~ Louis A.
I hate when my phone rings before the alarm goes off because I know it is always going to be bad news. That was exactly what happened when we got the call around 4:30 am. My mom and Dad had just their sold their business of 43 years in September of 2015. They had aspirations to retire and relax but on December 27, 2015 my dad, Louis had a hemorrhagic stroke. The stroke left him paralyzed on the right side of his body. This has affected his ability to walk, use his right arm and his speech (aphasia).
He spent several days in the ICU at Rex. We sat by his bed wondering what would be next. Waiting and listening to the doctors did not give us much hope, but if you know Louis he his stubborn and doesn’t give up easily. He made enough improvements to move to the 3rd floor until he moved to Mayview. This is where the real journey began. He began working in physical, occupational and speech therapy. PT and OT were great he made small improvements. We were still at a point where he pointed a lot and became very frustrated with communication. As we got closer to being discharged his speech therapist said that we should look into the Triangle aphasia project (TAP).