Feeding His Brain... Literally

One night last week, I was a couple of hours later than usual arriving home from work due to a meeting across town. It was at a restaurant, so I went ahead and ate there before I went home (what was I supposed to do, say "No" to pizza? Right...). When I finally did get home, I found that Wes had been waiting on me to eat dinner. Since he only had himself to worry about at that point, he decided to play around and cook something, "just to see if he could."

As he took his first few bites of the chicken and potato concoction he so adventurously created, he became shocked as he realized what had happened. "Oh my gosh... This tastes REALLY GOOD! I did it! I cooked something!"

For Wesley as a brain-injured person, this was a huge accomplishment. One of the most difficult challenges faced by many brain patients is the loss of their ability to complete process-oriented tasks. For example, when Wes was still in rehab during the early stages of his recovery, the instructions by his physical therapist to, "pick the book up off of the table, walk to the other table, and lay the book down," were pretty much just not gonna happen. The fact that he has evolved so far in his recovery that he can actually follow through with preparing the food, deciding which pan and method of cooking it to use, seasoning it, keeping track of how long it has been cooking, and stop cooking it when it is ready to eat is enough to bring a tear to my eye.

The outcome of Wes's initial experiment was his new passion for cooking. The next day, while I was at work, Wes had his mother take him to the store to buy ingredients for a recipe he had picked out. When I arrived home that evening, I opened the door to the smell of masala and fresh cilantro. Wesley was making Indian food - my favorite! When I looked at the recipe he was attempting, I was amazed by its length, involvement, and intricacy. That recipe had more ingredients than I've used in probably, oh I don't know, three years? He was visibly proud of himself, and with good reason. One year ago, he wouldn't have been able to even read a recipe, let alone know what the ingredients were and find them in a store.

When dinner was ready, he apprehensively brought me a plate with Eggplant Masala on it. "I hope you like it," he said.

I took the first bite and I. Was. Blown. Away. It was so incredibly flavorful and delicious, and my heart swelled with so much pride for how hard he had worked, that I nearly cried right there. I told him how much I loved it so many times and with such intensity that I'm sure he thought I was faking it after awhile; but, I was serious. It tasted like something I would have ordered at a restaurant.

The next night, Wes dared to make a complicated turkey burger recipe with even more ingredients than the night before. Once again, delicious. The night after that, chicken and potatoes with a special creamy masala sauce. I know it seems like we've been eating a lot of masala lately, but um, have you ever had it? It's kind of a big deal.

Each night for the last week, Wesley has made something out of the Indian food cookbook that my mother gave me for Christmas; and each night, I have been impressed again and again at Wes's accomplishments.

You see, this type of activity is EXTREMELY theraputic for a brain patient. In fact, at rehab they had a weekly program where they would pick a meal, shop for the ingredients, and prepare the meal with the therapists. And now he can do it all by himself. What's even more significant about this is that Wesley took the initiative and did this all on his own - no one taught him how, no one told him he should do it. Cooking forces you to think constantly and monitor changing and sometimes potentially dangerous conditions (usually, brain-injured individuals and ovens/stoves aren't a good combination); the analyzation and process-oriented thinking required exercise the left brain. Conversely, the creative outlet and possibilities for alterations in the recipe typically enhance and nourish the right brain.

Do you have any idea how important this is for Wesley? It is really satisfying to watch him continue to defy the doctors who said he probably wouldn't be functional again or the therapists who told him that if you haven't recovered fully after a year, you never will (yes, someone actually said that to him). Not every brain patient is as successful as Wes, though. It is sheer determination and the refusal to accept the dire prognoses given to him that has motivated Wesley to work at his recovery. And trust me, he has worked his ass off.

I am so, so proud of this man that it is almost painful.