Dunham Family and My Stroke Story!

Over the weekend, I did a blog post about a hospital stay last week. I was not trying to an alarmist or to say "woe is me." Rather, I try to use by blog to describe my stroke journey. My blog is published in different ways. Usually, it is just in the blog sphere. That is it. The audience is limited to readers who find it on my blog. Sometimes, I put my blog on Twitter where I have two accounts: My personal account but also the Idaho Aphasia twitter account. I have sometimes posted my blog on my Facebook account. And, also, the Idaho Aphasia Facebook page. My last blog post was about the hospital stay. In that blog posts, I wrote " I have a condition called Fibromuscular dysplasia. FMD  is a progressive twisting of the blood vessels throughout the body. It causes abnormal growth within the wall of an artery . It is rare: Fewer than 200,000 US cases per year.” It can't be cured, but treatment may help like taking blood thinners. I ended by writing that " I

  When you have a stroke – or two and seizures like me – a simple headache causes worry. In the back of your mind, your damaged brain thinks “it is happening again!” Recently, I had some severe headaches. They were different from the headaches when I had my strokes and seizures. These were a pounding ache on the left side and the top of my head. When they started on a Sunday night, I thought “they will go away.” They did not. I took several painkillers. My head kept aching. Finally, on Wednesday, I went to the hospital where I had a MRA and a MRI. The good news, I have an intense sinus infection. I forgot that a headache could be something else other than a “brain attack.” However, we discovered that had a brain incident. Or I did NOT have a brain incident. To explain, here is what I know about my brain. I have a condition called “Fibromuscular dysplasia.” “ FMD” is a progressive twisting of the blood vessels throughout the body. It causes abnormal growth wi

The Idaho  Statesman published my Guest Opinion this morning. October 29, 2015 is "World Stroke Day." I published this to help raise awareness about strokes.  The Truth About Stroke – World Stroke Day is October 29 About 800,000 people in the United States have a stroke every year and someone dies from one every four minutes. On   January 10, 2012, I had a stroke. And three days later, while in the hospital, I suffered a massive stroke. My right arm was partially paralyzed. I lost all communication: speaking and writing. I did not know my own name. Before my strokes, I was a lot like you – a busy Dad, working hard to support my family and I thought I was in good health. I was an elected official as a board member at the College of Western Idaho and Executive Director of the Associated General Contractors, a large trade association. I was a prominent state lobbyist and educator. I was a master multi-tasker making presentations and speeches throughout the natio

Three recent events made me realize that I have come so far since my strokes. On the other hand, I also know what I have lost. My recovery is bittersweet. The three events were: The Western Idaho Fair The “Saving Strokes Golf Tournament” sponsored by the American Heart and Stroke Association The opening game of the Boise State football season I have gone to the fair and Boise State football games for decades. My friends and I have loved to attend those events. Those three events tested my ability to participate for many reasons.  When you have strokes, you are very sensitive to your visual and sensory perceptions. Therefore, I need to k eep distractions and noise down. The fair and the football games were sensory overload. At the fair, it was hot. People were everywhere. The sounds and the lights were intense. In addition, because of my strokes, I have vision loss. Mainly, my right peripheral vision is gone. I was careful; however, I was jostled and bumped.

One of my favorite professors when I attended Boise State University was Pat Shannon. He was a business professor and taught “Statistics.” I took two semesters of his class. As the saying goes, “he wrote the book on 'Statistics.'”  Literally he wrote a noted Statistics textbook. He used HIS textbook for his class. Years later, I joked with him saying that “I did not think that it was fair to use your own textbook. How could I argue about bad examples when YOU wrote the book!” He laughed, and said, “Well, at least you got ‘A’s’ because you were a math whiz.” And I was. Math was so easy for me. All math inducing calculus, algebra, trigonometry, statistics, geometry, etc. was so simple. Several years after my conversation with Pat, I had two massive strokes. My son was in the  1 st  grade, and I could not even do his homework at all. After my strokes, I had lunch with Pat, and I told him that “I should get a refund for my math classes now because I

My “blog vacation” is over! In other words, my son is starting 5 th grade and now I have time to pursue my blog!  Is that a good excuse? I do not know. I really needed to take a break and reflect about what has transpired in my life since my strokes. And, I spent my summer enjoying my life, my recovery, and my family. I spent the summer with our son. I relish the everyday “things” that most people take for granted.   My son has always kept me going throughout the dark times when I just wanted to die because of my strokes almost 4 years ago. He gave me hope and a reason to live. I wanted to see him grow up. I wanted to witness the first days of school and the last days of school. When our son started school, he went to the BSU  Children Center. He progressed to  Monroe Elementary for kindergarten. Now, it is in the 5 th   Grade at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Boise. It seems so long ago. I lifetime ago really. When he started, I could not really attend his even

Last week, my son and I went to the barber. While I was waiting for my son, I noticed the barber had an old Beauty School text book. It was the same book my mom used when she went to Beauty School when she was studying for her cosmetology license. It was a 9 month program. That 9 month program changed our life. During that period (late 1969 thru 1970), my parents got divorced, my dad moved to Boise, and mom remarried. To say that the 9 month period was tumultuous is an understatement. I was 8 years old.       Years later, when I was in college, I took a course called “Women in History.” My professor asked the students to do an “oral history” about some woman. I chose my mother, Faye Marlene Bailey Dunham Brown. Her real first name was “Joy,” and I entitled my oral history about Mom “ Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy.” My mom's life was “ Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy.” It seemed fitting that her real name was “Joy.” The title refers to a  Beatles'  song “Across