A Long Absence - Again

Summer was cut short in some respects by my mother's brain surgery. A brain bleed caused her to collapse and she starts the long journey of recovery. We are gutted but carry on, giving her the support and love she needs to find a way back to us.

I've been learning a hell of a lot about brain injury and the implications for her (and us) in particular. Eleven weeks after the surgery, she has completed three weeks in rehab at the very facility where she used to work. As the manager of human resources, she hired some of the folks who are now tending to her. We are seeing small improvements as she becomes stronger, and more aware of what's happening. The nursing staff have been amazing, both at the hospital and in rehab. Can't say the same for the doctors, unfortutately. Well, we haven't seen much of them. Then again, why are we troubled by that? Only because we believe that they are more important the the nurses, which, speaking from experience, is exactly true. Not that they are useless, far from it! But we undervalue the amazing work of nursing staff who tend to their patients with love, affection and genuine care for their well being. I cannot extol their virtues highly enough.

The brain is a marvelous thing - so complex even the experts don't understand the half of it. I have been reading Norman Doidge's book The Brain That Changes Itself. Who knew that Neuroplasticity would be so interesting? The brain "is a plastic, living organ that can actually change its own structure and function, even into old age."

Postscript: School has started again but, while often very interesting and rewarding, it sometimes seems rather incidental.