Merry Christmas

All prepared for Christmas so now just sitting waiting for it to happen! Have put the tree up and amazed little dog hasn't pulled it down yet, she just keeps going and looking at the decorations and wondering if she dare touch. There is no way we can put any presents under the tree as that would be just too tempting for a puppy.

Went to the Stroke Association Community Cafe at the Witham, disappointing that not many people turned up but was good to meet fellow stroke survivors and hopefully others will come along when they hear about it.  Also went for Christmas lunch with Arnold, Linda and Amy, really pleased that Arnold decided to try to get onto the course at the Aphasia Centre in Newcastle after I first met him, and that he has been accepted onto the course starting in January. Hope you look after him girls!

Have also been sent a copy of the video I made with Amy and Kathy, would like to link it to my blog but will have to consult with the IT brains of the family over Christmas!

I have been trying to persuade Channel 4 news that when they use sub-titles in news stories and features (eg when translating foreign speakers) people who have aphasia and/or are partially sighted cannot read the subtitles and therefore cannot enjoy the article.  I have emailed them 3 times now and did get a reply the second time saying my emails had been passed to the editor and presenters but nothing has changed.  They don't use the audio help which other channels use.  I think I need to start a campaign!!

Really proud of my son John who recently won the Guild of Motoring Writers award for his blog Engage Sport Mode.  He had to attend the award ceremony at the RAC in Pall Mall London and have just heard he is short listed for another award.  Dealers are now giving him cars to test drive after years of ignoring him with the exception of Audi in Newcastle who obviously saw his potential some time ago.

I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Latest News

Can't believe how short the days are now and it is dark just after 4pm, where has the year gone? Have now had some rain so stream starting to fill up, came as a shock to some of the lambs as they have had a very dry time since they were born. Also the little dog wondered what it was at first but soon got used to it and realised there is lots of mud to play in.

Have had a bit of a rough time health wise lately and very frustrating as my leg is still not working properly, still getting some physio but will have had my 6 allowed sessions soon!  The doctor tried some muscle relaxing tablets which resulted in my arm and hand not working properly!!!  Have stopped taking the tablets and very slowly getting some use back in my arm and hand.  It isn't nice going backwards, the most annoying thing is the lack of grip, I set off carrying something only to find I drop it and only realise this when I get to my destination.

Seem to have had lots of visitors recently which is very nice, we also had Senna Dog to stay for just over a week which pleased her friend Nell.  John and Ceri went to New York and Boston for his birthday and really happy as they got engaged in Boston and now busy planning their wedding next year.  Nell and Senna get on really well together and tire each other out!

Have been busy with Stroke Association as I have met another chap who is thinking of going to the Aphasia Centre, hopefully I have persuaded him to try and get a place.  Also been on a training course with Amy Waite as part of my role as "expert patient".

We have finished with the vegetable plot for this year, it's not worth trying to grow anything here over the winter.  Also been busy giving some of the windows a coat of wood stain to preserve them, I can do some of the preparation by sanding them down and Liz can do the painting.  

Going to a Stroke Association Communication Cafe tomorrow in Barnard Castle, this is the first meeting so hopefully plenty of people turn up.

Catching up with news

Just realised it is almost 3 months since I wrote on my blog but it has been a really busy summer and a new dog to keep me active😃

Physically I have noticed a few changes, the main one being I have more movement in my right arm and in the last few weeks my thumb has started to move which is great as although my fingers could move my thumb refused. I don't have any strength in my hand or arm but you never know what may happen in time.  I have also noticed my right eye doesn't hang down like it did so I am even more good looking! Haha   On the down side I have had to return to physio for my leg as it's not as good as it was and I can't walk as far as I was able to in the past.

We thought we had bought a little Jack Russell the same as as 2 previous dogs but Nell has grown into a long legged variety and has obviously taken after her father not her mother!  But she is still a great little dog and we are busy trying to train her, which, anyone who has ever owned a terrier, will know is not easy as they are very energetic excitable characters!  But she is clean in the house and sleeps well at night so we can't complain, she just loves life, chickens, sheep, muck and running around and very unusually for a JR she loves water so is often in the stream.

I had a visit from Amy Waite who is the Aphasia Communication Support Co-ordinator for the Stroke Association, she talked to me about the Aphasia clinic at Newcastle University and asked if I would consider being an "Expert Patient" for the Stroke Association.  This would involve talking to people with Aphasia but also explaining to people who are unaware of Aphasia what it is, how people are affected and how they can help and communicate with aphasia sufferers.  After some thought I agreed and have already met with one chap who is thinking of going to the Aphasia centre. As part of my role I today made a video about my story with Amy and Kathy.  Waiting to see what that turns out like😳

The garden has done really well this year and really pleased with our vegetable plot, we now have a stash of potatoes and a freezer full of carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and jars of pickles!  Just waiting for the frost for the sprouts.  The good weather has meant we have got most of the big jobs completed with a few mishaps, cross words and laughter.

Decided to buy a quad to help me get about the place, so had a trip over to Hawes to buy it.  The throttle is worked by my right thumb which we thought might be a problem but after a discussion we decided to leave it where it was and it makes me use my thumb more.  Have been busy moving stones  and soil helped by my little dog.

The monster has arrived.

One of the things we promised ourselves after I finished at the Aphasia centre was a new puppy to replace the great dog we lost last year.  See attached

She is of course a Jack Russell and is very demanding unless she is having one of her naps! But she is keeping me busy and is great fun.

Still haven't heard anything about my angiogram the NHS lives up to its poor reputation.

