When Your Spouse Has a Stroke: Caring for Your Partner, Yourself, and Your Relationship

A stroke can alter two people's lives in an instant. For the person who has had a stroke, simple tasks suddenly become difficult or impossible. For that person's partner, life seems to revolve mostly around the stroke survivor's needs. Such a drastic change naturally requires making many, sometimes taxing, adjustments. In this book, two experts in stroke recovery help couples deal with the impact of stroke on their lives and their relationship.

Drs. Sara and Jeffrey Palmer explain how to overcome three major challenges:

• providing quality care for your partner
• maintaining or rebuilding your relationship
• caring for yourself as an individual

The book invites you into the lives of real couples who are themselves coping with these challenges. Their experiences model how you can improve essential aspects of your relationship, including communication, roles and responsibilities, and sexuality. A list of practical tips summarizes each chapter, providing a handy reference guide to meeting each day's challenges.

More than just a discussion of the medical and practical aspects of stroke and stroke recovery, this book focuses on the emotional, psychological, and social consequences of stroke and the deeply personal side of caregiving. When Your Spouse Has a Stroke will relieve your burden and strengthen your partnership.

Sara Palmer, PhD, is a psychologist and an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is the coauthor of Spinal Cord Injury: A Guide for Living; When Your Spouse Has a Stroke: Caring for Your Partner, Yourself, and Your Relationship; and Just One of the Kids: Raising a Resilient Family When One of Your Children Has a Physical Disability.

Jeffrey B. Palmer, M.D., is a professor and Director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. He is the coauthor of Spinal Cord Injury: A Guide for Living, also published by Johns Hopkins.