As many of you know, I had a mild stroke the last weekend in October and went from the ER to the hospital for tests and then to a nursing home for therapy. I returned home last Thursday Nov 14. Val Heart, one of my teachers, mentors and very good friends suggested that I mine the experience for gold.

One wonderful golden thing I received is more support both locally and online that I dreamed possible. I have many more really good friends that I realized. Since I have no family locally I felt quite alone. I discovered that I have many families supporting me.

First my Pet Placement Center friends came to my rescue. I volunteer there and was blown away by all their support.

I did not want to go to the ER and three members of the board at PPC talked me into going. Two of them came to the house and one took my kittens to her house so she could care for them for me and another took me to the ER and stayed with me late into the night until I was moved to a room and settled in for the night. She and another volunteer later cleaned my apartment so I came home to a clean home. And they were wonderful about going to my apartment to get things I needed and bringing them to me.

My church friends also stepped up to help. My minister and his wife came to visit several times, went to my apartment for more things and she even took clothes home to wash several times. And another church friend visited me several times and brought me books to read and even some tea bags when they ran out of tea bags of all things at the rehab center.

My minister and his wife came with extra bags to move me home when I was released and went back for meds becuase the rehab center was so slow calling in the prescription. And one of my PPC friends drove me to the doctor’s office yesterday and by the drug store for different meds because I had been tld I could not drive until  my doctor said it was OK which he did yesterday.

I’m sure I missed something here but I had multiple people locally offering to help and doing all they could to make it easier for me.

Then there were my online families. I received Reiki and prayers and other healing thoughts and energies from many people all over the world. I’m sure that is one reason I was able to completely recover from the effects of the stroke. I had posted to the Animal Reiki Yahoo Group so they were sending good energy and posting message to me from the beginning and still are. Susan Taylor Shier, a teacher, mentor and friend called me multiple times and posted to her group and they were also sending good energy. i am a VA for Val Heart who also posted to her group and did remote healing with me. She also tuned into my kittens (who are so big now at almost 7 months old) to be sure they understood and were OK while I was away.

And a very good friend who has been a client and a student of mine for years as well as a friend drove all the way from Virginia to spend the day with me. She took me out to lunch and by my apartment as well as bringing me a cell phone so I could communicate with others as well as other gifts including an adorable picture she had taken of my kittens which sat framed on my bedside table.

I also received many wonderful cards that brightened my room

There were also many caring therapists and nurses and others at the rehab center that helped me reach full function again.

The experience also gave me a renewed sense of purpose as I set the absolute intention for a full recovery

I learned that I am supported by so many people some I don’t even know.

I’m glad the experience is over, of coruse, but can look back and mine the gold from the experience.

Margaret Dexter11/20/2013