Friday, May 22, 2009

Right Neglect

As a result of the stroke, Pa has a condition called right neglect. He forgets about his right side and has to be constantly reminded about it. When walking, the physical therapist is training him to look to his right every five seconds. Otherwise, he'll bump into things on his right. When getting dressed, he acts as if his right arm is paralyzed and has to be reminded that he can put his right arm through his shirt sleeve. He doesn't look at people when talking to them and has to be constantly reminded about it.

Yesterday afternoon a researcher from the neuropsychology dept. at UC Berkeley stopped by to do a test. It was mostly visual and measured how much neglect Pa has. The right neglect was quite substantial compared to the left. The researcher said she may call later on to see if Pa is interested in a study that will might make a significant improvement in his right neglect.

Dr. Hsu, the doctor who's been covering for Pa and is also Ma & Pa's primary physician, stopped by to visit. He had just found out that Pa had a stroke. He was very nice and offered to cover for Pa for at least another month. Dr. Hsu also does acupuncture, and this is something we're interested in pursuing to see if it speeds up Pa's recovery. We will see Dr. Hsu as soon as Pa goes home. We haven't heard yet if the insurance company approved the request to have him stay another week, but I'm going under the assumption that it has.

Kit flew back to Switzerland yesterday. She'd been here since the day before Pa's surgery.

No comments: