Independent Steps

This week Marie continued to improve her balance and stability as well as the movement in her left arm. This is largely because of the dedicated practice that she's been giving it and the great team here. Marie is still doing physiotherapy and occupational therapy everyday as well as other activities with physiotherapy assistants and with her visitors.

To give you an idea of what it's like for Marie to do some of her physiotherapy, Marie compares moving her left fingers with moving her right finger with a 50lb weight on it. Often when Marie is doing the exercises she is putting so much effort into it, that you can see her whole body flexed tightly.

Other parts of therapy involve "thinking" about her elbow, wrist, and fingers in an effort to get them to move with a greater range of motion. The therapists also encourage Marie to use visualization techniques among other things. I try to imagine what it is like to "think" about moving my arm that used to move so easily. I can definitely understand (although certainly never completely) why these exercises can get very frustrating for Marie to do. The therapists say that it is all about rebuilding the pathways from her brain to her arm.

This week Marie was reassessed for her balance. Although there are more advanced tests to follow, this week focused on a basic balance test. One month ago, when Marie first got here, she scored 31/56 on her balance. This week, she scored a perfect 56/56! As a result of this, and Marie's significant improvement in avoiding "neglecting" her left side (a very common effect of stroke) she has been granted permission to walk independently on her floor! To say this is a huge step towards regaining her independence would be an understatement! It is awesome and Marie is super excited about it!!! WAY TO GO MARIE!!!

This weekend Marie is "escaping" again. Next week should prove to be an interesting week. We are looking forward to the family meeting we have scheduled for Tuesday. We should have lots of updates for you all then!

Take care,

Laura