Monday, 15 December 2008

Butterfly dreaming

Jo did have some neuropathic pain this evening, although she may have forgotten to take her evening Gabapentin, which she is self-administering from her lunchtime dose. Despite this she was able to raise her torso enough to pull her own trousers down. She is generally getting better at moving herself about, which is partly due to her attitude but also to an increase in awareness and corresponding ability of her left side.

I read an interesting article by Dr Masud Husain, from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College, London, in which he says, "A key question is whether conscious intentions are an immediate consequence of preparation for action, or a retrospective mental justification to explain actions we have just made." Cogito ergo sum. Am I a person dreaming of a being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of being a person?

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Different strokes...

It has been nearly seven years since Jo suffered a "controlled" stroke whilst undergoing brain surgery to clip the blood vessel that had caused a subarachnoid haemorrhage in 2000. Sadly two successive coilings did not occlude the bleed and so Jo had a craniotomy in August 2008. During surgery the surgeon discovered the coiling had penetrated the rear of the aneurysm, occasioning emergency repair procedures. Consequentially they spent one and a half hours longer in surgery than expected, leading to the right half of Jo's brain forgetting it has to look after the left side of her world.