Deigh

I was greeted by a friend the other day with the good old, "Your looking well!". I explained to him that stroke survivors hate that expression so he replied that from now on he would greet me with, "You are looking terrible"........That's what friends are for. Deigh

Forgot to mention other things, Right leg completely dead initially, by evening It could support my weight using a walking frame. Within a couple of days I could walk the hospital ward with a stick. Used a stick when on my daily walks for about a month but now have abandoned it and only carry it when I'm expecting to mix with crowds. It is mostly to warn others that I need space! I walk for about 2K daily Talking, absolutely dead initially, persistent daily loud reading and making sure I talk to others on my daily walks has shown great improvement. I no longer need an 'interpreter' when out. I'm not really content with my ability though and constantly try to improve it Deigh

From a completely dead right arm, shoulder, hand and fingers. Being able to lift my arm from the elbow came back before the ambulance got to the hospital. Being able to move right arm and right wrist improved overnight. Within two days I could offer a limp hand for a shake and actually hold a paper handkerchief in a light grip. If I dropped it then it could take several tries before I could pick it up. Touching thumb and first finger took about three days and gradually extending this action to all fingers took at least another week or two. Spending all my spare time exercising the hand and arm was the standard. It was something like three months before I even found the courage to try to play guitar and keyboards----- and it was a disaster! Deigh

Aha, I got that wrong, I thought it was your right hand affected like me. You have the worst deal, AlanD is in the same boat. My left hand lost much strength and to be honest I spent a lot of time searching for faulty frets looking for the cause of buzzing. It was quite some time before I realised that it was my bad fingering that was causing it. Since the GrandBarre is a major part of my fingering this took some time to correct, not that I've really corrected it yet! My main loves are jazz and big bands. I also play keyboards and the right hand is the major problem here since it doesn't always obey the instructions I send it. Since I play mostly jazz I can get away with blaming nearmisses on jazz expression! Deigh

Yes, one is frequently asked that question. I have to refer to my memiors to get the date. The occasion is locked in my memory, but the date easily forgotten! How is your recovery going? Deigh

Aha, I see you are a user of the solid body instruments! I am happier with the large bodied semi-acoustic. Reading your comments about sessions with others you opened a sore spot with me. For many years I had a list of friends I could jam with and Saturday evening was the time to put the amp and guitar in the car and do the rounds of the local "Cosmopolitan" clubs and RSA's ( Returned Servicemen Association) to see who was playing. Most of them would be pleased to see me and welcome me to join in playing dance work and jazz. Quite suddenly (It seems) all that has vanished to be replaced with screaming rock groups and singers with a guitar around their neck and a computer full of other peoples music. I find the new situation quite unsatisfactory and have had to replace it with developing melody/rhythm arrangements at home. I use the computer with programs like Encore to make arrangements of standard jazz tunes and accompany them with me playing lead on guitar. In the old days I would busk using this setup with a laptop. Now I can't find anyone who can play guitar properly despite extensive advertising and am down to one guitar playing visitor a year who comes for my birthday! Grandsons and Granddaughters with whom I used to play have grown up and discarded their music for other teenager activities. Maybe one day they will return! My attempt to add a picture to this conversation failed but will try again shortly. DEIGH Me, ( pre-stroke) playing GB20 with Sunset Coast Big Band, Waiuku, New Zealand

On my Sunday and Monday (In USA, your Saturday and Sunday) I am stuck at my computer every morning for half an hour with my feet on my Revitive device waiting for it to tick off the time. During the rest of the week I can use the chat forum, so I'm just going to lurk in the lobby waiting to see if anyone wants to join me at the afternoon session time . Deigh

There is nothing more irritating than people trying to be nice saying, "Your looking well"...... My favourite reply is "You should have gone to Specsavers". Regards Deigh

