Saturday Comics

For Better and For Worse
Lynn Johnston - 2014/06/01

“You put (giggle) your underware..."

Dilbert
Scott Adams - 2014/06/01

“This only make sense if the inspirational links..."

Peanuts
Charles Schulz - 2014/06/01

“…my whole room smells like a wet dog!" 

Doonesbury
Garry Trudeau - 2014/06/01

“Nephew, I think Z+Z Bud needs a motto,..."

  
** I tried to get low or free price at the people http://www.UniversalUclick.com/ for the images for the cartoons. It was too high for Stroke Survivors Tattler i.e. we are not a regular newspaper and our budget is very low. Fortunately, you will have to do only 1-click more to see the cartoon image, it is legit and it is free using GoComics.com and Dilbert.com.
Note: Now SSTattler are running cartoons starting on the previous Sunday.

Eclectic Stuff

Definition: Eclectic(noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

A New Guest Blogger for SSTattler: Bill (William) Yates, M.D.

SSTattler: Welcome Bill Yates…! I think he has is nice articles for stroke survivors topics especially with his "neuroscience influence" approach. Please look at his Brain Post for more information.
See as well About Us. I will re-publish in September / 2014.

Guest Blogger - Bill (William) Yates, M.D.

• Translating Neuroscience Research into Advances for Better Care of Brain Disorders. 
• Physician, Writer and Bird Photographer.
• Works at Laureate Institute for Brain Research:
• Research Psychiatrist, 1998 - present,
• Providing locum tenens psychiatric clinical and research services.
• Previous - Professor of Psychiatry:
• University of Iowa College of Medicine,
• University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.
• Education:
• University of Iowa, 
• University of Nebraska College of Medicine, 
• University of Iowa Graduate School.
• Lives in Tulsa, OK.
• Bragging Rights - Ranked #6 in the world in neuroscience influence on Twitter via wefollow.com.
• Follow me on Twitter at @WRY999 (www.twitter.com/WRY999).
• Blog is located at Brain Post (brainposts.blogspot.com).
• Email at WRY888[at]gmail.com.

Adaptive Gardening Comes in Many Forms

Rebecca Dutton
Home After a  Stroke

May 12, 2014

Spring is here and I am dreaming about seeing colorful flowers as I walk up to the front door of my house.  To be honest, adapted gardening did not initially make me happy.  The first year I did it I was repeatedly frustrated because it is difficult to handle delicate plants with one hand.  The second year was enjoyable because I had made all the mistakes the year before.  I have gradually learned to look at my first attempt to do familiar activities as a rehearsal rather than a failure.  

I garden in a pot placed on a bench.  I have a big pot that will not dry out if I forget to water it every day.  I used to traumatize each plant I pulled out of the store's container one-handed until I learned to let the plants dry out a little before I transplanted them. The roots break loose from the container more easily if the soil is dry.  After I fill the pot with soil, I put a plastic ring I made from a used disposable cutting board on top of the dirt.  The ring gives me something to lean the 1st row of plants against.  It also lets me create an outer ring of dirt to keep the plants away from the pot so the heat from the sun will not burn them.  After the pot is planted I remove the plastic ring.  

Joanne Murphy is a stroke survivor who is more ambitious.  Here is a photo showing how she uses old milk crates to do raised gardening.  Read more by clicking on Joanne's inside garden.

See the original article:

Adaptive Gardening Comes in Many Forms

in

Home After a Stroke

Sunday Stroke Survival ~ Gardening 2014

Jo Murphey
The Murphey Saga

Sunday, June 1, 2014

3 sisters planting

Last year's garden was a make shift of what I had on hand in an attempt to regain a joy and necessity in my life. My allergies were considerably lessened by eating my organically grown vegetables.

I never stop researching. I believe death is the absence of learning and believe you should learn (relearn) one new thing a day. Or at least I try too. I spend hours on the internet in Google, Youtube, Pintrest, and assorted other sites just researching possibilities.

I'm fairly open to new things. I tend to be an innovator and try new things. If it makes my life easier...BONUS!

So after dealing with bread flats, bag gardening, and milk crates last year, I'm trying some new things this year. I've got all my compost and all those bags of organic soil from last year.

This year I'm trying something different. I decided to do vertical and raised-raised bed square foot gardening to see which method is simpler. If I don't try, I won't know. I surfed the web and found the cheap alternative, because finances are extremely tight. Whose aren't, right? .

Little Celebrations

Pamela Hsieh
Rehab Revolution

29 May 2010

I was never raised in an environment where I was praised for my very existence, even if supposedly I was very easy to take care of, a fast learner. So it's not like I've grown accustomed to being coddled or heavily encouraged by positivity, but I discovered early on -- like, within the first year  -- that it is absolutely essential to honor the little gains you make.

Even if it seems like the world's most banal accomplishment, if it is something you weren't previously able to do, it is a big deal.

And I say this less to the patients undergoing rehab and more to those of you who aren't living the experience; because the little accomplishments will seem smaller and less significant to you, if you see your loved one/ friend/patient/ whoever boasting about some new positive change, take the opportunity and act as though they'd just discovered an alternative to oil: praise them for their efforts and celebrate with them -- it's crucial to keeping up morale and encouraging them to keep going.

Remember that if you haven't lost it, you don't instinctively know how important and exciting it is to lose it and see it return, because you've cultivated it and made it come back. Because you've healed. And this is especially true if it took a long time, since rehab is an ongoing, indefinite effort sometimes.

Meaningful Rehab Goals

Barb Polan
Barb’s Recovery

May 13 / 2014

I am a gardener - gardening is one of my favorite hobbies.

I started gardening at my grandparents’ house when I was in elementary school. My loving Italian grandmother had a charming garden in the middle of her yard – with hybrid tea roses and a huge bleeding heart plant (Dicentra spectabilis). Although I don’t currently have any roses other than Knockout, I have a medium-sized bleeding heart that I keep hoping will hit giant-sized one of these years. Every time I see it, I think of her.

A common refrain in stroke rehab is that in order for a patient to relentlessly work on rehab, he/she should be working toward a goal that is significant and meaningful for him/her. A former golfer will work more diligently if she’s working on swinging a golf club, not pinning clothespins on a pegboard.

If gardening had been the significant and meaningful accomplishment to have as a rehab goal, I’d have a reasonably short distance left – from easiest to most challenging skills: (1) being able to pull the garden cart behind me, (2) being able to scramble over the rocks and granite outcroppings in our yard, (3) being able to use a spade to make a hole to plant something, instead of a trowel, which takes forever, and (4) pushing a wheelbarrow.

Not Accepting Everything

Andrea
A Year of Living In My Head

Sunday, July 15, 2012

So I am almost to the point of looking for a position that more fits my training.  My concern is I could be a bit delusional that I can still produce the same quality of work as pre-stroke. I just don't know.  I know when I started my garden job that absolute crazy feeling in my head when my boss gave me run on instructions as in : Do This, Do That, Move This, Look for This, etc etc.  I could feel my brain actually scrambling and freezing and locking... it did not know (or that part of my brain is "gone") where to put a series of quick instructions -- so it would just go blank and not remember any of them.  My short term storage has been impacted, and it feels as though it has been misplaced.   It is very wierd being in my head when it is missing something.  You ever have that?  It's like there is some sort of memory of what was, what I could do, but there is no way to touch it. I have a memory of being very competent and accomplished, but I feel kinda bumbling and floaty sometimes.  I also cannot trust my "gut" as much, as I have discovered errors in my instincts--and I am a very "gut instinct" person!    With work over 3 months my memory has changed & improved so that I actually can remember a string of instructions (at least the first 3 or 4).   Last week I made a appointment with an occupational/speech therapist to work on memory.  I also notice the muscles on the left side of my body have a different consistency than others.  They are always very flaccid-loose-relaxed as if I just had a year long massage and they are jelly.   I am not really complaining, just noticing.  Pre-stroke I always loved learning new things, and new ways to see things.  I thank the lovely heavens that my  appreciation of the diverse ways we can navigate through a life is not diminished.

See the original article:

Not Accepting Everything

in

A Year of Living In My Head

Negative Space

Marcelle Greene
Up Stroke

Friday, March 30, 2012

Graphic design uses a concept called "negative space." It's the empty space around whatever it is you want your audience to look at. Negative space helps define the subject. Properly used it's as important as what is there.

If the subject is "my life," then the stroke helped bring it into focus. What's important? As I regain energy, how do I want to use it?

Two years before the stroke, I left an all-consuming career to pursue a lifelong dream to write. I did write…some…but in the heady rush of freedom, I also let my life become busy with non-writing. I cleaned my house and tended my garden as if Sunset magazine would be doing a photo shoot. I tutored out of a compulsive need to contribute financially. I devoted myself to becoming the Best Auntie in the World.

Since the stroke I don't clean. I don't garden. I don't see my nieces and nephews as often. The stroke created negative space. In the quiet parcels of time between therapy and the few household chores I manage, I find myself drawn to my desk. It's relatively comfortable to sit here gazing at the computer. But there is only so much on-line Scrabble I can play and then I yearn for something more. I start to write.

The stroke is helping me to become "the me" I always wanted to be. As if by design.

See the original article:

Negative Space

in

Up Stroke

Spring

Grace Carpenter
My Happy Stroke

Monday, May 9, 2011

Some of my words and memories still seem to be lying dormant. Then when conditions are right, they poke up into my consciousness.

Last week my sister came by to prune my rosebushes. Then we walked around the yard. I'm not a great gardener, but when she commented about a particular plant, I was delighted that I could remember the name. That's sweet woodruff, I said. I started it from a few sprigs many years ago.

Almost every day I walk around the garden now, and almost every day I remember more: bleeding hearts, that I almost pulled up that first summer in our house; irises, that my friend brought from Philly, nine years ago; the peony, that never blooms but always looks on the verge of it.

These are my memories, my words, I thought proudly. My garden.

See the original article:

Spring

in

My Happy Stroke

A New Beginning

Robin
Rocky Mountain Stroke Survivors

Posted on May 29, 2014

I feel like this is my first spring since the strokes.  I wish I had the words to describe the profound difference between last year and this year while describing the profound difference between now and before the strokes.  I am still so limited.  But I can do things!  My brain still gets so overloaded sometimes.  But it recovers more quickly.

Last year, overdoing it would mean a week of recovery.  And it didn’t take much to overdo it.  This year, I can gently push myself.  And when I do overdo it (because I am the sort of person who doesn’t know my limits!) instead of falling or lying in bed, clinging to the bed, telling myself over and over again that I am not actually spinning, I feel somewhat dizzy and really snappy.  I don’t like this aspect of me now, but I’ve learned it’s common among stroke survivors.  When my brain gets tired, everything seems to be coming in too fast, too loud, too bright, and I snap at my kids, my husband, my dog, or (most often actually) my “stupid arm” and “stupid strokes”.

Be that as it may, it is spring and I’m out in the garden again.  I can walk over irregular surfaces like a pro with a really funny wide-based gait but without falling.  I started numerous batches of seeds indoors and I can transplant 8-10 seedlings before I have to stumble back inside to rest.  This is HUGE!  This is freedom.  I don’t have to wait for someone else to do it for me or just do one plant a day. Not only that, I haven’t killed a single seedling through clumsy handling (though I do have trouble getting them in the hole without mauling them somewhat).

An Open Letter to "Payers" Regarding Stroke Recovery: You're Doing it Wrong

Peter G. Levine
Stronger After Stroke

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Dear Insurance Providers, 

I'm sure you want to help stroke survivors. A survivor that is home in the pursuit of happiness is healthier and cheaper.

But there's a problem... The systems that insurance companies and Medicare ("payers") have developed is a hodgepodge based on a patchwork of incorrect assumptions and old science.

The following are some recommendations to better align insurance regulations with the aspirations of survivors.

1. Make immediate screening for TPA mandatory, even in the most rural hospitals.

2. Where a survivor goes for therapy matters. Unfortunately, the decision determining where the lion's share of recovery will take place is made within the first few days post-stroke— way too soon. Given the emerging healing in the brain acutely there is simply no way for any clinician to predict where that survivor is going to be, functionally, in a week, let alone a month – or several months out.

Is Your Relatives’ Care Home Acting Illegally? 10 Tips #Continuoushealthcare. @Kateallatt

Kate Allatt
A Rocky Stroke Recovery

May 31, 2014

I have recently been embroiled in a case which has concerned me so much that I write this blog in the hope it helps others.

Power to you!

In trying to tackle the care home management team, this information may be useful to you too. With the recent and distressing BBC Panorama under cover report of care in ‘care’ homes, this is actually quite topical.


Standard YouTube License @ NewsForYou2

Clarify the registered nursing home has the patients bed funded with a combination of health & Social care? (If it’s not a care home with nursing care for the resident, it may be a residential placement care home.)

More News on Blood Pressure and Stroke

Jeff Porter
Faith of Stroke

Thursday, may 29, 2014

High blood pressure is a well-known stroke risk factor.

Now, it's important for patients whose blood pressure moves around between doctor visits should seriously explore blood pressure control. A recent report links variable blood pressure to stroke and other risk:

When comparing the highest versus the lowest levels of between-visit variability in systolic blood pressure readings, there were greater risks of coronary heart disease, stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and all-cause death through a maximum of 5.7 years of follow-up, according to Paul Muntner, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health. 

The findings were consistent across various subgroups, including in both patients who were and were not at their blood pressure goals, he reported at the American Society of Hypertension meeting here. 

"The key thing is that blood pressure variability has been known about for a long time, but it's just been ignored as a challenge to properly measuring blood pressure," Muntner told MedPage Today. "And I think data over the past 5 years similar to these have begun to accumulate to suggest that it has prognostic importance."

See the original article:

More News on Blood Pressure and Stroke

in

Stroke of Faith

Six Basic Rules For Good Health

Jackie Poff
Stroke Survivors Tattler

1. F***ing once a week is good for your health,
    every day is even better.
2 .F***ing gives proper relaxation for your mind & body.
3. F***ing refreshes you.
4. After F***ing don't eat too much... Go for more liquids.
5. F***ing can even reduce your cholesterol level !!!

Teaching a Child or Adult How to Talk or Speak with Clarity:

Mark A. Ittleman
The Teaching of Talking

June 4th / 2014

The Teaching of Talking Learn to do Expert Speech and Language Stimulation at Home With Children and Adults.

Octavio Paz won the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature.  He was an interesting gentleman of Latin persuasion who left his mark on the literary world.  He also left indelible images of ideas in the minds of his readers.  One of them was concerning the topic of dreams and how we are inspired to pursue life paths.  Paz said that when we develop an idea for a life dream, we do not always know from whence it came.  Paz said not to worry about it, but just be glad the dream was perceived and then to devote one’s mind, energy and passion to it.  He reminded us that our dreams are deserved.  We read, or watch something that can immediately resonate with us, and cause a drive or a passion for its fulfillment.

It was like that when the idea came to write my book entitled The Teaching of Talking.  This idea brewed in the recesses of my mind for a long time, and first started brewing when pursuing Landmark Education, and then seemed to ignite after re-reading some of Dr. Charles Van Riper’s writings.  Van Riper was the G-d Father of Speech Therapy.  He stuttered and was an exceptional therapist and professor who once said there were libraries of books about such subjects as engineering, music, medicine, literature, etc. but that one would be hard pressed to find many books that addressed the subject of the “teaching of talking.”

That thought hit home, and the title The Teaching of Talking was born.

SETTLEMENT!!!

Diane
The Pink House On The Corner

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Oh my gosh, we settled today at mediation! What a darn long stressful day it was --- 7 hours, ga! And at one point, we were ready to walk out the door because of their piss poor offers....

But, somehow, our attorney pulled it off!

Afterwards, the Hospital Executive (who was there representing The Hospital) hugged me, and told me she hoped that this settlement would make our lives better! (Though she glared at our attorney and refused to shake his hand. ha!) Also the mediator hugged me with tears in her eyes! weird... but nice.  (OK, no hugs from the defense attorneys... just shook hands --- the one-- most evil-- shook my hand and said "it was a pleasure working with you" and I said, "I wish I could say the same." you bitch -- though didn't say that, you know, the "you bitch" part.....)

Our attorney congratulated me, afterwards, for a great job, and I said what? great job? and he said that I didn't flinch, even when they threw "a lot of money" at me, I held out for what I knew Bob really needed.  And he said, The Defense paid out more than they wanted to.

Time to Sign for More Stroke Research

Joyce Hoffman
The Tales of a Stroke Patient

Jun 1, 2014

While I'm actively working on the next post, take a few minutes to sign, won't you? Thanks! You'll be helping millions of stroke survivors around the world achieve more research on strokes!

