We spent the whole morning up at UCSF doing rehab therapy and chemo. Physical therapist Heidi Engel put us through the usual neuro-muscular wringer, and spent time preparing me for the next 6 months or so of rehab. I may well be able to get out of steroid hell (if the brain edema is sufficiently under control) by further ramping down the steroids (we’re at 6mg, down from 16mg, as of this week) but that won’t automatically give me my left side back.

Once you lose muscle coordination thanks to a neuro problem, it’s just gone, and your body’s compensations for lost capability actually work against reconnecting your atrophied and otherwise trashed muscles to the brain. So, steroid ramp-down aside, I have at least 6 months of hard work reconnecting the left side to the brain, according to Heidi. It being I don’t have a lot of other better things to do, we’ll be working on the Heidi program…

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