I started this blog on July 22, 2020. 88 blog posts so far. I have a lot to learn still, but I'm trying my best. One of the best things I have done is participate in the Ultimate Blog Challenge where I get to meet amazing bloggers, especially our administrator, Paul.
One of the ways I hope to make this blog better is to come up themes that I can then categorize posts to make it easier to find topics of interest for my readers. I think that including hashtags for these themes or topics might bring more people to the blog.
In order to do this, first I had to come with the themes. Looking back at what I’ve written about, I think these are my themes so far. To make things more interesting, I’ve included some songs to match the themes.
The Stroke Journey
“I hope you dance” by Lee Ann Womack
Lyrics:
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance, I hope you dance
I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin'
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin'
Don't let some hell-bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin' out reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance, I hope you dance
I hope you dance, I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone)
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance, I hope you dance
I hope you dance, I hope you dance
I hope you dance, I hope you dance
Living Well with Aphasiaor the aphasia journey :
When you have aphasia, finding the words you want to use can be difficult to near impossible. gYou can't always get what you want, but if you try and can use different strategies, such as retrieving a synonym, drawing on paper, describing what the word does, or pantemiming, sometimes you get what you need.
Having
”you can’t always get what you want” by The Rolling Stones
Using these strategies can take a lot of time and patience on the PWA and the person who he is communicating with. But with patience, we can get where we want to go. It's a long and winding road sometimes.
"The long and winding road” by the Beatles
Dealing with Apraxia
Apraxia is a motor planning disorder. Somehow between the brain and my mouth something gets interrupted. I will write more about the difference between aphasia, apraxia of speech and dysarthria. Suffice it to say here, even though I know how the word is pronounced, my mouth has to be instructed to move in the correct way. Practice helps a lot, watching someone's mouth move helps and being super patient and breathing helps. But even with practice, I can still mess up words that I could say the day before or even just before.
Just Breathe by Pearl Jam
All Mixed Up by Hannah Montana
Motivation and Success
I have always been a cheerleader, coach, teacher and mentor to people who wanted to be more successful and increase their self sufficiency. Part of my motivation for writing this blog is to encourage those who have had a stroke and experience communication challenges from the trauma. I hope that telling my story can help.
One song for this theme is The Climb by Miley Cyrus
Rebuilding Self Esteem
Having your life turn around after having a stroke and having to deal with the long term challenges of communication disorders, can really make your self esteem take a hit. I truly believe that I needed to rebuild my self esteem in order to move on with life. All through this stroke journey, I have felt like ME! But I had to prove to myself that I could still be worthy, even if I didn't work anymore; that I could participate in community even though I couldn't talk like I did before; that I still had strengths that I could rely on, etc.
Still have me by Demi lovato
Stronger by Kelly Clarkson
Wonderful choices, Cheryl! "I hope you dance" has a special meaning to me as well. I often listened to it when I lived in the U.S. all by myself, trying to make it.
What an interest post Cheryl! I love how you have your own blog theme songs!
Cheryl, I am not very tuned in, to songs. I play a lot of music as quiet background, to set a tone and balance energy. This project sounds really interesting! You'll make it work! Btw, I took time to go listen to the Kelly Clarkson song, "Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger". Wow! Very uplifting. I have just been through a year of chemo, and my husband died right at the beginning of the cancer treatment adventure. Tough year! So this song is very uplifting, and I'm making it my new workout song. Thanks for a fascinating post.