In the beginning days, this is what brain damage from my
stroke looked like.
stroke looked like.
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| The first days of my hospital stay were the last days of January, and the next days were the beginning of February. February was a terrible word to learn. I was asked hourly what the date was. I couldn't say or write 'February.' You can see that the first try writing the new month was way off - "froundo." When I tried to concentrate slowly in a later try, I began to hear some sounds, and "Febre" appeared. Another try most likely prompted the date "Feb 1, 2015." You can see that the F in the year was replaced by a 5, most likely prompted again. |
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| There were some visitors at the hospital - my cousins Steve and Linda. I blurted, "Steve!" when they entered. It was clear and precise. I wrote "Stew" instead of Steve, and he helped me with his name. Linda's name was somewhere trapped in my brain. I have told about the letter L before, and Linda's name was a blank just like my sister's name, Lisa, and my coworker and friend's name, Lisanne. When I asked about Uncle George, my mother's brother, I couldn't say his name. I started writing "Geog e." When Steve and Linda left, I referred to Steve as 'Thomas.' Steve's mother used to call him Stephen Thomas when he was a little child, and I had to practice Steve's name to remember it again. My friends and neighbors Ann and Ray visited at the hospital. I blurted, "Ann!" when they entered. It was clear and precise. Ray's name was somewhere trapped in my brain. I could write "Ray" clearly, and I could show him, but I couldn't say it. Look at the alphabet below. The L, Q, R and X were missing from the alphabet. They were inserted and circled. For some reason, I could write the R in Ray's name.  |
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| It was Super Bowl Sunday. I was in the hospital. Steve and Linda and I were talking about the game coming that night, and I wanted to discuss the problem with the deflated footballs. I couldn't say football and I couldn't write it either. I drew the football and wrote "Pasoto" on the first try, and with more concentration, "foobboot." |
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| This was my first post-stroke post on Facebook on my little Netbook computer. I wanted to write a paragraph, and I tried to tell you all about the MRI and the tests, and all the prayers from you, and the details from my first days, and more. In the end, all that I could muster was a solitary word, "Progress!" I knew the letters "Pro," and I Googled the word and the words "Thank you." |
