Once a survivor.   Now a warrior.

My tango teacher did a flawless position with his foot. I tried that but, my drop foot wouldn’t come off the dance floor. When I at home, climbing the stairs my drop foot goes outward & right from my core. The foot is magically transformed into the Minister of Silly Walk’s foot. Outside, wearing shoes,…

Karma is the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words, and deeds. Before my stroke, I had a holier-than-thou attitude regarding my religion, physical strength, and intellectual prowess.  However, as I laid in my hospital bed I realized my blood clot had stripped me of everything,…

After a stroke, damage to the brain can block messages between muscles and the brain. This causes arm and leg muscles to cramp or spasm (spasticity), kind of like a bad charley horse. This will limit your coordination and muscle movement, however spasticity treatment is effective. This post-stroke condition makes daily activities such as bathing,…

This was when I decided to invent my own stroke prototypes….

Americans love my Euro sounding accent. I am an anglophone who grew up in an English speaking neighborhood of Montreal and I have South African English parents. I have Foreign Accent Syndrome. I couldn’t speak after my massive stroke in 2008. Finally, around 2012, thanks to my speech therapy and the SpeakIt! iPhone app, my…

[ARTHUR chops the BLACK KNIGHT’s left arm off] ARTHUR: Now stand aside, worthy adversary. BLACK KNIGHT: ‘Tis but a scratch. ARTHUR: A scratch? Your arm’s off! BLACK KNIGHT: No, it isn’t. ARTHUR: Well, what’s that then? BLACK KNIGHT: I’ve had worse. I have a lot of scars. My first one, I was two years ago.…

These selected poems were written after my car accident and stroke 9/22/2008 When you told me that you loved him, You turned on a particle accelerator and blew my atoms to bits. I did not know what was inside; thank you for giving me back to myself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I love the way your face shines…

A Man stands in a boulder and scrub-grass strewn desert watching sheep. He is an unlikely shepherd; a tall, handsome Man of about thirty, obviously brought up in luxury and not used to this kind of life. The other shepherds his age, with their weather beaten faces and toothless grins, could easily pass for the…

I feel like a 14 year old sashaying over grass in her high heels. I’m trying something different today; wearing sandals without my ankle brace. I’m walking around my home as I do the dishes, climb the stairs, stand up from my office chair, and hop up on my bed. While walking outside, my foot collapsed…

I knew about aphasia after reading Oliver Sacks’ book, The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat. But, seriously, having aphasia is like playing a 1980 arcade game. Things became much more fun when I found a website that suggests video games for people with aphasia. Paste the link in your browser and enjoy!…

Your brain is a command center issuing commands to the army (your body). Some terrorist blew out one room, maybe, three rooms with a grenade. Imagine, “some terrorist” is the blood clot. The “grenade” is the damage done by the blood clot to your host of your neuron cells. No one has the answers to…