Geoff Hathaway: Christmas greeting

Hello one and all,

Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the happy bustle and excitement of the holiday season.

We wanted to share this brief video update Geoff put together sharing the challenges of living with aphasia and what the recovery process has been like.  He thought this would be a neat way to give some unique insight into the communicative challenges he faces as well as keep you all updated on his continued healing.

Happy holidays to everyone!

Here's an update from my mother:

It's been awhile since I've updated our blog!

It seems like for a long time, we have simply been working very hard, making good but s-l-o-w progress. So, not a lot of new news to talk about. Recently, however, I feel like we have turned some kind of a corner.

Geoff's speech has progressed to a level where instead of us completely directing his therapy, his brain is starting to "get it" enough to ask questions himself. Like, what do you use in place of "a" when you're talking about two or more things? And, why would you say "This is Geoff Hathaway" when talking on the phone, instead of "I am Geoff Hathaway."

His mind is searching for logic and rules as he re-learns the English language, but we are learning that English doesn't always abide by its rules. This is actually exciting to see though, because it means his brain is starting to take charge, trying to figure things out on its own.

And in the midst of all this, the real Geoff Hathaway (not just a part of his brain), will often laugh at how ridiculous this all seems, that he has to ask questions such as this, and learn everything again.

He spends time everyday doing things like re-memorizing irregular past tense verbs. And learning sounds again.

As it turns out, he was not hearing sounds. He could hear the whole word, but not the sounds within it. If I asked him if the "m" sound was in the word "immune," he couldn't tell you. He couldn't decipher the sounds.

So, we are backing up a bit and working on individual sounds and how to move his mouth to make them. And, how to hear them. This is something his wonderful therapist worked with him on a long time ago, but he could not connect with this exercise at all back then. Now, he can. So every day, we drill through the sounds, how to move his mouth, how to hear them, how to say a word slowly so that he can pull the sounds out of it. It's coming along. Pretty amazing.

The other day, he had a lesson in fruit. How some have "pits" and some have "seeds." And how within the category of apples, there are many types: Golden Delicious, McIntosh, etc. I'm not sure why this all made such an impression on him, but it did. He said it was like opening a distant, fuzzy memory. It was clicking.

As Geoff's language improves and he can better attach his complex thoughts onto something tangible like words, I have the unique and spectacular advantage of seeing Geoff's amazing mind reveal itself, again.


"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14



-Janet

Here's an update from my mom:

Because our Minnesota winter is lasting far too long, Geoff and I decided to leave. We
are now in Costa Rica with our daughter Maggie and son-in-law Victor for three months.
We picked a great winter to leave, it sounds like!

Our first week here, Geoff began every day by announcing: “Eighty degrees and sunny,
AGAIN!” It really is wonderful to be here, and the change in environment and weather
help keep Geoff motivated to work hard.

When Maggie and Victor were out running one day, they passed a little heated therapy
pool just eight blocks away. It was almost too good to be true! There are actually about 6
big pools within a mile of our apartment, but this one is small and warm and private.
Victor has learned Geoff’s pool exercises and has even thought of new ones. He and
Geoff go nearly every day and work for an hour at a time. Geoff feels that his
movements in the water pay off on land. Especially, he feels it in his knee control.

But that’s not all--
Several months ago -- as we mentioned in our last blog entry, Geoff’s wonderful speech
therapist back home suggested they try and keep up their speech sessions over Skype
(or similar program) while we are gone. Apparently our health insurance company had
never done this before and initially said no. We appealed it, which required a lot of
hurdles and paperwork and meetings (for our therapist, that is). One of the hurdles
even required her to be listed as a registered speech therapist in Costa Rica! In the
end, amazingly, it was all approved, and Geoff is once again the trail blazer.
This has been a HUGE plus for us. Geoff is on a good recovery path with his speech,
and even though it feels painstakingly slow, it is continuing steadily and really, he has
never had a lull with it. We didn’t want to have to stop therapy while we were here, and
now we don’t have to. Geoff continues to meet with his ST four days/week, just like he
did in Monte.

One thing (among so many) that we have learned about stroke recovery, is that you
have to fight for every improvement. There is not much that is re-learned “passively,”
which is I guess what I was hoping for at first. It seems that if you do not actively work
at it, probably it won’t happen. So, being able to continue with therapy down here is a
very important aspect of our being here.