A beautiful guitar Will, and thanks for the info. Your stroke was a year before mine and it is tragic that you failed to get back to mastering the playing of it. For me it certainly wasn't easy but fortunately the damage done to my muscles obviously wasn't as serious as yours and I have managed to return to some kind of playing. Not a patch on what I was able to do but enough avoid despair. I own an Ibanez GB20, a superb instrument now in its 30th year with a few minor dings to show from clumsy handling in my playing out days. I'll try to add a pix of it. Here is an extract from memiors about my early recovery efforts..... Valerie wound non skid material around the handles of a knife, fork and spoon for me to use. The new thicker handles made things much more easy to use but watching me put butter and peanut butter on my toast would have bought tears to the eyes of a chef! We went through the mugs till we found a handle I could cope without problems and that became my personal vessel. It was at least two months before I offered my right hand to the keyboard. It was a disaster. My thumb did not have the strength to depress a single note. The guitar was in the same boat. I was hoping I could 'strum' it, but no such luck, the hand was too floppy and quite useless. My main exercise tools were household pegs. I carried one in a pocket all the time and could exercise at the drop of a hat. Gradually I improved to bulldog clips usually with some sort of anti-slip coating to keep them from sliding away. Valerie purchased a plastic ball from a $2 shop, threaded a length of ribbon through it and when out walking I would carry this in my right hand and try to crush it . The ribbon looped round my wrist so I could drop it if it became a problem. I crushed two of them to death before we found a spongy ball that would last. I decided that it was no use trying to improve the fingers without building up the wrist, arm and elbow so I worked out an exercise routine that would work more generally. I retrieved one of my fly fishing rods from the shed and would daily spend a while practising casting in the driveway. When my hand improved to be able to hold a tool I purchased a pack of 100mm nails and every day would hammer three of them into a lump of softwood in the garden. The first time I did it I took 54 hits to sink the nail but every day after that I was able to break my record till it reached at best 12 hits. I still persist with this routine but the number of hits is inconsistent and varies between 11 and 20 depending on all sorts of factors. After sinking the nails I would throw the hammer into the air and catch it with the handle. I 'd do this at least twice to improve my co-ordination. A friend sent me a Flanger FA-10, a device used by musos to strengthen fingers. Later I purchased a Digi-Extend, another elastic band using device which gave resistance to fingers opening. A neighbour's daughter gave me a spring loaded hand gripper which her doctor had given her when her elbow was damaged. I nicked a 1kilo weight from my wife's kitchen scales and used this as a dead weight. So I ended up with a tray full of devices all designed to improve my muscles. Every morning I would test out my finger improvement by finding how many fingers I could touch with my thumb, this got better and better till everyone was within range. Four months after the stroke I started to try and play the keyboards again. Initially the strength was very weak, it was difficult to produce any volume and the fingers flexibility left a lot to be desired, but at least it was a start and I usually got about fifteen minutes playing exercise before getting too frustrated and packing it in. Another unforeseen problem came to light. My music reading skills had taken a hammering. Often I would look at a note and not be sure what it was, also taking my eyes off the sheet music to see where the fingers were going meant I totally lost my place. These were problems I faced when first learning to read music and now I was having to learn how to overcome them again. I spent a lot of time trying to design a plectrum that I could hold and control. It took quite a while following an answer in a campervan forum. A correspondent suggested using the glue that actors use to hold moustaches in place. Its advantage is that it can be removed afterwards. This led me to the final answer of applying double-sided sellotape to the plectrum. This was only needed one side and it worked beautifully. At last I had a system that enabled me to hold a pick for longer than five seconds. Now I could get seriously into getting into shape. Some months later I designed a pic with a leather strap which looped around my thumb, this worked excellently and is now a permanent part of my kit. I've used up too much space for this mail so I'll try a picture of the guitar another time Deigh

Will, I think you should take steps to control this situation or the result could be catastrophic (hee hee). It doesn't look too bad at the moment but if you find yourself rolling over on the carpet so she can scratch your tum, you will be in deep. Take care. Deigh

Will, I think your technique needs working at. This is not the way it should be, you should end up controlling the power, not obeying the suggestion. Mind you, that was not a good decision you made to try it on a cat. You should remember the rule about domestic animals...Dogs have owners, Cats have staff! Deigh

Hi there Catwoman. Have you got things sorted out yet? I do understand the pickle one can get into in an unusual forum. Keep on with questions please! Deigh

Willis, I started doing the NZ lotto about twenty years ago, I spotted a way that the numbers were falling, I won $1400 and thought I was on to a good thing. I've used the same numbers ever since and frequently won small sums. I DO have the winning numbers but hope that they will come up in my lifetime! In a good year so far I have broken even! I have no problems with the losses, Lotto here is virtually a non- profit organisation and all the proceeds are fed back into the community. I have been in several small clubs that have benefited by a grant and personally know of a few individuals who have been helped to buy disability motor scooters through them. Regards Deigh

Heather, thanks for that, you have summed it up rather well. I'll discuss it with him and he can make his own decision. Deigh Good luck with lotto and thanks for info. Keep that bucket out of kicking distance. Deigh

I do not have pain problems but I have a son who does and would like to have some answers please..firstly, will using hemp oil show up on a drug test device? and secondly, does it have the same light headedness effect as marijuana? He is manager of a concrete firm and is not above making the odd delivery just to keep his hand in but the firm is very hot on drug use and he would not dare to use anything that could affect his performance. Deigh