Recovering from a stroke

[joshwirt]

Last week, I suffered a stroke. Well things could’ve been much worse, I’m very fortunate to be home alone and independently recovering quite well. The use of my left arm and hand are coming back slowly, and my speech has improved drastically every day.

Fortunately I didn’t suffer any severe face drooping, But there is still some difficulty Maintaining a good embouchre. Buzzing on the rim Before the mouthpiece seems to help.But when I put the mouthpiece into my travel tuba, I get a fair amount of leakage on my left side.

I’m just wondering if anyone out there has gone through this and recovered and what sorts of things you did you found to be helpful and successful.

Thanks in advance,

Josh Wirt

[bisontuba]

Josh-
Take care of yourself and feel better!
Mark

[bort]

Glad you are doing better, and I hope a full recovery is around the corner.

Take your time with the tuba -- it will wait for you!

[AndyCat]

My mother has been wheelchair bound since her stroke 11 years ago, so your progress is already amazing!

Take it steady though. Like bort says, it will wait. Get your normal health back as priority.

[iiipopes]

Not with my embouchure, but with my left hand. Some years ago I had what was probably a "mini-stroke" having to do with a genetic clotting disorder before it was diagnosed. In the middle of a guitar gig, all of a sudden my left hand stopped working and I could not figure out why, especially on standard rock-n-roll songs I have played "forever." I lost most of the use of my left hand for some months, and I am left handed. I could barely write. It affected me most in playing guitar and bass, which I was and still am active in weekend party bands. I actually had to use my right hand to position my left for awhile, and actually had to resort to writing the chord tabs on the lead sheets to get a visual reminder of what my left hand was supposed to do. Fortunately, I was able to rehab myself, starting with simple finger tapping exercises and working up from there to resume playing, and now I still play weekend gigs for beer money these years later. After I was diagnosed, I was prescribed warfarin to try to keep it from happening again, which I continue to take daily and get checked monthly. Hang in there! Best wishes.

[WC8KCY]

Josh, I am so sorry to learn that you've had the misfortune of having a stroke. I had one around 12 years ago, and wasn't able to play brasswind instruments for a couple of years.

This probably isn't applicable to your situation but...part of my rehab was playing the clarinet instead of my beloved tuba and euphonium. It really helped rebuild the dexterity in my slightly paralyzed right hand, and also helped redevelop embouchure and diaphragm control.

If you've ever played single reeds, revisiting those instruments might be a worthwhile endeavour.

[toobagrowl]

Sorry to hear about that But it looks like you had a mini-stroke and are recovering well and able to type a well-written post, which is great That's already a lot better than my mother, who had a stroke almost 2 years ago. She is 78 and she was like a different person for months right after her stroke. She could hardly speak and her personality was very different. Over the months, her ability to speak and her old 'feisty' personality came back. Think the 80s TV show "Momma's Family" --> my mother is like a milder version of that She can only sign her name and has other issues, but is much better than she was over a year ago.

The only thing I can say is the human brain is oddly similar to a computer, yet is self-healing. I think your recovery will just take time, naturally. The best therapy (not the BS 'therapy' doctors & hospitals try to force you to take, so they make more $$$) is to surround yourself with family & friends & colleagues, converse with them. Maybe for your embouchure, just focus on the basics/fundamentals -- it may just take time to build up again. Your college should be very understanding of what you just went through, so take it easy or even take some time off