Executive function:
Ray is a 49 year old high school teacher of computing who was admitted to hospital following a right frontal haemorrhage. He has been recovering consistently and is now in his last two weeks of being in the rehabilitation unit. Ray is married to Andrew and they have a 13-year-old-daughter, Olivia. Andrew works off-shore in the oil industry. Olivia attends the local high school where Ray is a teacher and they drive in together every morning. In addition to his work as a teacher, Ray loves cooking and has entered into several Chefmaster competitions.
He is currently, on the rehabilitation unit, working towards discharge home and a goal-planning meeting has been scheduled to identify his progress and ongoing goals.
After the multi-disciplinary team discusses with Ray and his family a plan is put in place to progress Ray’s rehabilitation programme.
Ray, Andrew, PT, Neuropsychologist, OT, medical consultant, nurse, speech and language therapist, dietitian
PT – Ray’s has undergone PT neuro assessment review which has shown a significant improvement in his walking ability but has indicated some ongoing high level balance issues and some persistent left sided weakness. He should still be supervised when walking but he is often a bit impulsive and does not wait for supervision.
OT – Ray has been progressing with some simple kitchen tasks and can make a hot drink. He wishes to now increase the complexity of these to undertaking more than one cooking task at a time and using more ingredients (signature dish is poached pear in Madeira wine). He continues to have some issues with problem-solving and getting things in the right order. He can be inconsistent when doing these tasks depending on whether things are straightforward or more complex. But I think that you are aware of these things, aren’t you Ray (Ray nods).
Neuropsychology – I have just started with Ray on his assessments and he is performing well in many areas. We need to continue to assess though, as he often is talking a good game but has difficulty and there is a bit of concerns around how he will manage with more complex tasks and how he will manage at home.
Ray – I feel I’m doing really well on most things, but I agree with what everybody’s saying and these are the things I’m worried about when I go home. I really want to get back to doing my cooking and I’m also thinking about Olivia as I do most daily things with her with Andrew being off-shore for weeks at a time. I’m also really worried about getting back to my work too as this was pretty stressful before, and I don’t know how I will manage. I also want to get back to driving as soon as possible too.
Andrew – I’ve been given a bit of leave but I need to get back to work and I’m worried about Ray will cope at home and how Olivia will get to all the things that she goes to, as well. I want to support Ray as best as I can but I’m worried if I can’t do enough or if I end up doing too much for him. Olivia has said that she is concerned about being at home with her Dad, and how she will deal with anything that happens.
Page last reviewed: 15 Jul 2022
