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| Amy Shissler My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery |
The first time that I wrote about neglect I wrote it from the viewpoint of an arrogant PT who because I learned about it in school, thought that that made me some kind of authority on the subject. That by NO means makes you an authority on ANYTHING. That makes you someone that other people can use as a resource for information. An authority – no. I am still no kind of authority whatsoever about unilateral neglect because I never had it. I did however have a massive stroke so it’s ok if some people look to me as an authority on the general topic of stroke and brain injury, but not some specific things that can happen as a result of a stroke. I remember – this was like a month after the stroke – right after being discharged from the hospital and before I began outpatient therapy, that I had a few sessions of home PT. One time when a physical therapist was there, a different one came for every home session, I reached across my body with my left hand for a tissue that was on my right side. To this my therapist said to me, “Honey don’t neglect your right side, you have to be aware that that side is there.” Sigh. It wasn’t unilateral neglect that caused me to do that. Neglect almost always happens to the left side of the body anyway. I knew perfectly well that I COULD have used my right arm to reach for that tissue had it been cooperating and would very very very much have preferred to reach for it with my right arm. But my brain wouldn’t allow me to do that at at time. So I had to use my left arm, it wasn’t because I was neglecting my right side or had lost any awareness of my right. My right side just didn’t work. It still doesn’t work anywhere close to normal but I can do a lot of things with it now that I couldn’t then. I could do nothing with it then, nothing. Now I can use it for any gross motor movement like opening doors and stuff. I can use it some when driving. I don’t use it too much because if I do my tremor starts and it will cause my entire body to shake and that’s not a good thing when operating a motor vehicle. But it helps some. I can use it to help stabilize the steering wheel for a few seconds or use it a little when I’m turning. I make right turns, I’m not neglectful of what’s on my right. Writing with my right hand is out of the question. I’m very much afraid that it might forever be out of the question. I don’t have much hope anymore for getting fine motor movements back.
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