See the original article:

Time to Sign for More Stroke Research

in

The Tales of a Stroke Patient

Mechanical vs. Chemical Pain

Amy Shissler
My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery

May 30, 2014

If you’re having pain somewhere, do something about it.  Pain is your body’s way of warning you that something isn’t right.  But then again you might be like me and have no pain or warning signs whatsoever and have a massive stroke one day.  It’s up to you.  Well, it’s not really up to you.  Anyway, pain….. If you have pain – this doesn’t include neurological pain after a stroke because that’s all weird – I’m mostly talking about back and neck pain here.  If you have pain somewhere along your spine or out in your extremities and it’s intermittent, it comes and goes, you can turn it on and off or your therapist can turn it on and off through positioning, that’s mechanical pain.  It’s…well it’s mechanical.  It depends on how things are positioned.  Chemical pain or internal pain will always be there.  It’s unchanging based on the position of your body.  When I would evaluate someone’s spine, if the pain that the patient was experiencing did not change at all no matter what I had the patient do, that was when I said to myself, hmm something else might be going on.  But if I could get the pain to lessen or get a lot worse depending on what position I would put the patient in, I would be pretty confident that I could eventually abolish that pain.

See the original article:

Mechanical vs. Chemical Pain

in

My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery

Speaking Two Languages Benefits the Aging Brain

Dean Reinke
Deans’ Stroke Musing

Monday, June 2, 2014

I wonder if my knowing multiple programming languages count? I went to Italy this year and didn't learn one speck of Italian, next year is Spain and I likely won't learn Spanish. I'm lazy that way. You do expect your doctor to prescribe a new language to prevent your 33% dementia chance from an Australian study?

SSTattler: Hmm, very good question for some people… !

New research, Speaking Two Languages Benefits the Aging Brain, reveals that bilingualism has a positive effect on cognition later in life. Findings published in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, show that individuals who speak two or more languages, even those who acquired the second language in adulthood, may slow down cognitive decline from aging.

Bilingualism is thought to improve cognition and delay dementia in older adults. While prior research has investigated the impact of learning more than one language, ruling out “reverse causality” has proven difficult. The crucial question is whether people improve their cognitive functions through learning new languages or whether those with better baseline cognitive functions are more likely to become bilingual.

“Our study is the first to examine whether learning a second language impacts cognitive performance later in life while controlling for childhood intelligence,” says lead author Dr. Thomas Bak from the Centre for Cognitive Aging and Cognitive Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.

Roger Doiron - A Subversive Plot: How to Grow a Revolution in Your Own Backyard

Uploaded on Oct 22, 2011

Roger Doiron is founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International, a network of people taking a hands-on approach to re-localizing the global food supply. Doiron is an advocate for new policies, technologies, investments, and fresh thinking about the role of gardens. His successful petition to replant a kitchen garden at the White House attracted broad international recognition. He is also a writer, photographer, and public speaker.


Standard YouTube License @ TED

RMR: Rick Mercer at the International Plowing Match

Uploaded on May 10, 2011

I got the chance to meet and be on the Rick Mercer show in September of 2010 after a great week competing at the International Plowing Match in St. Thomas Ontario. Check out the great video by the team at the RMR and my amazing queen waving style!


Standard YouTube License @ Rick Mercer Report

---------

Saturday News

Contents of This Week:

• Headline -  Dvorak vs Qwerty
• Comics   - ForBetterOrForWorse, Dilbert, Peanuts, Doonesbury
• Eclectic - Many articles from many guest bloggers
• TED Talks -  Technology, Entertainment and Design
• Rick Mercer Report - Intelligence, humorous, politics...

Def'n: Dvorak vs Qwerty

See the April 20th / 2012 article Saturdays News - One Handed Typing in SSTattler.

SSTattler: I changed to Dvorak keyboard after my stroke — I think it is best for one-hand (speed, comfort, about one-half errors,…) but at least try it if you have time. For two-hands the QWERTY and Dvorak they are much closer for speed.  You will have to change your keyboard with System Preferences (on Mac), System Settings (on Linux), Control Panel / PC Setting (on Microsoft) with about 2-clicks...

Dvorak Simplified Keyboard
         From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (Listeni/d(ə)ˈvɔræk/ d-vor-ak) is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak and his brother-in-law, Dr. William Dealey. Over the years several slight variations were designed by the team led by Dvorak or by ANSI. These variations have been collectively or individually also called the Simplified Keyboard or American Simplified Keyboard but they all have come to be commonly known as the Dvorak keyboard or Dvorak layout. Dvorak proponents claim the Dvorak layout uses less finger motion, increases typing rate, and reduces errors compared to the standard QWERTY keyboard. This reduction in finger distance traveled is claimed to permit faster rates of typing while reducing repetitive strain injuries, though this has been called into question.

