I had my stroke 12 weeks ago today, completely out of the blue and a shock to everyone. I got up, cleaned my teeth and realised my mouth seemed to have changed shape. When I tried to tell my wife, well - I couldn’t talk. She phoned 999 and I had an ambulance there within 12 minutes and was in Worcester Royal 40 minutes later. I cannot praise the paramedics, the stroke team at WRH or the aftercare from The Community Stroke Service at Worcester Health and Care enough - absolutely brilliant. What I didn’t realise at the time was that the stroke had impacted my right side as well. I am a keen (but amateur) musician and I was devastated to find I couldn’t play my instruments or sing. This, coupled with what seemed to be, very fragile emotions and sudden extreme tiredness bought me to my lowest ebb.
This was where The Community Stroke Service really helped. OTs gave me exercises to improve my fine motor skills for my right hand and speech therapy has been so helpful. It seems the best exercises to help with playing - is playing. Do what you can and stop before you throw the instrument through the window - then have a rest and try again.
So 12 weeks in I can play my squeezebox to about 80%. Guitar 70%. Singing is easier than talking for some reason. I get caught out when talking if tired or stressed - I can’t say Orange Juice, Prescription, Alcohol or (oh the irony) Dysarthria.
I’m doing well and I consider myself a very lucky man - I know there’s a way to go but I’m on the right road.
Well done Andy amd welcome to the community. I have found this site an amazing help I hope you do too.
Thats an incredible start you’ve made. Similar story to mine in fact tho my speech recovered quickly.
There are lots of new friends here ive found who have been through the same and understand. And a wealth of knowledge tho ive found it sometimes needs a bit of searching out - all good for the brain cells! I guess.
Just off for a walk - look forward to keeping up with your progress. You really have done amazingly well.
Hi Andy, Welcome to our community. We are a merry band of stroke survivors who have a wealth of personal experience in the stroke world and I hope you find this a useful place to be. Great to hear that you received an amazing experience at the hands of the NHS.
You are doing remarkably well and I think your story will be a great inspiration to anyone just joining us. I look forward to hearing from you as your road to recovery continues.
Hi Andy, wishing you a warm welcome and I’m glad you have had both great treatment and support- makes a huge difference. So pleased you are able to continue in music and like the saying goes music is truly food for the soul. As someone who’s managed to rehab an arm to as good as it gets would say take your time the small movements will get easier.
Enjoy the journey check in if you have any questions as there’s more knowledge and experience than you could shake a stick at. Best of luck and good health on your recovery journey.
Well done I’m hoping my husband improves. He says a lot of words now but is still very confused. Gets up walk around talk incoherent then I get him to sit back down. It’s normally in the afternoons. They tell this is normal and he is doing very well at this stage if 5 weeks. We have had a date for home the 15th December I’m so pleased but still very worried. He is mobile showers shaves brushes hi teeth eats well. It’s just his confusion and speech although it has got better the last 3 weeks in the stroke unit.
Hi @Andy-F & welcome to the community. Sorry you’ve had corres to join us however hopefully you will find us a friendly bunch. We usually are.
I imagine losing the ability to play your musical instruments and to sing must have hit you very hard. But at only 12 weeks in it sounds like you are making great progress and I’m sure the rest will come back in time. Like you say the best practice for learning to play again is just to keep trying to play. I’ve heard a few people say that they can sing easier than talk after a stroke. It does sound a bit weird but then the whole stroke thing is weird. Just keep practicing and I’m sure in time your speech will improve and all those words that you are struggling to say now we’ll start to reform again.
Ask away if you have any questions there’s usually somebody around who can help.
Hi Andy and welcome. It sounds like you’re making a great recovery and it’s so refreshing to hear that you received great care from the services you came in to contact with. I hope your recovery continues to go well.
There is something about singing - I seem to recall people who talk with a stutter can sing and there is no stutter. Also, accents tend to be lost, though this could be me being tone deaf. For example, I hear singers being interviewed and they may have a really thick regional accent but this does not come through in their singing voice.
Your post will no doubt inspire many and I am sure we are all pleased at how things have worked out for you and the support you have had on the way. Members of this forum have come to realise that stroke care and support can often be a post code lottery and so just so that we can get an idea, if it’s OK with you, I wonder if you can share some additional information that may help us understand how you might have achieved what you have achieved in 12 weeks.
If you could give us some indicators without compromising any personal details it might help us to put things into perspective.
Your age (or band)
Type of stroke and extent to which brain was affected
Impact of stroke - you mentioned speech and right side
Help/therapy given both immediately and as ongoing e.g. OT, Physio, SaLT etc.
Any other information that you can share that may help and inspire others.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Just for you …
"Mama’s got a squeezebox
"She wears on her chest
"When Daddy comes home
"He never gets no rest
I’m very happy to add background - as much as I am able. I’m afraid much of the jargon is just that and means very little. I’m not one for Dr Internet so I’ve not looked into it in great detail.
I’m 67 and I’m 100% sure about that one!
The results of a CT scan showed age-appropriate generalised changes and an old lacunar infarction within the right parietal lobe.
The results of the MRI showed acute lacunar infarct in the left periventricular region in the right parietal lobe.
I was never given an indication of the severity but I can only assume my stroke was minor.
The most noticeable effect was a right side facial droop and inability to speak. This improved slightly during my visit to hospital but unfortunately worsened again over night causing me to be admitted. It wasn’t until later that I noticed weakness down my right side. This was pointed out in the hospital but I didn’t really realise the extent until I tried to do ‘normal’ things. A computer mouse was a challenge and any fine motor movements with my right arm and hand became haphazard. This became very obvious when playing instruments where both hands need to work together. My left hand would do all the right things but my right hand would say ‘I’ll be with you in a minute’. Not great.
I had fantastic support from family, friends, my partner and some of groups that I am involved with socially. The Community Stroke Service at Worcester Health and Care have been just amazing and have provided as much OT an SaLT as I felt I needed.
It is a funny thing about singing - even when I could barely form a word I could sing it. No idea but it entertained the nurses!
Welcome to the community, it’s great to hear how well your recovery has been going. It’s also nice to hear about the great treatment and support you’ve had. I hope you’ll find this community helpful for your continued recovery. There is a wealth of knowledge here that can help you.
If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community, please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.
Welcome Andy and it’s early days so hopefully bit by bit things will improve. My stroke was just under 2 years ago and I still struggle with words like prescription and alcohol. Replace them with medication and beer.
My car is so old it has a cd player and I sing along loudly to my favourite songs. My singing is out of tune but I enjoy it and the car doesn’t complain.
Keep pushing the boundaries but plenty of sleep when you need it.
