Stroke is what happens when blood flow to the brain is disrupted, leading to damage to brain tissue. Its common causes high blood pressure, blood clots, and head injuries.

http://www.stroke.org

Aphasia is a common form of speech impairment. There are two major types of aphasia which are caused by stroke: Werneckie's Aphasia and Broca's Aphasia.

http://www.aphasia.org

If you've stumbled across this web page because a relative or friend has had a stroke, my sympathies are with you. Please, don't be discouraged, because stroke victims usually recover. Some, like my father, recover fairly quickly. Others take time, but progress is normal. The most important thing to do is prevent another stroke, because they seem to happen in succession. That means administering the blood thinning and blood pressure drugs consistently. If you can, spend a lot of time with the victim and don't get freaked out by the weirdness. If you observe their behavior and physical activities, you'll see improvement. It'll be encouraging.

There's something called the Family Medical Leave Act that says that you can take up to 180 days off from work for this kind of emergency. I recommend it. It's unpaid, but if you can afford it, do it.

Timeline

Here's a timeline of my father's progress. It's pretty optimistic, because his stroke war relatively less catastrophic than many.

0 - stroke, a clot, probably there for many hours
1 - hospital emergency room, drugs used to lower blood pressure
3 days - release from intensive care, able to understand
simple direct instructions, unable to speak coherently, but
close relatives can figure some ideas out. moved to
another hospital (insurance snafu). "babbling" speech (wernekie's
aphasia)
1 week - moved to convalescent center, able to walk with assistance
able to speak a little, not able to retain memory, and not able to
perform much abstract thinking. not able to read type, but can read
words written in longhand. therapies begin.
numbers and dates come out wrong all the time.
3 weeks - discharged to outpatient care. able to walk with walker,
able to speak more, but great difficulty picking words
(broca's aphasia). strength returning to right side which was
paralyzed in the stroke. balance is not good. morale is pretty high.
5+ weeks - ability to walk regained, but strength is low, and balance
is not good. speech is returning, but word picking is difficult.
this is frustrating and leads to occasional angry outbursts; morale
is declining because of this. writing is returning slowly.
memory is improving slightly, and old memories are returning.
facility with numbers is improving noticably.
what's most noticable is the return of old habits, both good and
bad, as well as old attitudes, good and bad. he's still suggestible,
so we focus on reinfocing the good.
3 months - old memories are making a big comeback,
as are an overall understanding of how money, ATMs, clocks work.
able to cook a little bit. still, clumsy and not able to wash dishes
well (he never was very good at it). gives the impression that he's
drunk, because his motions are exaggerated, and sometimes
repetitive and ineffectual. speech is making a big comeback, with
longer sentences, but word picking remains a big, frustrating
problem. reading has returned, but requires effort. longhand
has not returned, but he's able to write individual letters from
the alphabet neatly. morale is variable; it is generally good
most of the time, but is low when confronted with theraputic
exercises. (bad attitude) he has unusual perceptions about
what is socially acceptable and what is not, but he had that problem
before losing several million neurons, so, hopes were never
high that the situation would improve. Learned to use phone!
6 months - progress has definitely hit a plateau. There is
basically no more improvement, but incremental changes here
and there through active learning. He's become very angry
lately, and I sense that there's a great deal of frustration
in his inability to perform mental tasks, like filling out
forms. Angry outburts are now a pretty common thing, happening
every day (though, before the stroke, he was a prone to angry
outbursts, so it's not new). I just blow it off, because it
is too much to deal with most days. Overall, everything is
stressful when people are staying at home (which is
due to the flu). His sense of control seems to be making
a comeback, which is not always good, because he's a contrarian
control freak with "issues". He even started taking a drug
that he had been stockpiling (another bad habit of his).
11 months - It's nearly a year, and everything has
stabilized considerably. Though he can't engage in complex
conversations, and is obviously pissed off at his
condition, he seems more cogent than before. He's very
depressed some days, and a little weaker than before, I
suspect due to excessive sleeping. Then again, old folks
sleep a lot more than younger people. It would have been
very good if he were a generally more upbeat and cheerful
person, but I think his life story was really rough, and
the somber demeanor runs in the family.

Activities

In any kind of recovery, it's good to engage in activites that reinforce or substitute for therapy. Here are some that I have been recommended or have tried.

Gardening - gets you walking and in the sun, lifts spirits
Short walks
Singing or humming (if you did it before, of course)
Filing things
Origami
Hangman - the word game (use easy words)
Cleaning vegetables, peeling boiled eggs
Painting/brushwork - potentially frustrating, but complex work
Making sandwiches

And a few I want to try:
Video games - Samba de Amigos, and maybe Dance Dance Revolution.
Computerized speech therapy drills
Typing (he used to do it all the time)
E-mail and letter writing, assisted
Playing "catch" with soft objects, to improve reflexes

A few he just enjoys
Stapling papers together (he did this before)
Moving rocks (again, prior behavior)
Hoarding pills (again, prior, very bad behavior)

And a few to avoid:
Washing dishes - unless you like them chipped
Reading the mail - it'll get lost
Anything involving spirals

(This page is dedicated to Taro, my favorite aphasic stroke victim.)