Although the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (DSK) has failed to replace the QWERTY keyboard, most major modern operating systems (such as Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, and BSD) allow a user to switch to the Dvorak layout. The current exception is iOS which does not support a system wide touchscreen dvorak keyboard.

Left-handed Dvorak layout

Right-handed Dvorak layout

The modern Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (US layout)

Overview

The Dvorak layout was designed to replace the QWERTY keyboard layout (the de facto standard keyboard layout, so named for the starting letters in the top row). The Dvorak layout was designed in the belief that it would significantly increase typing speeds over the QWERTY layout. The original QWERTY keyboard suffers from many problems that Dvorak himself identified:

Video: Dvorak vs Qwerty

One Handed Typing Options

Uploaded on Apr 21, 2008 

There are a lot of options out there for typing with one hand. I suggest trying them all and seeing what works best for you. Here are my recommendations in order of usefulness:

1. Teach yourself to type on a standard keyboard with one hand.
2. Get a good voice recognition program like "Dragon Naturally Speaking" (v.9 or better). This is always available on ebay, but make sure you get a normal, and not a medical version!
3. Try out the Dvorak one handed layout.
4. Buy a specific one handed keyboard. (be sure to test before you buy)

Standard YouTube License @ Captain Danger

Saturday Comics

For Better and For Worse
Lynn Johnston - 2014/05/25

“Yeah, it was a dumb move,..."

Dilbert
Scott Adams - 2014/05/25

“I’d like you to be my trusted advisor, Wally."

Peanuts
Charles Schulz - 2014/05/25

“You took the last bottle of orange pop!" 

Doonesbury
Garry Trudeau - 2014/05/25

“Great… white nose hair !!"

  
** I tried to get low or free price at the people http://www.UniversalUclick.com/ for the images for the cartoons. It was too high for Stroke Survivors Tattler i.e. we are not a regular newspaper and our budget is very low. Fortunately, you will have to do only 1-click more to see the cartoon image, it is legit and it is free using GoComics.com and Dilbert.com.
Note: Now SSTattler are running cartoons starting on the previous Sunday.

Eclectic Stuff

Definition: Eclectic(noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

Typing Simplified

Robin
Rocky Mountain Stroke Survivors

May 27, 2013

It can be harder (or well-nigh impossible) to type after a stroke.  At the same time, the internet can be a key way to find information or stay connected.  Here’s one idea for saving money on an adaptive keyboard: use one meant for kids.  We picked up a Crayola keyboard for my son at a thrift store for $2.  The keys are HUGE.  The letters on them are HUGE.  I used to be able to touch type very quickly and I’m relearning to touch type but when I’m fatigued, I’m right back to hunt and peck.  But when I’m fatigued, I have trouble picking out the letters on the keys.  When I’m fatigued, I have trouble coordinating my affected hand enough to hit the correct key.  Adaptive keyboards are really expensive.

But this sort of keyboard is only $20 and does the job unless you need truly huge keys.  I actually find the bright colors help too because it’s easier to locate where on the keyboard I need to aim and it can be hard to see the letters on the black background of normal keys.  Make sure when you are shopping to find a keyboard with large keys, not just large print (unless all you want is the large print).  Most computers can cope with multiple keyboards so if you usually prefer the normal one and only need the large keys when you’re feeling crappy, you should be able to have both available.

See the original article:

Typing Simplified

in

Rocky Mountain Stroke Survivor

Qwerty Envy

Marcelle Greene
Up Stroke

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

On my first day of occupational therapy, I was asked to state a goal. My answer: To type.

I can't expect that I'll ever type as well as I used to. At university, I acquired speed and accuracy by entering classified ads on deadline for the school paper. Over the years, I became so fast that co-workers would comment. One asked, "Are you doing that for real? Or are you typing gibberish to make us think you're working?"

Typing was an integral part of my writing process. The words flowed out of my head and through my fingertips. When I stopped being able to type, I stopped being able to write. Several people recommended Dragon Naturally Speaking dictation software. Learning to adapt my writing process to this tool is one of the main reasons I started the blog.

My goal to type is an ambitious one. To reach it will take lots of patience and practice. I might as well start now.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs.

