We had a busy Christmas, flying down to Costa Rica on Christmas morning for my sister’s wedding. My sister was married a few days later in a little outdoor ceremony. My dad walked her down the aisle. Of course it made every one teary. So did his speech, which he gave at her reception. My mom wrote it for him, based on his general ideas, and he had been practicing it for three months. It was about 30 seconds long, and he read it perfectly- not one mistake! My mom had lots of little diagrams and pictures above the different words, such as the position his mouth needed to be in for certain sounds, or other words that began with the same sound.

We enjoyed the sunshine and beautiful flowers and a tram ride through a rain forest while we were there.

Now Dad is back in therapy again, working harder than ever. His energy level has really picked up these last few months, and he can work a lot harder for longer periods now. He finished reading his first whole book out loud. He chose an old children’s book we have: Cowboy Sam. It is 63 pages long, and it took him several weeks to read it (out loud). He would read an average of 5 pages/day, a few days a week. It was really hard work for him, but it got easier as it went. Next read aloud projects: Cowboy Sam and Freddy.

At speech therapy, Dad is spending a lot of time working on blended consonants (sk, st, etc.) and small words (it, is, in, his, her, etc). Small words seem to be the most difficult because they are more abstract. When he can visualize a picture in his mind to go with the word, he can say it much more easily.

We pull out lots of worksheets for him to do at home. He is working on 6th grade reading comprehension skills (with quizzes; he almost always gets 6 or 7 out of 8 correct.).

He is also working more at writing. Writing single words is often quite easy, but putting those words into sentences is very difficult. His words get mixed up and often words that don’t really belong in the sentence sneak in there, throwing off the entire meaning. We challenge him by emailing him questions, such as: “List two adjectives that describe President Lincoln” or harder ones such as “Do you think NATO was right to intervene in Libya?” (We like to challenge his thinking, too!) Even friends of Dad’s are getting into this form of therapy with him. This is hard work for my Dad, and he usually waits a few days before trying to answer.

Not all writing is difficult, however. He did a good job writing up a list of chores for Rose and I to do, organizing them into daily, weekly, and monthly.

Dad is finally at a point where he can work at picking up a plastic cone with his right hand from a pile, lifting it up, and putting it into a new pile about a foot away. He can do about 10 cones now, but two weeks ago, he could do only 5.

Mom and Dad over Thanksgiving weekend.

<--- Dad doing his "mirror therapy"

It's been a long time since I updated my Dad's blog! Now that we're back home,
things just seem busier!

Dad is doing great back in Monte. He goes to speech 4 days/week, and PT and OT
2 days/week. He was first set for just two-months' worth of PT and OT, but has been doing so well that it has been extended- hopefully for another two months.

In OT, he is slowly working his way down his arm: beginning with his shoulder, then
his upper arm, and now concentrating on his lower arm. Progress seems to keep
happening, and he works real hard on this at home too- doing "rowing" exercises (a rowing movement mid-air), weight-bearing, e-stim on his wrist and fingers. It's cool because for a long time he was able to do the arm movements only in the pool therapy when supported by water. Now, he is able to do a lot of
them in the air, unsupported!

In PT, his therapist is really concentrating hard on his ham string and hip-flexor. It's still difficult for him to lift his leg. His therapist is great and very imaginative, and is trying all sorts of things to get that movement to kick-in. The therapist is also working with Dad on swinging his arm while walking. Even though he is getting a lot of movement with his arm, it doesn't swing freely while he walks.

Tonight for one of the first times, he was able to go up on his toes. That was exciting! He is also doing "mirror therapy" now. This is done by doing movements into the mirror with your good leg and arm, and trying to trick your brain into thinking that the reflection is the affected limb. Sometimes, this can actually initiate new paths in the brain to really move those limbs. My dad tries to do this for an hour each day. Dad's therapist did warn us,however, that since he is so smart, it may be hard to trick his brain.

In speech, his therapist is working mainly on apraxia drills. Dad has learned a
"key word" for almost every sound now (Maggie for the "mm" sound, key for "k," cheese for "ch", etc.), and is slowly able to sound out words. He is working at reading two-syllable words and short sentences out loud. He picked out one of our children's books the other day, and for the first time was able to read part of it out loud. His brain gets real tired doing this, but he has been able to read 12 pages at a sitting. At night, he is slowly making his way through Hemingway's "Farewell to Arms" before he goes to sleep. My brother thought this was one he could tackle, since the sentences are quite short. He reads this silently, not out loud. He is about halfway done!

Many people have commented on how much improvement my dad has made with his speech. Sometimes it's harder for us to tell, since we are with him every day. But other people notice a lot of changes. It's so wonderful, and we are encouraged by every little improvement he makes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My dad with his siblings and mother in October.

We have been in for Monte over three weeks now, and it has been wonderful. We arrived at our house on a perfect summer's day, and were welcomed inside by the smell of fresh flowers-- there were vases of flowers in every room. It was so beautiful.

