The inconveniences of being a stroke survivor

One of the results of my stroke has been what is called emotional lability.  Essentially it is a decreased ability to control emotions or the experiencing of emotions that others define as out of proportion to the situation.  I guess that means that when I cry reading a book, I have an excuse.

In an article I read, it says that less than 16% of stroke survivors continue to experience emotional lability more than 2 years post stroke.  Well not only am I more than two years post stroke I guess I am firmly in that 16%.

For some reason, this week has been quite emotionally charged for me.  Certainly hearing the stories of  the children with their new glasses courtesy of the TWECS team in Ecuador has been incredibly uplifting.  The horror stories from the Phillipines  have hit home.  This morning in church we talked about the sacrifices people and families have made in conflicts around the world and part of the service included a very haunting trumpet solo played from the back of the church.  The service had me in tears many times.

During this time of Remembrance I remind myself of how lucky I am to have the family and friends that I have that encouraged me to recover and the health care system that helped me survive so that I am able to feel these things today.  It really is an inconvenience by comparison to the alternative.

Political Will

Having recently taken a job in the social service sector, I am more acutely aware of the government's approach to the "election budget".  The government budget process seems to becoming more about pleasing the electorate and less about the actual cost of social programs.  I believe that funding our social programs needs to be more about satisfying a need and less about how to achieve a balanced budget.  There are always competing needs for tax dollars, however, refusing to provide any increased dollars to the social sector in light of the pending major payout dollars in MLA pensions seems to me to be a travesty.  You see, the biggest disadvantage of voting out the liberals is the number of MLA's that will now qualify for a full pension after their two terms.We the tax payers are caught between a rock and a hard place.  Although all sectors of the economy are struggling, do you think the members of parliament are going to do anything to share our pain by forgoing these large pension payouts.  I would hope they would think that was the honorable thing to do, however, I won't hold my breath.