Mmmm, omelette stuffed with smoked salmon, the first meal M has cooked on the stove since the accident in February. AND he used his left hand to turn the burner knob. His left arm is really coming along, with almost complete passive range of motion and every single muscle group working in response to M's thinking of movement.
With lots of cuing, M's also cleaning the kitchen counters and sink every morning. He'll unload the dishwasher all on his own, but sometimes needs to be reminded to go back and finish.
Some of the oddest things keep coming up - all frontal lobe, executive function issues. For most of us most of the time, we know if we have done something. For example, if you know you intend to wipe down a counter, you'll get around to it, then know you have completed the task.
For M, there's a strange disconnect between thinking and doing. I'll see him walk out of the kitchen, right past a sign that asks, "Did I complete my tasks?," and ask him, "M, what were you supposed to do? Did you do it?" He now can always say what he was supposed to do, but invariably will answer he did do it, when a cursory glance would reveal that the task hadn't even been attempted. As best I can tell, it's as if thinking about something means he must have done it. There almost no internal checking mechanism or self-monitoring, "Am I doing what I'm supposed to do?"
I say almost none, because he can monitor in some things if given an external reminder. For example, when you ask if his left arm is properly positioned, a month ago, he would have replied yes, without looking, even if his hand was not in the right position. A couple of weeks ago, he would have looked, seen it wasn't correct, and repositioned it. Now, if asked if his hand is palm down, he will reposition it without any more cuing or prompting. He'll even position it on his own occasionally.
He remembers things quite well, considering his injuries. He'll remember even mundane activities from one day to the next. But he still can be a bit unmoored. For example, when his new speech therapist, who spent two sessions evaluating his cognitive functions, asked who she was, M said she was one of his doctors (kinda making sense, since M considered the PhD neuropsychologist in the hospital who evaluated him to be one of his doctors). M also said we were on the fifth floor of the hospital, when we actually were at the same outpatient therapy location he has been going to for a month, a one-story structure.
The only other oddity to come out of the testing was when the therapist asked about holidays. M had difficulty naming a holiday in January, thought long and hard about one in February before coming up with Valentine's Day, then when asked what holiday just passed, said that July 4th was coming up next week even though he had checked his watch and answered, when asked the day at least three times within that hour, July 27th. He didn't recognize the inconsistency until it was pointed out to him. Then the lightbulb went off, "What I'm thinking and said doesn't make sense." Thank goodness most often M does recognize logical inconsistencies now, once they are pointed out to him. Again, though, his own internal automatic self-checking facility is not there for the most part. We can only pray that it will come back or redevelop.
