My uncle and I were sitting in the trailer watching T.V. We were probably watching a hockey game, but I don’t remember, it might have been baseball we were watching.
I was feeling mellow, it was nearing the end of my work week and I was looking forward to a weekend of beer and watching sports. I was in my security guard uniform and I bent to put on my shoes.
Remember when you were younger, and you got tore up, I mean blind, out of your mind drunk? Now imagine that feeling coming on you in seconds.
“Damn, Richard,” I said as I gave my uncle a confused look. “The living room was spinning, and I felt the urge to vomit. I leaned back in the chair and looked at my spinning trailer.
The thought of a stroke was the furthest thing from my mind, I thought it was something I ate. I took out my cell phone and called off at the last minute, then I went to bed.
I didn’t sleep at all. The spinning and nausea got worse. I dry heaved all night when I vomited there wasn’t that much there. I spent a sleepless night walking from my bedroom to the bathroom.
My uncle got up around eight or nine o’clock, we got dressed as he took me to a nearby walk-in clinic. They took me back and checked my blood pressure and immediately called 911.
They didn’t tell me that I had a stroke until the next day. There were two days of tests, I lay on the bed and slept a lot, and watched a little t.v. I couldn’t drive for a month; I was afraid to.
To make things worse, my uncle who had been battling his health issues, died in the hospital while he was looking me in the eyes talking to me. I was behind on my bills and I didn’t have a job, the guard company wouldn’t hire me back.
I hung on alone for almost a year before the process server came with the eviction notice. That was the beginning of three years of Hell, but I came through it. I found out I’m stronger than I knew I was, and I learned the hard way that I can’t do it without help.
If it hadn’t been for the stroke, I would still be in Florida, a place I wanted to leave for years. If I hadn’t left Florida, I would never have met the woman that would become my wife.
I learned about myself, and I learned who I could depend on, and I couldn’t have done it without God looking out for me. People were praying, and I felt the prayers.
1. Adversity can make you a better person if you let it.
2. Life has its twists and turns, so deal with it.
3. And if you have a stroke, for god’s sake call 911.
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