CONNIE SMITH

 

 

Connie Smith has just written a very personal book about her experiences when she had a stroke in 2000. It is called “Great Gobs of Goose Grease,” and here in Connie’s own words, is the description of her book:

 

Let's start at a time when I could not remember anything after having a stroke ... that is why I'm writing: in hopes of helping someone else who felt like me. In the first place, I was way too young (I was 52), and now I've heard so many stories about much younger people having lived through strokes and their recoveries. Hopefully I'll make someone else feel a little better than when I started down this path ... I didn't know a soul well enough and the subject of stroke was way out there in never-never land for me. I still feel like I wear a neon sign in florescent green blinking on and off "Stroke took place here!" It's been almost four years now and I still feel that I'd like to walk anywhere and not be noticed. When I think about it clearly, I realize I'm just like another Ford in a parking lot. No one cares because they are also trying to get their hurried lives together. My twin sister says that I look very normal in every way. I believe that it'll take more time to become used to this body and mind.

 

There are lots and lots of people out there who look privileged. Some might be living a lie and in debt up to their ever-loving yang yang, while others have worked themselves silly to get where they are with no help at all. There are so many visual indications of success. Not all of them are the correct story. It is also true that you can't tell one's health status. I don't especially want anyone to know that I've had a stroke. I guess this to be a good thing. Until you've

run uphill for the last 14,000 miles in their work boots you don't know. Only the man upstairs knows. So ... this is my story. It's the only one I have on the subject, and this is not from a doctor's point of view. This is my recovery and what I went through up to now. Now is awfully great, I must say!

 

This first thing I remember was ... vaguely ... that someone told me that I had had a stroke. I believe that I was still so out of it that it wasn't that upsetting. (That part came later.) It was five weeks of my life that medicine took away. They gave me a shot or put something in my drip so that I could not remember what I had gone through. In time I heard the whole story and I know that it was a good decision.

 

Here is what Connie’s husband, Steve, has said about her book, “This is a book that shows how a person’s life can change in an instant. It shows how ordinary people who are confronted with overwhelming obstacles can triumph with a positive attitude and hard work, then become an inspiration to everyone around them.”

 

Bobbi McKenna, who coached Connie with writing her book, said, “Connie’s book is a charming, inspiring and humor-filled account of her recovery. It is filled with photos and personal touches like sticky notes she wrote (my favorite is “Threw my walker away today!”) When I speak and teach, I always take her book with me. Everyone who sees it, loves it! I even had someone buy my personal copy.”

 

To order a copy of the new 84-page edition of “Great Gobs of Goose Grease,” send $9.95 to Connie Smith, 779 East 9400 South #123, Sandy, UT 84094. You can also order online at http://www.atlasbook.com

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