Great. It did take my dad longest to that hand back. He had a stroke, but never anything to that degree, and the hand took over a year to get plausible as a grabbing appendage.
I'm so happy. I was convinced he was still in there from facial expressions and tone of voice, but I was also convinced I was a self-deluded sucker, kidding myself about his chances for recovery. He's apparently come a long, long way since the last time we saw him (I haven't seen him this recovered -- I'm reporting a phone call with his wife.)
The brain is a funny thing. Sometimes it can recover itself despite incredible damage and sometimes it can create the plot to Samurai Power Rangers despite no damage at all.
This is sort of a reiteration of 3, but neuroplasticity is such a wild thing. I'd be fascinated to hear any details if you talk to him about how the recovery has felt.
We're having dinner next week -- I'll report back.
This is great news. Also, 3 is hilarious because my TV is playing Samurai Power Rangers right this second.
It isn't that odd. We're probably watching the same channel because the end of The Last Airbender is great .
Except I have a five year-old boy who responded to the "Power Ranger" teasers and insisted we not turn the channel.
Woo-hoo LB's friend! That's awesome.
(I also tend to practice the "What would I want?" school of thought in talking to supposedly-disabled patients. It seems better somehow to continue talking to the person you know and remember, even if the medical professionals are telling you that person isn't there any more. It's not like this stuff is easy to predict, even for neurosurgeons.)
Cool. Good for him!
I wasn't hit anywhere near as hard though the MRI pictures looked scary.
The docs gave me "Play Doh" to work with by trying to make perfect cubes, spheres, or other intentional shapes of various sizes for dexterity and then squeezing the stuff together for strength. 'Twas kinda fun, actually, once the fear wore off, and easy to do while watching TV.
And it's still acceptable for me to be watching the same shows as your 5 year old. Mostly I was amused because I only realized what was on my TV by reading your comment.
11: Aphasia often persists.
How long will it be before I can read "Good news" without completing it with "everyone"?
We've just started watching The Last Airbender at our house. We've made it through the first 8 episodes. I really like it.
I love it when the worst possible outcome doesn't happen!
I'm so glad for your friend, LB. What a dramatic turn for his life to take, but hopefully he has a path back to a life he recognizes.
Glad to hear it, LB!
On other news, I'm finally down to the wire on a stupid task that I've been putting off and putting off. Stupid.
19 just saved me a bunch of trouble. Thanks.
Also I've got monstrously productive sneezes today. Like, I can fill my cupped hands with snot. I used to have this problem back in school because once your hands are filled with snot, you can't raise them in order to ask permission to use the bathroom unless the teacher is clued in, and you can't touch any doorknobs, etc. I don't get this symptom that often but it is a big mess.
21 just saved me a bunch of trouble. Thanks.
That was why I got extremely interested in mastering sneeze prevention methods. Like preventing taking the intake breath, which makes your lungs feel like they are imploding, or holding your eyelids open, which is an indescribable sensation.
Are you guys switching to GEICO?
Like, I can fill my cupped hands with snot
That's wonderful! Pretty soon you'll be back to filling up the whole bathtub again!
I forgot to pay a bill that I'd been putting off until the last minute.
25: I'm sorry for the delay, but I'll definitely have it in the mail ASAP.
Or I would, if I hadn't been kidding in 22.
It is better to incur a mild rebuke than to perform an onerous task.
OT: By way of Huffington Post, the best abstract ever.
We've just started watching The Last Airbender at our house. We've made it through the first 8 episodes. I really like it.
Yay! It is really great. (HOWEVER, be careful, any people enticed by these descriptions. "The Last Airbender" is the title of the horrible live-action movie and merely the subtitle of the awesome animated TV series "Avatar".)
I've never seen the movie. Unfortunately, I watched the animated series out of order, but is very good.
I've only seen short clips of the movie, but they were plenty to convince me that reports of its terribleness were not exaggerated.
40: I may have mentioned here at the time, but I got a call from a casting director of that movie looking for extras. It was the most stupendously racially tone-deaf, culturally-incompetent request I've ever had, bar none. And I talk to some pretty dense people.
Avatar. The Last Airbender. Separately, they are terrible, terrible movies. Together, they're a good TV show!
Worst buddy movie ever.
Good lord the movie was awful. It did serve to make me realize that M. Night Shyamalan has no detectable sense of humor.
I fücking love the series, though.
The original thread was about what's the right gift for the patient, right? What did you end up getting for your friend, and what else proved useful or enjoyable?
Yay for LB's friend!
(also, yay for Avatar: the Last Airbender!)
Yay, LB's friend!
I saw the movie on a transatlantic flight, and while it is indeed terrible, it was not the worst movie they showed. It made realize why the profession with the highest suicide rate is "movie reviewer"*.
* Not intended to be a factually accurate statement.
HOWEVER, be careful, any people enticed by these descriptions. "The Last Airbender" is the title of the horrible live-action movie and merely the subtitle of the awesome animated TV series "Avatar".
But the movie does apparently contain the fantastic line "there are many powerful benders in the north of this country".
Mmm. Indeed.
the animated series is amazing and I highly recommend to everyone ever. so, so very awesome, and it is long, so you get lots of chances to enjoy the various parts.
44: Yeah, we need to know who won that thread!
44, 49: Magnetic tiles on a magnetic board, and they were completely useless.
Hooray for LB's friend!
I'd like to know more about 41, as well as IDTS's other casting anecdotes.
Update from brunch: the phone reports of his recovery were either overstated, or I overinterpreted. He's much much better than he was in June, but walking with great difficulty, with a four-footed cane; producing more words, and more appropriately, but nowhere near talking normally; and moving his bad hand, but not able to do much with it. This is still, apparently, an awesomely remarkable recovery, and it's expected to continue -- his speech therapist thinks he's going to get basically all the way back eventually.
But now he's unambiguously comprehending everything; the few words he can say are clearly appropriate, and he comes out with something unexpected that fits in to the conversation every so often. So, a good visit, and he's doing well, but slightly less than I expected after last week's call with his wife.