. I didn’t want to be called forth by the heavenly realm whilst in the buff in a shower, but every time I stepped inside, I felt like I might.

Even now, much improved though I am, taking a shower reminds me of the time when I was living in the San Francisco area. I was…