Hi all
I’ve been writing funny stories about my 93+ -year-old mom for a while. She’s brilliant and kind and generous and loving and a week ago she had a stroke. It affected the speech and understanding parts of her brain.
She cannot say the words she wants, doesn’t understand most questions and commands, and speaks both Hebrew and English gibberish equally randomly.
But we are a singing family. I was brought up on union songs and folk songs. Two of my brothers are musicians and one cousin is an opera singer. Every family event for the last many many years ended with an hour of singing together.
I have my phone and a little speaker in the hospital and when I play our family playlist my mom smiles and sings along.
So we sing “Union Maid” and “Hallelujah.” Step by step, cognition and communication return. Step by step. More soon.
So true. Yesterday, my wife and I watched a CBS Sunday Morning feature about an elderly couple overcoming the challenges of a stroke through song. The husband made a goal of relearning his traditional serenade to his wife as a means of overcoming his speech loss. It brightened my day. Nice to see you around Hubski again. :)
lil, i thought about your mother just the other day. i had been scanning back through old hubski posts and came across one of your stories - i think it was one where she charmed the hospital staff during a previous visit. very sorry she is back in the hospital but i am sure she will be charming the nurses and doctors again soon. keep singing!
I am so sorry to hear about this lil. You have such an awesome family. Music is powerful stuff. When my Oma was in the hospital, on her last day here, I brought my guitar in to the room and all of us gathered around her bed. We sang Edelweiss and other songs. Normally, she would have been leading the chorus and playing her accordion. She was in tremendous pain and on a lot of drugs but a smile crept up through it all. Music! I’m thinking of you, Lil. Keep singing.