A Rose by any other name...

Physical Therapy...... Exercise or torture? According to dad, a rose by any other name....

Physical therapy and Occupational therapy so far has been a positive albeit arduous experience for dad, and us.... Training the brain/ body connection takes time and practice much as a dancer or athlete might experience learning new routines or moves... The major underlining difference here, besides his current lack of energy is the incorrect feedback his body is sending his brain in regards to the function of the left side of his body... For the moment the muscles are willing, but the brain is not able...

With assistance dad is able to sit up on the bed or in a chair, but his brain is not trusting his body to hold him up... So he leans to the right, to the side his brain is aware of and confident can hold him steady... To the side the stroke has left alone, and he can rely on...

The main challenge for dads therapy is to connect his brain with the cues he is receiving from the left side of his body, to believe his limbs are there to hold him...and his muscles strong enough to move him... With a patient like dad, who has lost recognition of a side of his body (commonly seen with severe brain trauma) therapy starts with finding the midline..... With a mirror placed before him now in a seated position, they challenge him to find center and observe how is is sitting. Trying to convince his body that yes, you can hold yourself.... Observing how you are sitting, and how subtle changes feel to your body. To recognize how it feels to sit square and straight, to build those connections to trust in his body's cues....

It's a hard process to watch, we think of these things, sitting, standing, moving as automatic.. Nobody really taught us HOW to stand, HOW to sit... As children we observe these movements in others and learn them as part of the growing up process... Generally we are aware of our limbs and can move them as we desire... May occasionally get us in trouble! But that's part of the process too.....

Sitting here watching dad unable to move his left side of his own accord is difficult to watch.... There are little signs here and there that the connections are being made, a subtle movement of his arm the  twitch of a toe... We of course hold out the hope that this is more that just an involuntary action, but the sign of a determined man trying to get up and on with it......