April Fools

Today is April 1st, April Fool’s Day! It’s a day when many people play practical jokes on other people. It is also the day I begin another Ultimate Blog Challenge (UBC). This challenge is for bloggers to post a blog every day for the month, post the link to the FaceBook group, and read and post comments to atleast two other blogs in the challenge.

Since I’ve participated in several challenges in the past and didn’t complete any, am I setting myself up for failure again? Am I playing a joke on myself? Not this time…I am not going to be an April fool.

I am now more aware of my needs as a person who has a communication / language disorder. I know it takes me more time than others in the challenge to come up with the words and I have to pace my cognitive activities in small increments. So this time, my goal is to post one blog each Friday and read and comment on at least two blogs in the challenge daily.

Wish me luck!

I started to think about practical jokes and why people enjoy them. Some practical jokes are pranks. To trick someone into doing something they don’t want to do. (expecting something and finding the opposite.) One example, filling a salt shaker with sugar. Then instead of making a food salty it makes it sweet and probably unenjoyable.

I, for one, don’t want or need to be tricked on April Fool’s Day. My brain already does this to me on a daily basis. You see, with my aphasia, I sometimes read or hear things wrong. I have problems reading between the lines too. That is why text messaging doesn’t work well for me. Everything can be miscommunicated. My daughter is very busy with a demanding full time job and a toddler at home. I see her often when I’m here in Virginia, but text messaging is our primary form of communicating plans, etc. Well, this gets to be confusing at times. What other people would be able interprete I cannot always do. What ends up happening is that I confuse plans and I sometimes miss out.

This can also make e-mails difficult. When I receive a string of emails, I loose track of the meaning. Going back and forth through the messages gets me more confused and frustrated. I try my best and don’t tell anyone. Sometimes, I will leave the group emails, and just decide not to participate.

Now I also need to really pay attention to what I’m doing. No more multitasking. This morning I was getting my breakfast, Greek yogurt with blackberry and stevia. I went to order something on Amazon. When I can back to get my breakfast, I couldn’t remember if I put stevia on top. Thank goodness, instead of adding stevia, I tasted and it was sweet.

And perhaps the most annoying way that my brain fools me is when I say the opposite of the word I want to say. I often say "him" when I know that it is a woman or vice versa. And I will also say "yes" when I mean no. It gets me into a lot of trouble when that happens.

These are just a few of examples of how my brain fools me. I don't have to wait for someone to prank me, I do it all by myself......lol. When you have something like aphasia, perhaps the best thing you can do for your sanity is laugh at these inevitable "mistakes". Better to laugh than cry.

As I'm writing this, there is so much information on social media and in the news about aphasia since Bruce Willis and his family announced that he is retiring from acting due to his diagnosis. I am so very proud of him and his family for sharing his story as it brings to light the very invisible disability, aphasia. I wasn't so brave. Right after my stroke, I didn't want anyone to know and I tried to have my husband keep it from extended family and friends. I can see now that that wasn't the right thing, but at the time, I was convinced that I would get better quickly and no one needed to know.

I think that it is good that we are talking about Bruce Willis and aphasia; when people are curious they want to learn more and that is a good thing. According to statistics from a 2016 survey, "84.5% of people have never heard the term “even though "more people have aphasia than have many other common conditions, including cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or muscular dystrophy."

(https://www.aphasia.org/aphasia-resources/aphasia-statistics/).

With this announcement by the Willis family, aphasia advocates have some work to do. Even though they've shared some things, there has been some misinformation in the news, etc. We may never know exactly which type of aphasia he is experiencing. His full story should be private unless he wants it to be told. But people should know that there are many different types of aphasia. It is a communication disorder that can affect how a person understands or expresses written or spoken language. In the news it has been reported that aphasia is a degenerative cognitive disorder. It is not. The thing that caused the aphasia (stroke, head injury, tumor, infection, or degenerative disease) can cause cognitive issues.

Everybody's journey is different. I can only share what I've learned through my research on the topic and share what my journey has been like to have aphasia, apraxia of speech and mild dysarthria. After having speech therapy and with lots of practice, I am much better.

I am keeping Bruce Willis and the Willis family in my prayers. The assessment that a person has aphasia is not an easy one. Also, having to give up a career you love is heartbreaking; I have had to do this too. I hope that he feels the love and support of not only his family but his many fans.

And for my new Ultimate Blog Challenge friends and anyone reading my blog for the first time, I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself and why I write this blog. On May 10, 2019, I had a successful rotator cuff repair surgery. A little more than 24 hours later, I was brought to the hospital. I couldn’t speak and was having a stroke. There are some minimal physical issues from the stroke but the most difficult challenges are having aphasia (a language/communication disorder) and apraxia of speech (speech disorder). I write this blog in order to share my journey after stroke. I hope that what I’ve learned can help others with the disorders. I also want to make the general public aware of aphasia and apraxia of speech.

Question: do you have a challenge for yourself this month?

please share in the comments section.

until next week….