October 14, 2013 was the last day I had a clear conversation with my mother, Lillian. The next day, my beautiful, competent, intelligent, still working as a bookkeeper-financial advisor, 80-yr old mom, already in the hospital for a mild infection, had a massive stroke in her left temporal / parietal portion of her brain. Her…
My husband of just over 20 years awoke from surgery to remove a massive tumor from his brain with aphasia. He went into surgery in the morning speaking his last words normally and struggled for many months after surgery to reconnect and communicate as he used to. Unfortunately, just a few weeks shy of our…
Hello everybody my name is Jerry and I am a caregiver to my loved one Suzanne. Suzanne had a massive stroke a little over 13 years ago and was given 3- 6 months to live! I am so glad she proved the doctors wrong. Suzanne is quite a special lady and is such a caring…
On June 20, 1995, John, age 55 had a massive stroke and was left with Aphasia. Because of my faith I have always believed that the Lord was in control of my life; that He had a plan. Did I believe that now when my security (John’s good job and health) had been stripped away?…
Our story begins when I walked in our front door one afternoon and my husband was standing there, smiling, and had no idea who I was. We rushed him to the hospital and he came home to me 4 days later. Instantly I was caregiver to this wonderful man. He couldn’t speak, had trouble walking,…
On April 20, 2011 my husband, Jerry, had a stroke that centered over his left ear and was very severe. He is unable to converse with exception of saying “I love you” and “how are you”. He has a very limited number of letters he can say. His attitude about not being able to speak…
My sister, Maggie, and I have been very close all our lives even though I now live in Florida and she lives in West Virginia. We are only 18 months apart in age. Five years ago I had an ablation surgery to correct my A-Fib so Maggie spoke to her doctor and ablation was scheduled…
My Grandma Diggins could not talk, But she could hum and she could walk. And even though her words got jumbled, Grandma Diggins never grumbled. Sometimes “chair” came out as “tree”, But Grandma, she just laughed with me. I always knew what Grandma meant. We never had an argument. She’d smile and nod and slap…
My journey into caregiver began like many others. I didn’t know what aphasia was. I was terrified. I cried myself to sleep. My life – and certainly the life of my son – had changed overnight. I happened on vacation. We’d gone to Las Vegas for three days – and we got home three months…
My story is short. I’m a recently titled “Caregiver” for my 87 yr. old father. He was just diagnosed this past week and realeased from the hospital. Although he lives on his own and a very active independent individual I’m his loving caregiver with many questions, need direction in going forward. I thank you for…