Re: [Harp-L] advice please

[William Lifford <william.lifford@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Patrick,

That's awful that you had a stroke. I'm sorry to hear it.    I am an
Orthotist/prosthetist and I work with stroke patients every day. Do not
ever give up hope!

In the first couple of weeks things can be really terrifying. No one knows
how much function you'll get back, no matter what the neurologist says. In
most cases they are just giving you their best guess. The "magic window"
timeframe for recovering function after stroke is about a year. After that
statistically you have a much smaller chance of recovering lost function.

What this means is, everything your physical therapist, occupational
therapist, and speech therapist tell you to do, do it to the best of your
ability and do it more than they even tell you. If your your PT says to 15
reps of and exercise, do twenty-five.

The reason I say this is because many stroke patients become quite
depressed and they fail to maximize their recovery because of the
depression. You don't know what you are able to get back, but you want to
make sure that you get back 100% of what you are able to, not less than
that because you got into a funk and didn't exercise the way you need to.
I'm not saying this will happen to you, it just happens to lots of stroke
patients so I want you to be aware of it.

As far as playing harmonica goes, some players have recovered from stroke
and going on to play quite well. It really depends on where the stroke was
in your brain and how much your speech and use of your face is affected.
Definitely bring the issue of playing harmonica up to your speech therapist
and to your occupational therapist.

Don't hesitate to email me at William.Lifford@xxxxxxxxx or call me on my
cell phone at 516â459â5857 if you want to talk further about it.

Bill


On Monday, February 2, 2015, Patrick Ellis <harpwales@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> i was about to travel to argentina to pick up on the music of tango, ie i
> have been learning to play it on chromatic for over 5 years, solid.
> just a couple of weeks before i was due to go i had a stroke. i can no
> longer perform, or even walk without the aid of a quadropod.  so now all
> that ambition is banging around inside me with nowhere to go.
> could anybody please suggest a way out of this situation.
> best
> patrick ellis
>
>
> www.patrickellisharmonica.co.uk
>


-- 
William Lifford, CP
Progressive O&P, Inc.
1111 Willis Avenue
Albertson, NY 11784
516-338-8585