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Care
Partner of the Month
May / June Robert Woodson, Sr. Mount Vernon, NY The responsibility that accompanies the commitment of marriage is an awesome task. During the romance and initial union, it's difficult to even consider the possibility of a life-altering event that will affect not only your spouse's life, but your own as well. Bob says: "I love my wife very deeply and when we married I took our vows 'til death do us part' in the most serious kind of way. It was a second marriage for both of us and we both had grown children, but I had the highest respect for her. She was totally devoted to everything she did - her job, her church work, her children and me. I really felt that she was the greatest gift God could have given me. She was working for the US Postal Service in a supervisory capacity that was very demanding and very stressful. She was great at what she did but she tended to bring her job home with her…she just couldn't turn it off. She was also very dedicated to the duties she performed at church. We both served as Deacons and worked in several other ministries. Edna was a Sunday School teacher as well. She had borderline hypertension, but it wasn't to the point of needing medication. We tried to eat sensibly and stay active. I worked a job as a machinist, which is what I've done for most of my adult life. One day in 1996 I received a call from Edna's job that she had fallen ill and had been taken to the hospital. The diagnosis was a mild stroke from an aneurysm, which weakened her for some time, but with therapy she regained full capacity and went back to work. One thing that was detected was AVM (arteriovenous malformation) which is an abnormal communication or malformation between an artery and a vein that may occur congenitally or as a result of an injury or infection. It is inoperable because of the positioning of the mass that occurs. The only option the doctors could provide us with was regular treatments that "coated" her brain to prevent any internal rupture or bleeding, but there was no guarantee that another stroke wouldn't occur. We continued our lives trusting that Edna's condition would stabilize.  |
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