Ellen,

Tell Denny I send a big Congrats and :wtg: on his environmentalist pursuit. I'll be looking forward to seeing his Community Video Blog. Bet your "Green" car is nice.

Wow, Ellen, Denny is so COOL. A man who wants to change te world for the better. Hurray for Denny.

There are a few aphasic members of our WAGS stroke support group and it is very interesting having a conversation with them, I think I am trying to be a word detective most of the time. But they are great guys struggling to communicate. More power to them.

Sue.

Yep - he is really something. Most days he just about drives me nuts, but we seem to figure it out. I have found with him, communication is more than just words. You have to watch for each gesture, sound effect, letters he writes in the air - backwards I might add so that when you look at the letter he is writing, you can read it as if you were watching it be typed on a screen - and pictures he draws. If you put it all together and know him like I do, you can pretty much figure out what he is trying to say.

Sometimes it amazes me the words he is able to speak. Yesterday we were enjoying some tea and warm banana muffins I had made on the patio. The dogs were doing their very best to beg. All of a sudden Denny comes up with "frenzy." Took me a bit, but I finally figured out he was going for "feeding frenzy" in describing the dogs.

Thanks Donna and Sue for the warm comments. Sue, you and Ray are in my thoughts a bunch lately.

Ellen:

It's so great to see Denny is finding his passion for environment and now going to start bloging, tell him I will love to have him blog here too, it will be great for everyone.

Asha

Ellen,

Do you have as much trouble saying "no" to Denny when he wants to buy something you can't afford or don't really need as much as I do with Don? It takes him SO long to get his words that I usually cave in.

Denny's been watching a lot of TV lately I'll bet. The campaign for Green living has been all over the airways. I knew the minute you first wrote "red car" that's what he meant---a hybrid car. That is so cool that you have one!!!

For his community blog, maybe you could consider writing up a signature for him, or a little profile that explains his stroke related language order, and then just let him blog in his own why. People can be really understanding and supportive when they know what the problem is and he actually might get more people following his blog that way when people know his personal story.

Loved this blog! Love Denny's progress and your skill at figuring him out.

Jean

Thanks Asha!

Jean, I do have trouble saying no. As far as the car goes - I have always wanted to make the switch to hybrid. When Ford offered me 120% of book for my trade in, I decided, what the heck! It is hard to say "no" to anything that keeps him interested and active and enjoying life. The problem is he doesn't have a good concept of money. I am thinking of piling up $20 bills and then trying to give him a visual of how much $100 dollars is.

Great idea on the signature for the blog. If only I could write like you!!!

Ellen,

Don had a lot of trouble with the concept of money, too. What helped a lot with him was to do some light shopping on his own. We go to a super store for groceries and they have area for pharmacy/health/beauty products that has their cash register. I gave him a label off a product I wanted and enough money to cover it and I'd send him off to find and pay for it. Then I'd add two things to the list, etc. Then I added buying a lotto ticket each week. Just handling money again, making it a weekly project so to say---even these little bits---has helped a lot. At first he couldn't count past five now he's up to 25. Your idea of a pile of bills to practice with money and have a visual is a good idea, too.

If you want me to take look at your draft for a signature/profile, send it to me in an e-mail. If I can come up with something to add or expand on, I will. I think his blog will be a good example to the general population that aphasia truly is just a language disorder and not a retardation. For a profile I'd start with something like:"Denny is the survivor of a _____ stroke that left him with a severe language disorder known as aphasia. He struggles daily to regain his use of spoken and written words. He is a passion activist for causes like ______ and ______ and he wants to share his feelings in this blog." If you have a limited amount of space for a signature, go for something like the first two sentences above---anything that explains why his blog may not always sound like what he means to say.

Then give the address to his blog to some friendly people like me and others you know so we can comment and you can comment to expand on his thoughts if they really do need the "code" cracked for others.

Jean

Way to GO ............... I am looking forward to meeting you both this summer. Will you have your new car also.

Gas in Washington state is the 2nd highest in the nation... and we have refineries here.

Thanks Jean! This is a great start for his signature line. I think I might add it to his email too so when he writes letters to the editors it will help as well.

THANKS BONNIE - great to chat with you! We are looking forward to getting away from the heat.