Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  Hemiplegia
AH>     - weakness or paralysis in the left or right side

JB>  My God-mother was afflicted MANY years ago by the
JB>  same. Little did we discuss it though.


          In my experience such things weren't discussed way back when....  :-/



JB>  As such a situation is never to be made light of, it
JB>  is pretty amazing to me that the same is never caused
JB>  by anything but a stroke.


          I guess stroke is the most common cause... the important factor
is an injury which involves one hemisphere of the brain & not the
other, however.  It could be caused by a brain tumour or an accident, and
folks with cerebral palsy may also have some difficulties which are evident
only on one side of the body. Cerebral palsy is thought to be caused by
brain damage at or around the time of birth, and the affected area is the
cerebrum... the same area which is affected in Nora's case.  If an injury
to this area occurred at some time in the past, a person may have learned
to compensate to some extent but certain movements will probably still be
rather jerky & uncontrolled.  Unless you actually witnessed a sudden
change in your godmother's case the reason may still be unclear....  :-)



AH>  George advised Nora to work hard on her therapy, and she
AH>  seems to have taken his advice to heart....  :-)

JB>  How many times do I have to say it? "I'm not nearly as
JB>  worried..." 


          Uh-huh.  Look out, world... here comes Nora!  Nora is a SURVIVOR.
 No doubt about it.  But I do worry at times because that's a mother's
job....  ;-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+