Of strokes and pillow talk

B. Jay Cooper

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4 min read

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Oct 27, 2022

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Two news stories caught my eye in the past couple of days. The Pennsylvania U.S. Senate debate and the story about the My Pillow Guy and Trump supporter, Mike Lindell.

First, Pennsylvania. I won’t even begin to try to dissect the response Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz gave on abortion. That’ll be torn apart enough but let me just say, as a man, I don’t want “local political leaders” involved in a decision on whether a woman gets an abortion. It’s not only wrong, it’s icky to even think about — I picture a local politician in the room with the doctor and the woman. I trust the woman making the decision, with medical advice from her doctor.

What caught my eye more in that debate is the criticism Democrat John Fetterman is getting for his “awkward” performance, brought on entirely by the after-effects from the stroke he suffered earlier this year.

Let me get personal, I’ve had two strokes, one when I turned 50 that caused no noticeable damage but was a warning about the second stroke, which came five years later. That one, while far from as serious as the one Fetterman suffered, did come with after effects that required speech therapy. I, and any other stroke sufferer I’m sure, can empathize with what he’s going through.

In my case, after a couple of days in the hospital to be monitored, I was released and told I needed speech therapy. I wasn’t sure why since my thoughts were clear as they were the day before I had the stroke. My thinking and thought process was exactly the same. But, I was told I…