Hello everyone, good to be back. I had my stroke in October 23 but I have now recovered very well. Fatigue is still around, but I can manage my chores better now. I can do most things but some niggles still remain. I have tried lots of different strategies and can find ways to do most things but not necessarily in the right order! One thing I am finding difficulty with is speech. I have gaps where I know the word, but cannot say it? I can sometimes recall the words if I spell it out in my head to āseeā it. That usually works and folks that know me will give me time. Itās more difficult in shops etc and I do feel a tad embarrassed. I have requested a card that explains my difficulty, but it hasnāt come yet. Anyone else got any suggestions please? Thanks all.
Can you make your own card. Type up what you want to say, then get it printed and laminated. I have found that most people are very happy to have an oppurtunity to help.
Thanks Janetb, never thought of that! Iāll give it a go.
@Norma751 Hi & welcome back. Great to see you back and even better to hear you are doing really well.
Ann x
There is a card you can get or lapel badge that says if someone has a hidden disability is this the one?
No I havenāt seen that one Sue1958. I have ordered (I think) the Aphasia pack from the S. Assn. which has a card in it to say that the wearer has speech difficulties. I have had a glitch on my lap top, but my friendly chap has sorted it for me today. Thanks though, I will have a look at it.
Hiya welcome backšglad youāve sorted your laptop
Greetings Norma-Jean. Welcome [back] to the community.
I donāt believe our paths have crossed yet, but I feel I know you 
It seems there has been some overlap of our membership of this forum, but this is the first time I am writing to you.
I am sure you will find what you seek here, and more
To welcome you [back] to the forum, I am putting here a link to one of my all time favourite songs, but I wish to say āHelloā and not āGood bye!ā.
Namaste|
Welcome back! @ManjiB happy to cross paths in here with anytime
Hi @Norma751
Just wanted to welcome you back, great to have you back
Glad to hear youāre recovering well. Hopefully your card will be with you soon now youāve got your laptop sorted!
If you need anything whilst youāre using the Online Community, please donāt hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.
Anna
Thank you Anna, I am a little perturbed at an email I received from @ManjiB. Iām sorry to be suspicious but I have been hacked before and it was not pleasant. I have had some problems with my lap top this week but now it has been sorted out for me. Before I return to the Forum I want to be sure of who Iām talking to, not another hacker. The wording on the email was a little odd and it gave me a link to You Tube to listen to music. If it is genuine I am sorry to ignore the sender ?ManjiB? Thanks a lot Norma
Hi @Norma751 and welcome back.
Are accessing this site via your email notifications? It might be less confusing and safer for you if you read and communicated through the app itself as you will have more instant access to responders replies from within your original post. And by looking through other members you would see than @ManjiB is a legitimate and regular poster. He is a carer for his mother who had major stroke and is immobile. She also canāt speak, she has severe Aphasia. I know he wonāt mind me telling you all this as he has already posted this information on this site. And the he has posted here, is only a link to Elton Jones song on youtube. But you are right to be suspicious of any links, and the best way to keep yourself safe is to ignore them 
Maybe @Anna_Moderator or @Alex_Moderator could step in here to explain better how it all works and to reassure you. They could also explain how to turn those notifications off so they donāt clutter up your inbox. I would explain it myself but my brain is not in tech mode today 
But I think you would feel more assured if it was explained by a Stroke Association staff remember.
As to speech, that will take another year or two to improve. Iām 4Ā½yrs post stroke and been stuck at that same point in my speech recovery as you. But in the last few months Iāve been finding those gaps in speech, stammers and stutters have been reducing. I was only saying the other day on a different post, that Iād had a rather intellectual 20 minute conversation with a neighbour. And didnāt once stammer or stutter or get words stuck in my unable to come out. I was so over the moon I nearly skipped home 
One aid I still swear by and do, is read aloud! I did that a lot when I was learning to speak again and still practice it a bit daily. Books, magazine articles, jokes, the shopping list, all are good speech practice. How is your reading ability by comparison. Any sticking points there?
Lorraine
Hi Emerald Eyes, thanks so much for your reassurance, as I mentioned Iām highly suspicious about posts etc that I donāt know. As you see I only re-joined this week and Iām sorry to say that I have āforgottenā some of the ways of the Forum. Iāll get back in the swing soon though. As soon as I signed up to SA I found a huge problem on my laptop and it has taken until today to sort it. I hope now that I can get back into the friendly routine I had in my previous incarnation. Thank so much for taking the time to come back to me, it reminded me of why I liked this site before. I do have to re-learn how to access properly now that my laptop is now working as it should. Best wishes Norma
Thanks to all who replied to my post. Itās nice to know how we all support each other. Glad to say my laptop is now fixed after a very worrying time. Just as Iād signed up it went belly up on me; needed the āman wot canā to sort it for me. Hopefully now Iāll be back to normal, well as normal as I can be under the circs! Looking forward to meeting everyone. Thanks, Norma
Glad you have managed to get the laptop sorted. I get very stressed when IT goes wrong. Iām ok as lo ng as it is doing what it is meant to.
Hope youāre not melting in the hot weather we are having.
Ann
Hi @Norma751
Itās definitely good to be suspicious of things. I can confirm as @EmeraldEyes has said that ManjiB is one of our users. The reason you have received an email is because ManjiB has responded to you in this thread. Depending on how you have your notifications set up you may receive emails when someone replies to you.
If you wish to change which notifications you receive, we have a guide to help you do this, which you can find here.
I hope this helps, but please do let me know if you need any further help with this.
Anna
Thank you Anna. Iām still feeling my way around the site and getting used to all the names. I did panic a bit when I read ManjiBās post as I was once hacked from a post on Facebook. I no longer use any of the social sites, but this person is still sending me vile messages. I have blocked the messages but they still keep coming. I cannot remember the password for FB so I canāt close the account down. Iām ok now that my laptop is fixed as I thought that whoever the hacker is had got into it again. Thanks again.
Iām sorry youāve had to go through that with FB. Itās awful when these things happen and definitely the right thing to be cautious.
Iām glad to hear youāve got your laptop sorted now.
Anna