Is that a trick question?

Bob is doing great. His personality is coming to the forefront. He even had a little silent belly giggle today. He's knodding "yes", wrinkling his face for "no", and tapping his foot in perfect rhythm to Asleep at the Wheel.

Oh my goodness. As I write this, t is making girgling sounds with his trach on purpose and smiling as though to say, "Bet you can't do this!"

I was looking at some papers from speech therapy. One section lists a bunch of things after "I want" like, food, drink, wife, husband, sleep, bathroom, walk, and many more. One item is suction. Now, I know what that means for those who have trachs, but really folks, Bob is a male through and through. Don't all men want suction. hahahaha... (Sorry...see what sleep deprivation can do. My mind is in the gutter!)

More life lessons:

• sometimes bad things happen to good people. In this case, to a really good and special person.
• I have also learned to NEVER underestimate the power of prayer, nor the extraordinary healing power of a loved one who is willing to spend endless hours at the bedside of an extremely ill soul mate.

What's your life lesson? email: jiachini@msn.com

stroke info: www.strokeassociation.org

OHSU: 3181 SW Sam Jackson, Portland, OR 97239 10K, Rm#8.