All Comments on 'In The Blink Of An Eye'

Of course there are many exceptions, but generally the stroke victim who has aphasia can not *communicate*. That is, she can not speak, the most obvious sign, but also can not write. If the victim previously knew sign language, she also can not sign. Even nodding or shaking the head (or blinking) might also be impared. <p> <p> <p> My wife had an ischemic stroke seven years ago today, so I've learned a lot about aphasia and apraxia -- the hard way. After two years of intensive speech therapy -- at $5 a minute -- she is able to say and write a few words. But even now her yes/no answers are obviously wrong about one-third of the time. <p> <p> <p> During her physical and occupational therapy phases, we kept hoping for a miraculous, instant recovery. Such is rarely the case. For her case, ischemic (a blocking of the blood vessel, a blood clot), such a miracle is sometimes possible if the drug tPA is administered within three hours after the event. With the hemorahgic stroke (bursting of the blood vessel) recovery is much more difficult and can sometimes involve surgical repair.<p> <p> <p> So, the blinking of the eye makes for a fine story, but with aphasia it is quite unlikely, generally. As to "complete" recovery, *intensive* (like 6 hours a day) physical, occupational, and speech therapy must begin almost immediatetly after the stroke or brain injury. But just as there are many different strokes, there are many different results. So, I'll give you the slack for a well presented story.

This story isn't hot in the conventional sense of many of the stories here. But it is full of giving, of fine emotion and a real sense of accomplishment. Plus it's well written.

Thanks!

Gentle and well written, otherwise it could have been distasteful. It certainly kept my attention all the way through. Thanks for the great read.

The result is great and the human aspects are very interesting. I have not read the rest of the comments because I wish to call attention to the tremendous internal conflict in the hero. This happens to people all the time with people who have problems. You can never be sure whether you are taking advantage or satisfying a need. In this case it got down to an apparent consent situation, but not all people know what they are consenting to or even have a memory of the event. A truly important emotional problem.

As always a very,very,good story and ending - and can actually see something like this happening the way you write. Very sensitive and sweet. You are the man. Thanks.JAG/TSO

my elderly lady friend had a heart attack. she was in a nursing home. nobody checked on her but me. she was 30ys loder than me and was sad that she had lived through it. i held her often so she would feel someone close and one day she asked me to make love to her. in a nursing home with no door locks it was suredly dangerous but she was my good friend and i made love to her. when she come home we did some more over some months. she died in her sleep one nite after we spent the afternoon having sex. after the creamation her daughter came to me and said,"i know all about what you did for my mother and i thank you. i think she lived a little longer for it". i'll be forever proud that i made love to my friend. this man shared something very special with his friend. maybe she just needed to feel needed and needed to not be treated like a child for awhile. sometimes when we can't communicate with someone we treat them like little children and thats not what they need. very romantic. good writing. could have been creepy if another writer'd done this.