Don,

Your residence in Oklahoma caught my attention years ago because I, too, live in Oklahoma (in Jenks, just across the river from Tulsa). We have communicated once before, I think.

I don't remember knowing that you had a stroke. That caught my attention because I also had one in November, 2016 that affected my right side and my speech, so I know some of what you have experienced and some of how you have felt, although my stroke seems to have been less severe. I can understand how BIAB has become your outlet and primary tool for musical expression. Hang in there, brother, and don't give up! It can get better...

After my stroke, I was unable to play guitar or type on the computer (with both hands) for 3 months and then, with therapy, it started coming back, little by little. I can now play about 80% as well as I did before the stroke and I'm typing with both hands again. For several years now, my playing and singing has been in a praise and worship setting at the fellowship where I am both the music leader and teacher; I play guitar and sing some, my wife sings wonderfully, and BIAB is our band, played through a Bose system as loud as they'll let me turn it up (I'm an old rocker that later got into jazz and country). My speech and singing was affected more than my hand and arm; even though I could speak (with difficulty and some slurring), my singing has been more severely impaired. And over the last few months, both my speech and singing have unexpectedly gotten gradually worse while my hand and arm continue to improve. I have started going to my speech therapy again and I'm going to see a neurologist for the first time this Friday. And I have a lot of folks praying for me, as I'm sure you do as well.

If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to hear more about your life and situation; if you don't feel comfortable talking about it on the forum, please feel free to send me a PM. I want to encourage you and let you that people care about you...I'm sure many in our BIAB community feel the same way. There are many regular contributors whose words and communication style indicate kind, loving hearts, and I am grateful for them.

Jim King

Jim
Psalm 33:3 Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.

BIAB 2018 build 519; Dell Inspiron N4110, Windows 10 64 bit, Intel Core i3-2350m running at 2.29 GHz, Memory: 6 GB DDR3, SDRAM 1MHz