First of all just let me say thank you all so very much for sharing your
experiences and thoughts with me about counseling.   Thanks also for the
many suggestions you made and for the encouragement.  It meant so
much!!!

Well, I did go on tuesday morning to see the social worker that works
with my primary care doctors office.  All I can say is WOW!!!

I am truly blessed!!!

This woman was so so easy to talk to.  Felt like I had known her all my
life!  She listened to everything, was most encouraging and made some
suggesions that I had never even thought about.  She also encouraged me
to tell my pcp some of the things as well.   She is going to see me
again sometime this coming week, hopefully.   She said she will be more
than happy to see me or if I preferred to see someone that deals more
with chronic illnesses and such, she would arrange for that as well.
She also realizes my financial constraints as well as the fact that
since I can't drive right now, things are a bit tougher to get to.  So,
she has offered to either come have our meetings at my home or meet me
at the PT and OT office and see me there either right before or right
after my appointments.  How sweet is that?

I walked out of that first meeting with her feeling like a million
pounds had been lifted from my shoulders.   It truly was amazing.  She
told me I wasn't as crazy as I thought I was and that she felt I
actually was handling things better than I even thought I was.   She
didn't think at this point that I needed an antidepressant, but said
that they would keep a close eye on things and if I didn't seem to be
making any progress with the counseling alone, that they would then
reassess the need for an antidepressant.   I am fine with that.  She
also said that it really is very common for stroke patients to develop
some depression even months after the stroke.   I knew that, but guess I
figured since I seemed to be doing so well initially, and then all of
this hit only about 3-4 weeks ago, that I kind of forgot that.

In any case, we clicked immediately as far as personality goes and I am
extremely thankful for that.  I will continue to see her and go from
there, one day at a time!!!

Yahoooooo!!!!

Thanks, again, everyone!!!

Donna G.
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ANGELS EXIST, but some times, since they don't all have wings, we call
them FRIENDS......