Staff Picks from the Mulberry Bush Bookstore

Staff Picks from the Mulberry Bush Bookstore, Parksville, BC

Barb Pope's pick:

The Defiant Mind: Living Inside a Stroke
by Ron Smith

"Every Canadian needs to read this book - not just stoke survivors! Ron Smith, an award-winning writer, publisher, and university teacher, who lives in Nanoose Bay, has written a ground-breaking and intimate account of what it's like to experience the inside of a massive stroke to his brain, and the discoveries he made as he overcame the challenges of recovery. This book is for all of us, as well as stoke survivors, their families and caregivers, and especially for medical professionals, as Ron outlines an improved path to stoke rehabilitation within the health care system. I found The Defiant Mind a profoundly illuminating read and highly recommend it to you."

RYGA AWARD LONGLIST ANNOUNCED

The Defiant Mind is longlisted for this year’s Ryga Award. Here is the link to the press release:

http://bcbooklook.com/2017/02/13/ryga-award-longlist-announced

Ancient proverb:  If you want to be shortlisted, first you must be longlisted.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

DENSE FOG   VISIBILITY LIMITED  was the warning on the highway sign at the base of the Malahat as Ron and I drove south to Victoria on February 15^th. In fact, the warning told us nothing new since we had encountered the above conditions for the previous 70 kilometres. From Nanaimo south the fields were still snowbound. A thick mist, caused by warm temperatures and heavy rain, rose from the fields creating the fog.

Ron had been invited by speech therapist Dana Haydon to speak to one of her therapy groups which meets in the Community Room in the Uptown Mall in Victoria every Wednesday. The people who attend this group suffer from aphasia caused by a stroke or other brain injury. Aphasia is the inability to comprehend and formulate language. Intelligence is unaffected, but the people who Dana works with have difficulty reading, writing and speaking. Often they cannot find the right words to express what they want to say.

As children, it takes us years upon years to learn to speak, to read and to write. Many of the people in Dana’s group have to go back to basics and re-learn these precious accomplishments. The logic behind the Uptown Mall location is that the group is able to take what they learn in the Community Room and immediately go out into the real world and, with the help of Dana or her fellow speech pathologist, Janine, put these re-learned skills into immediate use. The powerful message which Ron brings to groups like Dana’s is to never give up, to re-assure them that healing continues to happen, that it never stops. The gift he receives in return is the warmth, support and gratitude from courageous people overcoming daunting and frustrating obstacles, all of whom yesterday insisted on buying his book, determined they will soon even be able to read it.

I found my first visit to the Uptown Mall somewhat disorienting. Despite the Steve Nash Fitness World located near the Community Room, which told me I must definitely be in the 21^st century, I kept getting a Yogi Berra sense of déjà vu all over again. From the moment I angle parked on Uptown Boulevard and stepped out onto a street reminiscent of town centres from the nineteen forties and fifties I felt like I had gone back to the future. Even the parking was free. Now tell me, where can you still find that, these days?

More WORDS from the WEBSITE:

> IF Tolstoy had written 'Stroke and No-stroke’, IF Kilmer had seen no
> trees, and IF you hadn't written this book, I would be the loser!
> Change each word 'Pat' to Joy (my wife's name) (she is my caregiver,
> too, and has been my wife for more than 50 years). I am 80 and have
> had a stroke and do go to the 'Y' for swimming and Physic, and do
> belong (& attend) the local "Stroke Survivors' group. I read a lot and
> just finished your book and I want to thank you.

Doug Watkins

O is for Oceanside

Despite being married to the author of The Defiant Mind – Living Inside a Stroke, a memoir which documents the feelings and experiences of a stroke survivor and the role that memory played in the recovery of his former self, it is still difficult for me to recall clearly the events which occurred to us during the first year after Ron’s stroke. By April, 2013 I believe I was still in a state of semi-shock, trying to cope with and process the dramatically altered circumstances which now confronted us.

By April, 2013 Ron had completed the Intensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Program for stroke survivors offered at the Nanaimo Regional District Hospital. He had graduated but we no longer had access to our team. We were left to drift on our own, in search of a place to land.

Fortunately Ron heard of a public event (advertised on television) which was to be held in Nanaimo to inform stroke survivors of the community resources available to them. Fortunately we attended and fortunately we met Kathleen.

Kathleen Falvai is the Co-ordinator of the Oceanside Stroke Recovery Society which provides therapy and support to stroke survivors and caregivers in the Oceanside area of Vancouver Island including Whiskey Creek, Coombs, Errington, Qualicum Beach, Parksville and Nanoose Bay. Kathleen encouraged us to attend one of their stroke group meetings which are held every Friday from 11am to 2 pm at St. Columba Presbyterian Church in French Creek. We went, we joined and we both benefited enormously from the experience. Although Ron and I decided to let our membership lapse at Christmas, by meeting other stroke survivors and caregivers and taking part in the therapy sessions, we were able to find our bearings and plot a new course.

When Kathleen invited Ron to return to Oceanside last Friday to read from his book and speak to the group, he was most happy to do so. The reception he received was warm and welcoming. Many people he already knew. Many were new members. At present the group’s membership is 50 stroke survivors and caregivers. At times it has been as high as 70. The numbers continually fluctuate. Some, like Ron and I, attend for a year or less. Others are long-term members. The group has been in continuous existence since 1986.

I am grateful for the time that Ron and I were members. I learned much about myself. And I am comforted knowing that, should another squall hit us, I know exactly where a nurturing harbour awaits.

DRY MOON in a DARK SKY

On February 1^st, Ron and I headed south on the Island Highway bound, once again, for the Saanich Peninsula. This time we avoided Spaghetti Junction, favouring instead the exit to Beacon Avenue and the heart of downtown Sidney. Ron was due to read at the public library at 6:30 pm. The afternoon was sunny but a cold wind blew across the Salish Sea and the San Juan Islands whipping up white caps. It was an outflow wind, coming from Bellingham.

We arrived at the library at dusk and met our host, Library Manager, Sharon Walker, who led us to the meeting room, a congenial space to the left of the main entrance. Sharon and I set up about twenty chairs. Then we spread out a green cloth over a table where Sharon put out coffee and cookies at one end and I put out some copies of The Defiant Mind for sale at the other.

By 6:35 pm an audience of sixteen people had assembled. Sharon introduced Ron and his reading, interspersed with questions, began. At 7:55 pm I interrupted Ron, (wives are wont to do this) suggesting that the Sidney/North Saanich Library normally closed its doors at 8 pm. We stayed in the meeting room for another half hour while Ron signed books. Many people had already purchased the book and had brought their own copies with them. Others had been instructed to come by friends. Old-fashioned word of mouth had begun to demonstrate its effect.

As Sharon let us out of the back door of the meeting room she said, “I’m the luckiest librarian here to have had this assignment. Ron’s book is going right to the top of my reading list.”

The return drive to Nanoose Bay took a little over two hours. Traffic was light. I kept to the speed limit and took the time to admire the golden crescent moon, hanging saucer-like near the horizon in the clear black sky, leading us home.