...and then it rained

by Olivia Ferrell

…and Then It Rained relates the ten-year journey following the author’s husband suffering a serious stroke that significantly affected the frontal lobe of his brain. His diagnosis: depression, neurotic with paranoia, with psychosexual disorder. Tom’s neurologist called him “a unique case”. Having never known anyone with a stroke, and certainly not this type, his wife had no idea what that diagnosis meant, until he came home. Reality was harsh. Ignorance about what they faced resulted in painful days when the word No would have served her better than placating.

Not only did the stroke change Tom’s personality, it changed everything in their lives. The stroke took all of Tom’s wide area of artistic talent – graphic and fine art -- as well as his ability to think logically, understand directions and many other processes. This even-tempered man with the full artistic, introverted personality was suddenly angry, obsessive, calling her names he would never have used before. Paranoia and delusions made him believe things that never happened, like his wife having affairs (plural), and drove him to threaten to shoot her “and any man you meet”. They had guns in the house; guns that had to be sneaked out and never returned.

…and Then It Rained is lifted from journal entries over the first ten years following Tom’s stroke that document in brutal honesty the changes in him and in their lives. The journey was costly emotionally, physically, and financially, and acts as a cautionary tale.

Pages 248

ISBN: 978-1-62249-586-3