Hi Folks,
About five years ago I noticed that my husband was especially cranky and just thought his imminent retirement was bothering him. Then he found himself in ER with a kidney stone and came out with a diagnosis of a type of blood cancer (CLL). There was also a problem with his lungs which was diagnosed as Cryptococcus (a fungus). Back in the hospital for a lung biopsy, he had a severe stroke and took the anti stroke meds which gave him back his movement. The stroke caused injury to his right frontal lobe, then he had chemo.
Now, he is a wreck. Where before he was calm and non confrontational, now he can become anxious, aggressive, overbearing and sure he is correct when he is not, and on and on. He scares me because he forgets things, and takes impulsive risks like he is 16 (climbing on the roof in a storm to fix something), screams at people who get in his way on the road and basically hates everything most of the time. I have not yet mentioned his chronic joint pain. So, it's a mess and I am stressed but didn't realize it as everything changed gradually after the initial shock of all these events.
He has been to a neurologist and since the stroke did not effect his movement they declared him "okay." So even though my husband can sometimes become irrational he knew that the doctors had failed to help him, and decided none of them were worth his time. Trying to live with these attitudes and understand him have about driven me to the wall so I called Mayo and they referred me to this website. I am looking for ways to help my husband regain some calmness and manage his illnesses before he hurts himself. I am looking for a way to make some sense of my life living with this man I hardly know. We are both in our seventies. Thanks for taking the time to read. p.s. I really didn't know I was stressed until my doctor,after eliminating allergies and other auto immune problems, suggested that the blisters that keep breaking out in my mouth and throat are stress related. Any tips? Thanks, Athena23