Aphasia, Apraxia, Initiation, Perseveration

I am hesitant to write too much about Dad's condition because of my own ignorance. I'm not a doctor; I don't even play one on TV. That said, I thought I'd share the mental impact of Dad's stroke.

The terms in the title have all been used in reference to Dad's current condition. There seems to be a degree of overlap or connection among them, so I won't try to precisely define them or map them to Dad. Here are things I see:

- He speaks very little. When he does, it is almost always related to the current conversation or situation. It also takes a long time for the words to come. If you don't wait at least five seconds for an answer, you're conversing too fast. (Exception: He's been quite quick the whole post-stroke time greeting and saying goodbye/thank you to people.) And lots of times, he simply doesn't answer questions.

- As far as we can tell, he hears and understands everything said to and around him

- Dad has control over his right arm and leg. However, they have been weakened by the stroke, and control of those limbs is challenging. He may know what he wants to do, but it can take a while for him to start the action. The flip side of this, as J explained to me, is that once he starts something, it can be hard for him to stop. For instance, he'll chase and chase the last little flecks of food around the plate, or start repeatedly clicking his bed controls or TV remote (even when the clicking doesn't do anything).

- Living is really hard after a stroke. Every activity takes a lot of mental energy, which has reduced his attention span. Half and hour of watching a movie, listening to a book, or eating is a long spell. And the cumulative effects of days of therapy are also tiring. Yesterday, I went with him to all of his sessions. I could see how hard he worked in each one. But at the end of each, and between sessions, he was simply dog-tired (at which times the persistent or repetitive behaviors become more pronounced).

Today is a day of rest for rehab. Kerry, the kids, and I will spend some time with Dad, but I'm hoping and expecting that this will be a quiet day for him to recharge.