doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Roy Eckrose - stroke recovery updates

Still thinking of you Roy.

All,

It's been about a week since I've been to visit Roy. He is in good spirits and is getting more use out of his leg. Still not great progress with his arm yet, but it seemed a little less painful when I saw him last.

Speech recovery has slowed somewhat, but it's a very interesting process to communicate. It's a mixture of animal/vegetable/mineral mixed with 20 questions, mixed with understanding the parts of speech, mixed with reading body language. So you figure out if he's trying to make a statement, ask a question, or raise a topic. Then you try to narrow in on the subject, (person, place or thing) then predicate if it's a statement or query if it's a question. Lot's of waving you off the wrong path down the tree and a lot of trial and error, but with persistence and patience, it works--even if you have to let an idea rest a while and come back to it later.

I'm updating you from Rhinelander, WI, site of our annual family fishing tournament for smallies, the name of which he invented:
WFELDWSMBFT. I'll let you all ponder that! (hint: SMB= smallmouth bass).

The immediate-family consensus was that Roy was not able to make the trip up here at this time, and his son and his family could not join us, either. But my dad, brother, and I are up here carrying on as usual.

You can read about it all here if you want: http://gnasdls.blogspot.com/

Roy also invented the acronym for GNASDLS, come to think of it.

The next big event is October hunting, also named by Roy, the "Bonasa Blast", so hopefully we'll get him out for a drive in the fall colors and see some "road birds", before the bleak Wisconsin November weather sends us inside.

Wish I had more "progress" to report, but it is slow going and steady. You don't see it so much day-to-day, but week-to-week, he has a little more movement, and a little more vocabulary.

We'll have to see if he's up to viewing the auctions again soon. I downloaded the RIA stuff and looked at the catalogs online and I don't know how he correlated all the data for you guys. It looks like a lot of work!

Anyway, any of you ever seen any woodshop jigs or workbenches for handicapped folks? I don't know if he could ever checker anything with his left hand, but, it may be worth a shot just to handle some nicely grained wood again.

Still a long way to go, I know.

Brad

To hear he is still hanging in there and trying is great news to me.I just found a crate of twenty new Nitro Specials in .410 still in the box with tags all 30" barrels and stright stocks. I figure I'll cut the barrels to 18 1/2" and make cowboy guns for the junior class of SASS members.Gave fifty a piece for em and should be able to get $150 once they are fit for cowboy shooting. God Bless you Roy and God Speed

I don't know Roy from Adam, but it sounds like he has good people looking out for him.

Best of luck with the smallies.
Brent

Brad, is Roy interested in the election? That would get the juices jangling!

As far as the election, I believe he's not allowed to vote while he's under guardianship, but I'm not positive.

I haven't been to visit him since mid-September, but I'm sure he would be quite amused at the whole trillion-dollar banking crisis and bailout. Nothing like piling more government on top of bad government to raise his blood pressure!

As far as a general update, his medications were adjusted to account for pain and depression and that really helped a lot. He looks like the old Roy, except for the speech and paralysis. Also, having a fairly regimented diet and no smoking has got his weight under control and his color is much better. If you didn't know better, he looks much healthier.

I showed him my new Dremel Stylus tool and some rudimentary things I did with it (I am no artisan or even craftsman; I originally got it to see what it would do to a pumpkin!), but he was very supportive and he examined the tool with great interest and made a few cuts in some scrap wood. Can't quite tell if he'd be interested in working with wood in such a limited capacity. He was such an artisan when it came to gunstocks and checkering.

You know, I don't know how much work he has done for all you, but it would be kind of cool to get pictures and a create a photo gallery.

This weekend would have been his usual gunshow where he's had a table for the last umpty-leven years. I imagine he's feeling the blues about missing that.

Next week is the usual Fall P-bird hunt. He'll be missing that too. He is sorely missed in September and October, so it is not a good couple months for US (as if THAT mattered).

On a brighter note, his leg is strengthening and he is walking with much less pain, although not very far and with assistance of course. But still I never expected him to stand out of the chair, much less walk. So that is something we are all hugely thankful for. The arm has recovered less than the leg, but I guess that's normal for strokes. He's working like heck on communication, too. So, we keep encouraging him and take every small bit of progress as something to celebrate.

--Brad

Thats great the Roy is still fighting and trying to make it happen.God Bless ya'll and keep giveing him the support that is so important at times like these.

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!

Roy we are still pulling for you. You and your family are in our prayers. Jon

Another quick update. Here's a link to a photo of Roy, my dad, and me having a tailgate party at "the manor". Packers lost a heartbreaker though. (photo credit to my brother who never is any pictures because he's got the good camera!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blekrospix/3001989905/

On the subject of Lefevers, Roy noticed that one of the screws on my 16ga Lefever Nitro buttstock plate was not original and through various hand signs, nods and gestures "suggested" that I should have search for the correct screw. Anybody have any Lefever 16ga buttplate screws or know where I can get 'em?

Thanks,

Brad