Friday, December 28, 2012 - The King Still Stands

I arrived this afternoon just as Marc’s physio session was starting.  We went to the therapy room and they worked with him while he was sitting on the bed in there.  He sat at the edge and they taught him to scoot back and forth and side to side.  Something so simple that we take for granted took intense concentration for Marc. 

They also had him semi-stand with his hands braced on a step ladder in front of him.  He was to concentrate on keeping his body at mid-line and use both legs equally to push up into a semi-standing position, hold for a few seconds and then slowly lower onto the bed. 

After that they worked on some exercises he can do himself while lying in bed this weekend.  I took notes and they gave me a sheet of paper with the exercises on it so I can help him. 

The occupational assistant, Karen, who happens to know a friend of mine, then put him through some paces.  Using a workbook for left neglect patients, she had Marc read some short sentences.  She held a yellow paper along the left margin and asked Marc to find that margin every time he started a sentence.  With prompting, that visual clue helped Marc compensate for the left neglect and find his starting place and all the words that make up each sentence. 

He also circled the names of various colours written on a page amongst other words.  He showed that he was able to use strategy to find the words he was looking for.  He is learning that even when he thinks he has found all the words, looking further to the left usually reveals more words that he hadn’t been aware of before. 

One interesting exercise involved copying a block pattern that Karen put to the left of his tray.  He was to look at the structure she had built and reproduce it.  This picture shows his second attempt, with Karen's blocks to the right of he picture.  In the first attempt, he got it right, but it was turned to the side.  This time he missed a black bottom block and still had it turned.  Karen said that was his perception that was proving difficult.  Very insightful. 

He did very well using plain blocks, although it would be in the correct position from any side.

After his therapy and a visit from his parents, Marc showed me the gorgeous, hand-made king chess piece that Robbie had left for him last night when he visited.

Before the stroke, Robbie and Marc played chess daily on-line.  After the stroke, Robbie wanted to bring in a king to the hospital to leave for Marc to see when he woke up, but there was simply no place for it in critical care. 

In chess, a king laid on its side signifies the end of the game.  As long as a player’s king is still standing, the game is still on.  Robbie said that Marc would know what that meant.

Marc said, “My king is still standing.” 

Indeed it is.  And it will remain standing.