Amanda’s aphasia continues to play tricks with her brain even as recovery continues.  But she is winning the battle. Each morning she takes 2 Voluntastrols capsules; opened and sprinkled over hot porridge with trim milk and manuka honey. It’s still hard to believe the active ingredients in these capsules; 1000mg of what looks like […]

Amanda is now 18 months post – stroke. Her daily routine has switched completely from the same one she had for more than 10 years. But routine continues to be important. Routine gives her confidence and allows her to regain her skills and allows me to measure progress and compare her speed or the complexity […]

Amanda is now into month 17 of her stroke recovery and month 3 of taking 2 Voluntastrols  capsules each day – and recovery still continues. I’m now opening the capsules and mixing the contents with her breakfast porridge. For her this is easier than swallowing them and just turns the porridge purple. As well as […]

Amanda has now been taking 2 capsules of the Voluntastrols botanical supplement every morning for the last 6 weeks.  In the last two weeks (and bearing in mind 16 months post – stroke), she has demonstrated further improvements. Self – motivation continues to show signs of improving. I set her a task to tidy the […]

This is the longest gap between posts so far. Three weeks since the last one. So what’s been happening? It’s been one month since Amanda began taking the Voluntastrol  botanical supplement and also a month since I signed her up to the Constant Therapy app. In that time she has completed nearly 800 tasks on […]

On Good Friday, Amanda started on a nutritional supplement; Voluntastrols – a botanical supplement containing specific secondary plant metabolites extracted from citrus, theobromine, cacao and chamomile. Since then I’ve kept a close eye out for any changes in behaviour or cognitive ability For many months she has tried to improve her spelling and alphabetical skills […]

It’s apt that I’m writing this post on Good Friday. This week has certainly been a little bit weird… and a little bit wonderful. It all started last Friday when Amanda did her usual 3 hours at work in the morning. After dinner she spent 30 minutes practicing her spelling on the Tactus Therapy app. […]

Over the last few weeks there have been more glimmers of improvement as Amanda’s brain and body continue to slowly recover and progress towards her pre-stroke fitness. Firstly, small but encouraging developments with her executive function. For example late one afternoon after her nap she went into the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher. When I […]

So, the Smart Watch has thrown up a number of unexpected benefits, not least of which has been encouraging Amanda to use her right hand. I swapped it onto her left wrist so she could feel the vibration which reminds her to move every hour. This means she has to use her right hand to […]

As Amanda continues to progress she becomes increasingly more self- aware of her situation;  a positive sign  her inner voice is beginning to return, which gives hope that her decision making and planning capacity will also improve. She is obviously getting frustrated at her physical and mental capability, commenting a few days ago; “I wish […]