Update on Mark Kirk's Condition

I based my post from yesterday on the earliest reports of Kirk's surgery and condition. It now appears that the stroke was more severe and his full (or mostly full) recovery will be more difficult, while still likely.

A Facebook friend of mine, a nurse with whom I went to grade school and high school, says she recognized early symptoms of hypertension in Kirk when he made his speech regarding the detention provisions in the latest military authorization and funding bill. I had posted this speech on Facebook because it was about the only time I've ever agreed with Kirk. This is what my nurse friend said about his symptoms:

...he kept on playing with his glasses compulsively. He looked like he was really having a visual problem or was greatly stressed. I thought maybe he was play acting at being serious but then thought he had an actual problem. He should have been checked out then. I bet his Blood Pressure was sky high.

Hypertension can not be taken too seriously. My grandfather died from an aneurysm after battling hypertension for years. The doctors had told us his brain was like a ticking time-bomb. My sister always said she felt it was the dill pickle he had eaten at lunch that day that put him over the edge. My dad attributed his dad's final illness to a customer who had aggravated Grandpa just an hour or two before he collapsed in the store. With Grandpa Paul, it was probably the years of hypertension plus the pickle plus the aggravation. Kirk had beer and a cheeseburger in the hours before his stroke. Perhaps a difficult drive in the snow on Friday night didn't help.

The press seems to be taking great pains to differentiate between right brain and left brain, the right side affected by his stroke, being only a center of motor skills and not thought or cognition. While that is generally the case, I'm not so sure it's that simple or that the brain is so distinctly split. We've all heard people referred to as right-brained or left-brained, and right brained people are capable of more than walking and talking. The lateralization of brain functions simply refers to dominance, or a tendency of a particular part of the brain to dominate, and is not an exact map of what parts of the brain control which activity.

Linear reasoning and language are usually centered in the left brain. That's why Gabby Giffords is having trouble with her speech. She was shot just above her left eye. However, the right brain can control some aspects of speech such as intonation, accentuation, rhythm. Artistic ability, spacial perception, visualization, intuitiveness and creative thinking can also be centered in the right brain. However, some say that artists often rely too much on trying to develop their right brain. Most important to note is that all of this brain dominance will be in varying degrees in different people.

It's an interesting science, and there are all sorts of casual tests one cant take to attempt to identify if you are right brained or left brained, but I'm sure the loss of brain function is not all that entertaining when it's  happening to you.

It remains likely Kirk will make a good recovery based on his age, economic status and health care access.

UPDATE: 12:19 PM A friend of mine who is a dance and movement analyst adds:

Recovery from stroke is not entirely based on what areas of the brain were affected. The ability of the brain to be plastic (see Norm Doidge's book: The Brain that Changes Itself) is known, but motivation, previous linkages, biochemistry, and a host of other factors play a role, as does state of mind. As you point out, the man has resources and probably the best healthcare plan money can buy, but inner resources matter too.