Sitting on the porch of a cabin rental on the beach, looking out across the straits of Mackinac. This is where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet at the very top. Tall drink in hand, nice g&t, gentle waves, looking out to Mackinac Island, grill fired up and cooking some steaks.
Temperature is a very pleasant 74F, pace of life here is slow. The plan tomorrow is to take the ferry across, rent bicycles and cycle around the 10 mile island at a leisurely pace. No traffic on the island, great views, plenty of places for eats and treats.
The bosses yes, it will be worst tomorrow, they have taken away the breakfast lady so I have to cope alone till 7AM. Reception, daft guests/clients and on top of that breakfast. All that in a state of semi stupor as Iāve been up all night and spent the last 2 hours preparing the massive spread we put out.
The worst of it all is thereās no warning (till I start my shift) and no appreciation of the extra effort it all requires.
Yeah, thereās some lovely scenery nearby. Unfortunately, Iām living in the heart of the ghetto, more reminiscent of Rhyl but with the added excitement of gunshots.
Iāve visited that part of the States, a few years ago. We didnāt quite get as far as Mackinac Island, but ended up staying a few nights in a small town called Glen Arbor, coinciding with their annual beer festival. We were visiting friends from Liverpool, who live not too far from Chicago. We travelled along the shore of Lake Michigan, stopping off at South Haven overnight, then continuing north. Saugatuck, Holland, Frankfort and Sleeping Bear Dunes, were all ports of call. It was a memorable trip.
Well this morning was worst than I thought it could be. Delivery man showed up. Came up to the reception all irrate and angry. So I politely suggested that he āva faire chierā.
Update on the Mrs - not sure if people are interested in this - if not just skip ahead.
Sheās still making progress. Very slowly, but steadily. Sheās still practically paralyzed on her right side, the movements sheās able to make come when therapists or me do exercises with her - but under those conditions sheās able to do more or more, just a little movement more here and there. Considering there was nothing when she left the clinic this is all amazing. With the help of that monster of a standing trainer (sheās basically strapped in that), she can also stand for about 30-40 minutes now.
Same with the aphasia/language. I can see improvements on a weekly basis, but itās hard to notice for the ācasual visitorā. Her understanding of language is improving, she gets much better at repeating/reproducing words (still occasionally has trouble with more complicated sound combinations), improvement in reading skills is the most noticeable. The hardest is actually remembering the word for something, especially spontaneously on her own, without the pratice setting - there used to be very little, but now she can memorize more and more little words, but what is called spontaneous speech is still almost the same. When she wants to say something spontaneously itās usually ābut my name is my monthā or āmy name is my Mondayā. Weirdly I most often understand or can figure out what she wants/means. Not always, but a lot of the times. But we keep practicing and she really enjoys it and is very motivated, almost a bit too ambitious/impatient with herself at times.
Whatās really difficult for her and me is that hardly anyone else - family, friends - seems to fully understand her global aphasia situation and therefore meeting people is often fairly frustrating for her. You can try to explain it all you want, but this seems to be very difficult to comprehend for most people. I try to tell them that sheās all there, as is her memory, sheās not stupid, itās just her language is affected in all areas, including understanding - she can understand a lot with the right context though. Some people treat her like she just has trouble forming the sounds and ask her all this stuff (which is frustrating for her) or others treat her like sheās a total idiot, which is even more frustrating.
Thannkfully Iām fairly fit physically, otherwise the taking care part 7 days a week would be too much.
We laugh and smile a lot.
Thinking of you my friend. Iāve been tracking along on here, and you have certainly been through a lot with your wife, and it has been life affirming to see how you have been so strong in facing so much adversity.
@Klopptimist Aye, we have an aphasia training app for tablet that we use, thereās like exercises where she has to fill in letters of words (sheās getting better at this, but still makes many mistakes) and she can also write with a pen with her left hand - the exercise is that therapist/me writes a word or a short sentence and she has to write the same thing underneath. Sheās right-handed, but can do it reasonably well, still looks better than my handwritingā¦
But itās not like she can use it to communicate (yet). I do however think the written word is key to her (re)learning language, itās quite obvious that itās much easier for her to remember words or little phrases once sheās seen it written down. Rhythm/melody also helps, like if you say a word or a sentence with a certain cadence/melody or even a dialect. Or use lyrics from songs she likes.
Or as another example, she just couldnāt memorize the word table so after a while I remembered this punch line from a German parody skit and that does the trick.
It really does help when you know someone really well.
Given where she was, sheās made incredible progress!