(Typed with two hands – my right guiding all fingers on the left except the middle one, which can punch a key all on its own. 7 WPM, Errors: 0)

See the original article:

Qwerty Envy

in

Up Stroke

Frustrated by a Right Handed World

Rebecca Dutton
Home After a Stroke

July 18, 2011

I was right-handed until a stroke paralyzed my right side.  Now that my left hand is my dominant hand I've learned the world discriminates against left-handed people.  Switching hand dominance at 58 years old was an eye opener.  The aggravation goes beyond right-handed (1) scissors and (2) can openers.  (3) The shutter button on cameras is always on the right.  When I hold a camera with my left hand a finger often covers the lens when my index finger depresses the shutter button.  (4) Computer labs make sure there is room to maneuver a mouse on the right side, but don't always leave room on the left.  (5)  Left-handed drivers have to reach around or through the steering wheel to put the key in the ignition which is always on the right.  (6) Many credit card machines put the slot you swipe your card through on the right side.  When the slot is on the top, left-handed people have to push the card away from their dominant side unless the card can be swiped in either direction.  The plastic stylus you sign with is frequently attached to the right side with a very short cord.

(7)  Before my stroke my right hand used to close a jar by turning the lid clockwise and the back of my fingers used to get closer to my forearm (see photo on left).  Now that I use my left hand to turn the lid it's my thumb that gets closer to my forearm.  This new wrist position doesn't match 50 years of muscle memory.  It took me three years to stop making a lid tighter when I wanted to loosen it.

Left handers I've talked to say they solve these problems by using their right hand.  The only advantage left-handed people have is the QWERTY layout of a keyboard.  You can type thousands of words on the left side of the keyboard with the the left hand but can type only a few hundred words on the right side with the right hand (Wikipedia.org).  (8) Deciding which hand to write with is only the beginning.  Left-handed people have to decide which hand to use until the day they die.

See the original article:

Frustrated by a Right Handed World

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Home After a Stroke

Left vs. Right

Barb Polan
Barb’s Recovery

18th March 2010

I was speaking to a sales rep on the phone today, negotiating a price for something I wanted to buy, and she must have remembered something I said yesterday about being on medical leave because she said that she had recently had a health problem and was finding it very hard to get back into the swing of things at work, but it didn't seem as though I was having that problem. I decided to lay my cards out and I told her that I'd had a stroke in November and was still recovering, but that I found work to be very helpful, so it was easy to get back into it. She seemed very surprised and told me that I sounded wonderful for having had a stroke so recently - her father had had a stroke when he was in his 50's and, she said, it took him several years to be able to speak normally again. I resisted explaining to her the difference between having a stroke on the left vs. right side of the brain - if I had been so unfortunate as to have had mine in my left brain, not only would I have lost the function of my right, dominant side, but my speech and language skills would have been disrupted. Some people with left-brain strokes need to learn to read all over again, starting with which squiggle is what letter ( and what is a letter, anyway?). Instead of my right hand doing double duty on the keyboard, it would be the recalcitrant one, and I'd be brushing my teeth, typing and buttoning my clothes with my very uncoordinated left hand. There's no way I would be able to even remotely do my job without being able to read and type - so I feel very fortunate to have had a right-brain stroke, as crazy as that sounds.

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Left vs. Right

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Barb's Recovery

‘M’ is for Mop

Amy Shissler
My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery

Aug 8, 2013

I was reminded of something yesterday that I couldn’t do in the hospital.  Now, I couldn’t do a whole hell of a lot of stuff when I was in the hospital but for whatever reason it REALLY pissed me off that I was unable to do this test and it has stuck with me.  The test was…..pick a letter of the alphabet and say all the words that you can think of that begin with that letter.  I couldn’t do it.  I would come up with 1 or 2 words.  I forget what the goal is, I think 11 words in a minute.  I don’t know, I can’t remember.  11 words really?  That doesn’t seem like a lot.  You know, I bring up a good point.  :)  Eleven words is so very, very abnormal for me but it would’ve been considered ‘normal’ had I gotten 11.  They taught us in PT school – you know what maybe they didn’t, maybe this is something I’ve learned since school – that you always need to ask the patient “is that normal FOR YOU?”  No one asked me that, ever.  With brain injuries it’s a little different because what’s normal for you is forever changed now but – I don’t know.

Ok I just did this with the letter ‘t.’  I got 19.  It would’ve been more if I could type with 2 hands, I should’ve given myself a little more time for pecking at the keyboard with one hand.

Tab, tap, tan, talk, tip, tint, taunt, tent, temperature, tell, Teflon, the, test, taste, tack, take, tame, tackle, time

See the original article:

‘M’ is for Mop

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My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery