I was working in the stroke clinic the other day when I saw a really nice family for follow up. The father had experienced a stroke a few months earlier but was recovering quite nicely, although he still had weight-bearing restrictions and some other physician-prescribed limitations for activity. He was accompanied during the visit by his wife and his 10-year-old son. Toward the end of the appointment after discussing how well things were going with his recovery, the patient asked, "What about abstinence?" Not really sure what he meant at first, my attending and I gave him a quizzical look, and he simply repeated, "What about abstinence?" Ahh, now we understood that he was trying to ask if his restrictions on intimate relations could be lifted just as we had previously allowed him to ease up on his exercise restrictions. It was clear he was trying to speak in "code" that his 10-year-old son wouldn't pick up on. So, we smiled and told him that he could ease up on the abstinence restrictions, as well. To our surprise, his son suddenly exclaimed, "YES!!" We all turned toward him as he finished his exclamation of joy, "Now you can go swimming again!" Yes. Yes he can. :)