Went up to Newcastle to meet friends from the Aphasia clinic and visited Saint James' Park, there was a problem in going to see the pitch as they were preparing for the Kings of Leon concert, it was looking very spectacular.  Good to meet up with friends.

Good news is we have sold the flat but means we now have no where to stay if we go up to Newcastle.

Been taking part in the Limbs Alive research and been busy playing my circus games, this came an end last Friday and Sharon came to do final assessments etc and take away all the equipment.  

In the garden things are looking good, the potatoes have just come into flower and everything else is growing well, plenty of lettuce and radish!  Have to be careful to keep the rabbits off but we now have a secret weapon (when she gets a little bit bigger). Nell the Jack Russell

My speech hasn't been so good this week probably because I have been abit tired and missing the students bullying me!!

Moving on

During my last week I was approached by one of the tutors Rose who asked if I would go along one Thursday to a NETA (North East Trust for Aphasia) session and show some of the participants what I am able to do with my ipad.  As I had to be In Newcastle the following Friday I said I would go the next week.

I went into a group session of about 9 people and started by showing them the speech function, one of the ladies who was new to ipads was gobsmacked by what it could do.  It was very satisfying to show them what I had learnt knowing it will help fellow Aphasia sufferers, hope I will be able to do more of this in the future.

On the Friday I was at the RVI for a cerebral angiogram.  We got there for 8am at my allotted time, didn't go in theatre until 2.30pm the procedure only takes about 20 minutes but then have to spend 4 hours recovering including lying flat for an hour.  So we didn't leave the hospital until 6pm - it was a long day!!  Finally got home just after 8pm.  Great to find our neighbours had fed the sheep and put the chickens to bed!!

Liz had a list of jobs this week!  So have been busy in the garden and we actually managed to paint the wall in the hall which has been waiting for paint since it was plastered about a year ago.

Our veg plot is doing well as Liz has a good supervisor - obviously.

  

End of course

Went to the university as mentioned in my last blog to speak in front of 20+ professional speech therapists about how using my iPad has helped me with my Aphasia.  These were speech therapists who are out in the field and not familiar with what can be achieved with an iPad. It has certainly helped me and given me some independence, I have come a long way from when Liz had to read all my emails and tweets to me.  The session was led by Fiona who asked me various questions and my answers were directed to the delegates. This was things like using the speech function so I can listen to emails, news items etc and also how I use to microphone to speak to the iPad so I can reply to emails.  I told them how my iPad now recognises me and how I speak which I think is really clever.

The session seemed to go really well and hopefully they will encourage aphasia sufferers who have an iPad to use it to help them communicate.

When I went back down to the coffee room to meet Liz I was grabbed by Rose who asked if I would go into one of the iPad sessions at NETA  one Thursday and show people what the iPad can do. I agreed to this and we arranged I would go the following week.

The final week of my course consisted of Tuesday and Wednesday doing more assessments and on Friday the session with Eleanor which was a questionnaire on how I had found the course.  We finished off with a party for us all and our partners. This ended up with 3 teams having a quiz.

Then that was the end of the course!

I would like to thank all the tutors and students but especially Dominique, Emma S, Eleanor and Emily who have had to put up with me for 12 weeks, they have helped me enormously in the 12 weeks and I am now able to read from the newspaper and also read and reply to emails and contribute to twitter.  This may sound trivial but if you suddenly find you can't do it you will find it is a major thing so I am grateful to the 4 of you for helping me do this. Good luck with your exams and future placements! 

Thank you to all the tutors for giving me this second opportunity (I take it a third go is out of the question!).  The small groups and large group have been really good fun to take part in.

I would also like to thank my fellow clients,

David Fettis - who I failed to convert from a caravaner to a motor home owner.

Ian Hardy -  for showing us you don't have to have a stroke to have Aphasia 

Ian McCoullouch (Flint) -  the musician of the group, hope you will be strumming that guitar soon.

David Fulton - my fellow compatriot from the last course.  

Looking forward to seeing you next Friday do you think St James' knows what is coming!

Very busy times!

Life has got very busy at the moment.  Have been back at the Aphasia centre for two weeks, can't believe this is my last week starting tomorrow.  

Last Friday was the day we did our Aphasia Awareness presentation to ten speech therapists, we were allocated different parts of the presentation and then we had to do our own stories of how we had had a stroke and how it has affected us.  As everyone of us has a different experience.  It seemed to go very well after all our hard work and practising so we were very pleased. 

Now in our final week we will have to do assessments to see if we have improved over the 12 weeks.

As usual we are now all worrying what we will do next, meeting with fellow aphasia sufferers is good, in some areas there are groups for stroke sufferers but these are not always beneficial for people with aphasia especially if they have lots of quizzes or play bingo!!

Whilst I was up at the University last Wednesday  my tutor asked me if I would go up this Thursday afternoon and speak to 25 people about how my iPad has helped me cope with not being able to read and write and also about my blog.  

As I said in my last blog I have been accepted on the Limbs Alive research programme with Newcastle 

RVI so have been busy playing my computer games.  The research nurse Sharon comes once a week to make sure I am doing it right and to do a number of assessments.  I then have to wear wrist tags for 3 days to monitor the movement in my arms.  At the moment it is too early to say if it is making any difference but I am happy to try.  The readings from the tags are showing I am moving my right arm more so that is good.

On the wettest foggiest night we got our final lamb, she was born in the rain and absolutely tiny, Liz had a long night with the mother who wasn't very well and didn't want to feed the little girl so it was a couple of bottles until the mother pulled herself together.  They are both fine now and although small the lamb is full of bounce.