Hi folks I'm back again! Hope we're all doing ok and coping with things and doing excercise however small. I had my personal trainer on Wedneday. Great and a big improvement to all of the excecises! I think it's a combination of strengthening those muscles and then doing excercise to improve the range of movement. Next week is the end of my 10wks at reduced rate on her referral system, so what to do in future? The benefits have been so good and noticeable that I want to continue to have her visit twice a week.  Those peole in the East Yorkshire area can view her website which she's getting up and running, on phoenixsportsinjuries.co.uk and contact her for a session. She'll meet you first to assess your needs and weaknesses then on her next visit she'll have an excercise plan designed to suit you. I can't shout her praises enough.

We're off to pick up my daughter's prom dress later on. Had no success in sorting the transport out. I've emailed 4 providers and they haven't replied. So watch this space. Yesterday I went to see the film Dirty Grandpa! What a mistake! It should've been called Obscene Grandpa and I was really surprised to see it's only rated a 15! Every other word was the F word and when it wasn't the F word it was s**t that was used, sexual references too, some I didn't know and had to think about and I'm no angel I can assure you. I don't mind some swearing but this was gratuitous.

Keep up with the excercises even if you feel despondant cos you will get there. I hope you've checked out the selfhelp4stroke.org website I've told you about have a look if you can cos you just might find something useful and please complete the survey.

Hi there I'm back again! This time I want to talk aphasia. I suffered and still suffer slightly from this. In hospital I had to have thickener in my drinks-revolting. The only thing that I found tasted ok with it in was coke cola. It was like wallpaper paste and the spoon stood up in it. Thank goodness I don't have this anymore. But I imagine some of you still have to. You really have my sympathies. I still cough when eating food and have to be careful not to talk even when I've finished a mouthful. My voice is so much better than it was but I was fortunate to have a speech therapist during the first 18mnths or so when I was out of hospital. She gave me various speech excercises which I did at home in between visits to her. I also read aloud every day to help too. In the early days at home I would ring people, like the DWP, and be waiting for 20 mins to speak to someone then when they came on the line I'd have to repeat things several times so they understood, It was so frustrating and regularly made me cry with frustration and also having to say what had happened then when I cried they would think I wasn't there anymore, cos I couldn't talk, so they'd go away and put the phone down. So incredibly frustrating and annoying. Even more annoying if the call had voice recognition to get to where you wanted to be. I'd try to say  as clearly as possible and I'd get silly answers for what I'd said. It took ages to get anywhere. So my sister-in-law stepped and used to make the phone calls for me, with me present. This worked a treat and it was unbelievable how quickly we got what we wanted. So I would advise anyone to do this in the initial few months so that things can be sorted. It's not a problem now and I have no trouble getting the extention I want or with people understanding me on the phone, thank goodness. I think arguing with a teenager has helped lol. It's like the terrible two's but worse lol. 

My personal trainer couldn't come last week so I still did the excerises I could. Hope you're doing yours keep up with them. Remember to have a look at the selfhelp4stroke.org website ther's some great tips.

Hi back again, it seems a while since I updated this. Hope everyone's ok and doing some excercise however small it all helps. Please check out this website selfhelp4stroke.org. It's really good. Easy to find your way around and some great advice. There is also a questionnaire about your experience with stroke etc. It deals with emotions, healthy eating, excercise etc. There is some great info and it's easy to use too. Maggie Lawrence, Glasgow University, helped to put it together. On Wednesday I saw her post on twitter with a link to the questionnaire and I completed it and said I didn't mind being contacted for a phone interview so on Thursday she rang. The current stroke plan from the government comes to an end this year and they need to put another comprehensive one in place so this website and the stroke association website and others do have questionnaires on them please complete them if you have access to a computer. It could prove to be important for the future treatment of stroke and for any further treatment and help you require too. 

Remember to keep doing your excercises! Change will happen, it just takes a bit longer, frustrating I know. Don't compare this week to last week, compare where you are now to where you were last year, keep going, make small changes that are easy to keep to and all these changes add up.

Hi everyone I hope you are well. I've had a busy few days. The wind and rain has been awful! Well fantastic news on Friday the personal trainer came and she had me walking round the living room with one stick! Then without any sticks twice round the living room!. She really is worth her weight in gold and I would advise any to investigate it and see if you would benefit from a personal trainer. 

On Sunday I had my daughter with me and we went shopping at a local shopping centre. It was hugely successful. Got some new t-shirts for her. Had to use the wheelchair and it's amazing how differently people treat you, even when I use the rollator they treat you mre normally and actually talk to you. How does sitting in a wheelchair make so much difference, but it does. Terrible.