End of the week

Spent this morning moving 3 large dumpy bags of logs which had to be transported into our log store and stacked neatly, this is hard work when you only have one arm and hand to do this with plus it is my left arm which works and I am right handed. This was a joint effort with my trusty assistant Liz.

Fortunately it's a nice sunny day for a change so the logs didn't get wet whilst outside.

The sheep are enjoying the sunny day and have been drying their fleeces, but the weather this week looks to be following a similar pattern of one sunny day followed by wet and windy day.

I have suggested to Liz that we move to Australia where it would be warmer but she advised me we wouldn't get in because of my stroke. 

At University on Friday morning with Ellie I had to reply to some emails which I thought would be great until she told me I couldn't use the speech button, I managed the task well but it took a long time.

My project group did more work on our project thinking about how we would deliver the content at the end to our audience. We have an hour and half to fill! 

I was disappointed I had to leave an hour early as Emily was not well, hope she has a speedy recovery.

It was disappointing there was no one to stand in for her.

More work

The weather has been a bit milder this week so the sheep have dried out and the mud is not as sticky!

With Dominique on Tuesday I managed to do 2 paragraphs of reading which she had downloaded from the Teesdale Mercury (my local paper) I was very impressed!  I then had to underline the important parts of the paragraph and then Dominique took it away from me and I had remember what it was about.

I then had to do 25 spellings of the simple words I keep getting stuck on, I got all but 7 right so these 7 are now my homework!  I have to learn them!

On Wednesday we started with the group session and we talked about where we had been on holiday, we were suppose to take in a souvenir or picture from a holiday but because I didn't come home on Tuesday night I couldn't do this.  I struggled to remember a holiday so talked about a business trip to Australia.

After this I went with Emma to do more reading and writing, she read a sentence to me and I had to write it down.  This whilst a simple task I found quite hard, but as Emma said it wouldn't be doing me any good if I found it easy - she is a tough taskmaster!  During our session Emma gave me some more words to learn which again are all small words as this seems to be where I have most problem.

Now looking forward to Friday even though it is a long day and also working with my small group on our project.  Flynn has been in trouble this week as he keeps forgetting to text his wife when he gets to the university!

Annoying

One thing I find very annoying is people asking Liz how I am doing, when I am stood next to her!

Week Three

Had a busy week socialising, on the Monday we were invited out for coffee with Gilbert and Jo (local farmers) and had a great time chatting and meeting their new Jack Russell and two original daschunds

Then on Saturday we went to see Willum and Marion (farmer friends from where we used to live) plus their two black Labradors who we know well.  It is great to get out to see friends and good to chat without worrying about getting the words out properly. I need to do more of this, and this is why I find the group sessions at the clinic good for me. 

The weather this week had been really bad with strong winds and lots of rain, we had snow at home on Wednesday morning but as we were up in Newcastle at the clinic by the time we got home it had melted into slush.

This week concentrated on food and drink, one session was about the cost of some food items, I should have remembered  this from last time but couldn't so once again struggled with things like the price of milk and bread!  I used to go shopping with Liz every Saturday morning but now find it hard due to my sight problems and the way supermarkets put displays on the corners of aisles and in silly places. Have you noticed how they put displays of wine on offer in very awkward places.

On Wednesday I did some spelling with Emma which I found difficult as I wasn't feeling 100% but she pushed me so I completed them.  Aphasia is a funny thing, some days you seem to be doing really well and you feel you are making progress but then on days when you are feeling tired or under the weather all your problems come back. But you have to push yourself and get on with it.

On Friday we worked on our Aphasia Awareness Project and set a timetable for how we could achieve our aim, we are looking to go in during the Easter break.

#aphasia

One year on

Today is the first anniversary of my stroke, how life has changed in 12 months.  I still can't remember the first 3 months after having my stroke, but Liz and my family have told me what happened to me.

When I was in hospital I was at deaths door so really grateful to the doctors and nurses who saved my life.  Now still have problems with my right leg and arm, I suffer from Aphasia but the biggest problem is my sight and that is really hard to come to terms with.  I will never drive again and that is hard to accept.

Over the year my circle of friends have changed and there are now new people I associate with who perhaps in the past I wouldn't have spent very much time with. One person in particular who has helped me this past year is Ann who comes most Thursday mornings but also has thought to take me Christmas shopping and looked for ways to help me even before I went to the Apahasia clinic.

Hope I can progress with my speech therapy in the coming months and that I improve physically.

My glass is always half full not half empty! 

Week Two

Back up to Newcastle on Tuesday, the weather is still wet and windy but have to feel sorry for people living in the south especially the south west and in Somerset.  Feel especially sorry for the farmers struggling to keep their animals safe and fed.

One of the topics we discussed this week in a group session was what we would do if we won £10,000000.  I said I would give some to friends and family, didn't know whether Liz would like a bigger farm to keep more animals, and buy her a new car.  I would also buy a Lamborghini and have a driver who take me out in it (Liz wouldn't drive it with me in it).  

My small group is having a project  to promote the understanding of Aphasia, so over the course of the weeks we will work on this project.  Interestingly on the news this morning their was an article about Dementia awareness and how Salford is the first town in England to promote awareness of Dementia, they are doing this by training taxi drivers, retail staff etc, wouldn't if be great if Newcastle could become the first city in England to be Apahasia aware!

In Emily's session on Friday, I had more tests to do for spelling. I wasn't looking forward to this but she pushed me to complete these as they use this information to see how you have improved over the weeks by final tests in the last couple of weeks. 

Friday as usual is a long hard day and I am always tired by the time we get home thank goodness there is a weekend to recover!

Back to big school!

This was the week I returned to the Aphasia Centre at Newcastle University. I am really lucky and thankful for getting a second session.

My first session was on Tuesday afternoon, at least Liz and I knew where we were going this time so it was back on the Quayside bus to meet my new class mates.  It was good to see John the volunteer in the coffee room when I arrived and in some ways it didn't feel like I had been away (did Christmas really happen?). Janet the secretary came and introduced herself to the new people but laughed as she already knew me!   I met with my new class mates for a cup of coffee before we went into class and then we were met by another 5 people for our first full group session.  Today was mostly introductions followed by my first individual session and the shock of new students, disappointed that my old students have gone onto other things and I will have to get used to new students and they will have to get used to me but the new ones seem very nice. On Tuesday I have Dominique, Wednesday Emma and on Friday I have Ellie in the morning with Emily in the afternoon.   Sorry but it will take me 3-4 weeks to remember their names!

In my session on Tuesday, Dominique asked me what I knew about Cinderella, so I said "is this the one with the 7 dwarves"  she said "er No".   

It is good to meet other people who have had a stroke and yet again it shows how a stroke affects everyone differently.  One size will never fit all.

It was good to meet with Fiona (the boss) on Wednesday morning so I was able to thank her for giving me the opportunity of a second session.  She asked me what I wanted to get out of this course and we discussed what I wanted to achieve.  It was good to see Rodney the volunteer and he remembered  how I like my coffee!

Wednesday was taken up by a group session and then I was introduced to Emma who gave me more tests to do.

On Friday was a mixture of my group, the whole group and 2 individual sessions which were taken up with yet more tests.  It is interesting to watch new people and how they react on the course.

I understand why we need the tests so how we progress can be measured but hope next week we can get on with some proper work.