Same here. A line from my book: “Strokes are like Doritoes. Once you’ve had one, it’s a lot harder not to have another one.”
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That would clip onto thumb nicely but might be a bit uncomfortable.
Deigh
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Hello there Bob,
Nice to meet you. My musical history is vast pre-stroke, but it all stopped bar piano.
I was pretty good with guitar (both Acoustic, Bass, and Electric), Drums, and Piano/Keyboard. I was also a novice but I tried to learn Saxophone, ukulele, and others.
Used to be a pretty good singer, and I recorded a wide range of music, only a hobby though - I found my passion in a contract market bias towards modern take on management consulting.
Now, I can play the piano but one hand you understand.
What about you?
M
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@mattjc Guitar and vocal for me. Complete amateur. Played in a band with other faculty members at various event on campus and around town. Petty, Springsteen, Neil Young, Dylan, that kind of stuff. Can still pretty much sing and strum the guitar. No leads or anything. I try to practice but dont have any goal to shoot for. You might enjoy this piece I wrote from my time in the therapy hospital:
Music as Therapy
When I said I couldn’t figure out
how my hands worked together
and pictured a guitar as in two pieces–
one to fret over by the window,
one to strum buried in the blankets–
they sent me to music therapy.
Patients there: a shellshocked
Hispanic girl who couldn’t talk, a trached boy
in a powered wheelchair, an angry woman,
and me. The therapists wouldn’t entertain
her sullenness. I read her face. She was
f–ked like us and new to the knowing.
Only I had known how to play once.
The music therapist, a sweet Black guy
named Regis, showed us his cart, every instrument
stroke and spinal cord victims would never
master. I wondered did he have a band or
was this his gig? He asked me to choose a song.
“Born In The USA,” I said. It only
had two chords. He put a guitar in my lap,
then set up a keyboard for the girl. The boy in
the wheelchair with a Vol sweatshirt put his hand
over his neck hole and said he wanted country.
He got a triangle; the woman got a drum.
We made a soft racket. The five of us played five
different beats, ignoring Bruce’s YouTube video.
Then the others dropped out, leaving Regis
and me. He clapped along and sang, then realized
we couldn’t sing. My left hand shaped the B, then E,
but chords were ghosts beyond my right fingers.
Afterward, a photographer entered, shot close
while I mimed playing for their upcoming magazine.
Regis praised my progress; I faced how far backward
I had come. Back in my room, the Hoyer lift pulled me
up and dropped me on the bed. I craved silence, dark,
and alone but couldn’t move to shut out the lights.
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An interesting little piece to camera from Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden on his stroke experience.
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That is cool! In my latter years I wrote (and I guess still write) stories and anecdotes for work but the undertone is based on my lyrics.
I was in Ceramic Tiles for a while with my school friends, but then I left to focus on my multi-instruments and my recording desk.
What a day, writing and performing those tracks.
Not now 
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Which hand can you use? I type with both hands, but really only use the index finger to type with my right. On guitar I primarily use just the thumb.
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@rups That’s an amazing story! Miraculous recovery. And, you know, I’ve heard so many things about recovery. This doctor says first three months. I hadnt heard that. A bit discouraging but likely true. Thans so much for sending!
Bob
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I can use my left hand perfectly whereas my right arm and hand are paralysed (my right leg is mildly better but not perfect). But my voice is garbage- severe aphasia.
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I think he’s talking about the six month period when the brain is in self repair and attending to its own deficits. So, whatever comes back online during the six months, a survivor knows what they have left to work with after that.
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Maybe a little “Misty Mountain Hop”? That’s all left hand or mostly. Great riff! Or “Trampled Under Foot.”
Ha! Great riff indeed!
Hello @TennBob - yes I’m a writer and journalist, have published 6 books from various publishers - my most recent have been a series of 4 books about UK cathedrals, published by Pen & Sword books. I also write articles for several magazines and newspapers and before my stroke, had taken time off to write another book, however since the stroke, I’m having trouble continuing it.
I would love to hear about books people have written on any topic but especially about having a stroke, particularly if it includes tips on getting back to doing the things you used to do pre-stroke. I also have been struggling with typing since the stroke, like others have said, it’s like my left hand has forgotten where all the keys are but I found an online typing course, a useful way to give it a refresher.
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Hi @Bernib I’ll bet those are interesting books. I hope to be at some of those cathedrals next year, and even more, you are able to get back to your books.
I’m always tr=hrilled by the slighest progress. Today, for the first time post-stroke 14 months ago, I was able to manipulate and wrap twist ties around my tomato plants using both hands. I’ll take it!
My two books are 1) Small Intentions, a collection of one hundred 100-word stories, and 2) The Book of Stroke: meditations on a rearranged life, a sort of memoir, some in hospital but mostly about life after. I’d say, as a whole, it’s about coming to terms with a stroke, both personally and socially.
Now I’m working on a mystery/.thriller, Unit #37, which takes place over 8 hours in a storage facility.
Bob