The first day back, Dad went into work to check up on things. I think he could have felt discouraged heading back and realizing everything that he cannot do yet, but instead he jumped right in to what he can work on and was encouraged by that. Of course it was still hard for him because he can't do everything he used to, but he will get there- slowly, but surely. He goes in to work once or twice a week.

The therapy program in Monte has been wonderful thus far. The Monte hospital completely redesigned the rehab area, and just finished in time for Dad to use the new facilities! The therapists have been absolutely wonderful! They have different ideas of how to go about working on his speech, arm, and leg and the exercises they are working on are great. The therapists are working Dad very hard!

Once Dad gets home, he doesn't take a break. He is constantly working on his therapy. He has many speech exercises, arm stretches, and leg muscle flexibility practices that he works on all the time.

We feel that just since being back in Monte Dad has made progress- especially in his speech. We think it is partly his rehab therapy at the hospital, and also the practice in speech that Dad is constantly doing as we see all of our friends and Montevideo folk! My dad and I went to the grocery store to get a few items, and we saw over 10 familiar faces- a five minute trip turns into 45 minutes. It is so great seeing everyone again. It's great practice for my dad, as well as encouraging for him, too. Everyone is excited to have Geoff back in Montevideo.

After a long day of therapy exercises, Dad likes to sit down to a game of Solitaire on his iPad. He will often spend an hour or two trying to win the game. He is becoming a master, and wins a good amount of the time! I am sure many cells and new paths are being built in his brain when he plays the game, so we consider that a therapy exercise, too!

We have gone down to the Java River Cafe many times, taken plenty of walks, visited the local apple orchard, and are constantly enjoying the fresh Montevideo air- it's definitely good to be back! Progress is only speeding up right now, and we are all encouraged daily with the progress that Dad makes.



"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” -Deuteronomy 31:6

September 5th we are headed back to Montevideo- just in time for school. Dad is already planning a schedule for himself! He has not been home since June 2010, so he is getting excited about heading back.

We find that my dad's aphasia is improving a lot, but the apraxia is what is hard for him right now. Apraxia is knowing what to say(or do), but not knowing how to say it. (i.e. He knows he wants to say "tomorrow," but he just can't think of how to form the word.) If we give him just the first sound of the word, he knows how to say it from there. He can also 99% of the time write the word or sentence, even if he can't speak it. Rarely is there a time now where he just gives up on what he wants to say. It still takes time, but the speech is becoming more constant and is always improving! New vocabulary comes nearly every day!

One activity that Dad does at home is reading several paragraphs aloud. The paragraphs are about 5 sentences long. He started working on this about 5 weeks ago, and every week he adds a new paragraph. My dad now has a piece of paper with 5 paragraphs on it which he is supposed to read aloud. One of us will read the paragraph with him, then he reads it on his own- pointing to each word as he reads. This started out very difficult for him, but it keeps improving! With each new paragraph, it becomes easier for him. It's so fun to hear his voice reading aloud for a couple minutes, and it's always getting better!

He also seems to be comprehending a lot more things lately, and tries to join in on conversations more often. He used to just sit back, since it was so hard to speak. Now as he keeps improving, he is starting to join in and say a little bit. This is encouraging not only for us, but for him, too. I can only imagine how much he wants to say, and now is finally starting to be able to say some of it. I know that what he wants to say is much more complicated than what he can actually say right now, but we are all very confident that his speech will just keep improving!

We have heard from several people and/or websites that typically the first 6 months after a person's stroke is when most improvements will be made. We have found this to be incorrect. Dad's progress has not slowed down at all!

Dad also seems to have more energy for his therapy at home. A few days ago he went on an hour and a half long walk, and came back and worked on his paragraph, apraxia drills, and other therapies!

The early part of this week we all went up to the family's cottage for a few relaxing days. My dad won our game of Scrabble, after he played a 7 letter word and got the 50 point bonus!

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;I will counsel you with my loving eye on you." -Psalm 32:8
"...the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him." -Psalm 32:10

Every night at dinner, we go around the table and ask Dad a question that he has to answer in a full sentence. Tonight, one of us was taking so long that he started asking himself his own questions and answering them. "What is your favorite music?" "I love opera!" "What is your favorite movie?" "Oh, a lot of movies!" etc. He was on a roll! He is always making progress and always surprising us with new words and sentences. And, of course, he is just as humorous as always!

One thing that is hard for my dad to do is do 2 things at once. Eating and talking, or walking and talking is difficult. We talk to him while he is walking and try to get him to say something back. A few months ago it was too difficult, but now he does it much more easily. It is still hard, but getting better!

My dad continues to work on therapy at home, despite the hot, humid weather! He works on it several hours a day and is very dedicated. He has probably 20 different exercises that he works on daily and rarely complains about the work.

Dad still has lots of time to do fun things during the day. Things such as coffee breaks, a pontoon ride on Lake Minnetonka, and evening walks to ice cream shops!