Geoff is continuing to read I Am Malala, just completed Matilda (a less challenging read
but easier to follow), and spends a lot of time browsing various newspapers on his iPad.
(I remember at one year after his stroke, he first began reading newspaper headlines --
just the headlines -- although I don’t really know how much of them he understood.) He
also spends time on a website that allows him to read AND listen to stories at the same
time. It’s helpful to get this double input, and to work on his listening skills. Listening
and following conversations -- catching all of the sounds and words -- is a lot of work but
is also slowly improving.

We take lots of walks, and have found our favorite coffee shop two blocks away that
roasts its own coffee beans. We also go on lots of picnics, and next week we’ll be
driving to the beach for the weekend and staying at a motel surrounded by monkeys.
We’ve seen several movies since being here, all of them with Spanish subtitles.
Interestingly, Geoff can usually follow the Spanish when he sees it on the screen, or at
least get the gist of it. (He used to be fluent in Spanish.)

Many family members either have or will be visiting us while here -- we feel really
fortunate!

I’m adding some photos: one of the therapy pool, another of Geoff doing his daily
speech therapy over the internet, and another of our apartment for those wondering
where we are...

2014 update!

Happy new year, everyone.  

It's refreshing to step forward into the new year with the anticipation of new goals and challenges that lie ahead, but I believe it's just as valuable to stop and evaluate the accomplishments and achievements from the past year.  My dad has come to realize, more than ever, that goals involve time, commitment, and patience.  Oftentimes they are not concrete or immediate; they're a process.  

And here are some of the most recent, significant advances and accomplishments in his healing process.

He continues to work diligently on his speech, attending speech therapy 3-4 times a week and music therapy 2 days a week.  My dad is focusing primarily on forming complete sentences, really sharpening his grammar skills, and successfully piecing together words and ideas.  He's focusing on active and passive sentences and verb conjugations.  Besides structured therapy every week, he is also plugging away at speech-based learning programs and grammar exercises.  And we like to have conversations together that force him to really think about full sentences and grammar structure.  Speech continues to be his greatest challenge and primary focus.

He's been reading a couple of literary pieces, he just got I Am Malala for his birthday, which should be a difficult but rewarding read, as well as D-Day, a World-War II era book that he's working on for a while now.  This not only helps his information-processing skills but his critical reading and general concentration as well.

My parents will be flying to Chicago this weekend for a second evaluation with Northwestern University, where he is involved in a research study on syntax.  He recently finished up a summer of occupational and physical therapy at the Courage Center in the Twin Cities.  Both he (and the rest of the family) were very impressed and pleased both with the incredible staff as well as the results of the therapy program.

On the side, he continues to work on recuperating finer muscle movement in his arm, hands, and fingers; he uses the Tailwind arm exercising machine, exercise stretch bands, cowbells, and the occasional Wii workout in the living room.

The exciting news is that both my mom and dad will be flying down to Costa Rica at the end of the month for an extended vacation in Central America!  They're excited to swap the snow and cold for some sunshine and palm trees; the warm weather will make physical exercise, like the long walks my dad likes to take, easier and much more enjoyable.  The change of scenery will be a refreshing and a much needed respite but will also give my dad a new chance to really dig into therapy in a new environment.  My dad's absolutely fantastic speech therapist here in Montevideo has also figured out how to continue her speech therapy sessions with my dad via skype during his time abroad, which will allow my dad to continue to really plug away at speech despite his absence.  My husband, Victor, and I are more than excited to have them in Costa Rica with us so that we can drag them along on lots of wild adventures.

Coming home and spending time with my dad really gives me a chance to see the improvements and accomplishments that have taking place during my absence.  These 3-4 month periods of not seeing him give a clearer picture of what he's been focusing on and the areas where he's been improving the most.  It frustrating for my dad because the simple act of responding to a question or making a general statement, something we normally do so effortlessly, is a difficult, conscience action on my dad's part that requires thought and deliberation.  It is so impressive to see his deliberate effort to find the words and form a perfect sentence.  Despite it being much easier to just continue to use words or short phrases to convey his ideas, he's disciplining himself, slowing down and taking the time to challenge himself to form a full statement through complex sentences.  But it's not just the fact that he forces himself to do this, it's his ability to make the sentences come out RIGHT, an incredible feat!

The process continues; his invaluable discipline, patience, and determination show through with every new day of healing.

-- Maggie