When I was 12 and being sick in the hospital, I was given a "magic square" puzzle where you have to maneuver 11 little squares inside the bigger square frame that had 1 empty square for sliding into.
This one formed a phrase "You get out of life just what you put into it"
Seems to match up with Karma pretty well.
Very similar situation, only I was eight. Almost a week in the hospital, and then a month at home. Got me hooked on these puzzles and problem solving. You know you have the problem solved when you learn how to pop the tiles out, and put them back in in the correct positions
Learned the same with the Rubik Cube: 1st was just to peel the colored stickers off and make it all black, and then 2nd was learning how to pop the pieces off the spider and put them back on.