Dad’s physical recovery from his stroke was amazing and that is mostly due to his incredible health and physical condition before his heart surgery. Taking care of a farm and horses, chopping wood and building fences, cleaning his home and preparing his meals kept him in shape. He quit smoking his cigars and pipes years ago and was careful about his weight.
The damage the stroke did to his speech was devastating, not only to him, but to his children. A retired Navy pilot, he rather enjoyed the solitude of his farm, but to his children he was the great communicator – imparting wisdom and encouragement, for the most part, and sometimes a sterner directive. His novel came late in life, begun at the age of 86, and now it hung in midair. He remembered the ending, knew what he needed to write, but, like his speech, the words would not find their way from his brain to the page.
When Dad first came home from RIO – Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon – a speech therapist was assigned to visit once or twice a week in Dad’s home. A rapport sprang up immediately between Jeff and Dad and to watch them work together was so encouraging. Jeff never let Dad slack, and Dad in return, worked very hard. Dad quickly showed his respect for Jeff by calling him the Speech Master.
Too soon, Speech Master could not justify the in-home visits and recommended he continue therapy as an outpatient. This saddened all of us, but Jeff reassured us the person who would be his new therapist was truly one of the best. My sister took Dad to his appointments and she reassured us that he was very good. His name was Shawn, but he quickly became Speech Maker.
As Shawn challenged, encouraged and reassured, Dad worked hard to follow his direction and live up to his expectations. And when skill and true grit collided, mixed with compassion, something extraordinary happened. Week after week, Dad’s speech improved. Beyond what the experts had predicted for him. When Shawn ran out of the standard textbook assignments, he invented his own. Somewhere in the midst, he became Speech Master ll.
There came a time Shawn told Dad his speech had improved to the point where release from the program was possible. But Shawn knew Dad was writing a novel, a western romance. And he knew that it was still difficult for Dad to sit down at the computer and have the words in his head flow to the keys. The composition of the sentences would get jumbled. So, Speech Master ll printed some western art – pictures with lots of action. He asked Dad to write three short sentences about the action he saw in the picture. Then he instructed him to connect two of the sentences, and lastly to bring the third short sentence into the final compound sentence. He sent him home with lots of homework. Shawn’s innovative approach to therapy enabled my Dad to sit at his computer again, and though it is painstakingly slow for him, he is finishing his book. Dad’s recovery matched Shawn’s belief in him, and I think that is key. The tears that well in my eyes as I write this are tears of joy.
I wanted to be the one to help Dad finish his book. I’d been there from the start, and I prayed I could help him finish. I didn’t have a clue how, but thought God might show me. God answered my prayer, though not as I thought He might. God blessed us with Shawn.
Last week I took Dad to see Speech Master ll. Not for therapy – his last day of speech had been the week before – a day Shawn said Dad would now be Speech Master lll – he would continue to recover and be in charge of his own recovery. But this visit we were going to deliver a present. Shawn had various figurines on his windowsill – goofy ones with what I am sure had special meanings. Dad wanted to add to that collection, so on that day we brought him a small Superman. To Dad and his children, Speech Master ll will always be a superhero!