Marathon Pundit: Mark Kirk returning to Senate on Thursday

Monday, December 31, 2012

Mark Kirk returning to Senate on Thursday

It's hard to believe, but there is some good news from the Senate tonight. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) will return to the Capitol on Thursday. Kirk suffered a major stroke in January.

From AP:

Nearly a year after a stroke left him barely able to move the left side of his body, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk is expected to climb the 45 steps to the Senate's front door this week — a walk that's significant not just for Illinois' junior senator, but also for medical researchers and hundreds of thousands of stroke patients.

It's estimated only one-third of patients return to work after a stroke, said Dr. Elliot Roth, medical director of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s New Patient Recovery Unit and AbilityLab, where Kirk recovered.

The 53-year-old Republican will return to the high-profile, demanding life of a Washington lawmaker after an experimental rehabilitation so intense it's often compared to boot camp, Roth said. Patients keep grueling schedules, often spending eight hours a day or more re-learning how to walk, talk and do other tasks.

Because there are risks to going back to work unprepared, patients do "practice runs" of what it will be like to be back on the job. If and when they successfully return to work, Roth added, "It's like having a great symphony play and recognizing it's all the practice beforehand that went into it.”