Wednesday, February 06, 2008
You Are Not Morg or I-Morg
Sunday I was afflicted with aphasia.
I had posted to a bulletin board and was flipping back and forth with Brian between Alias, Puppy Bowl IV, and the Superbowl. I was also trying to begin knitting a hat, and started having trouble counting my cast-on stitches.
I suddenly felt very stupid. In addition to actually having problems counting, I couldn't remember how to finish casting on. Then I couldn't figure out how to start knitting the round.
Then I got tired of watching Alias, so I tried to tell Brian that he could watch the Superbowl, since we had already seen most of a showing of Puppy Bowl.
The words wouldn't come out.
I got frustrated, Brian got frustrated with me, so I went upstairs to take a bath. When Brian tried to ask me what was wrong, I really couldn't explain or do anything much more than cry. I could pretty much only say "yes," "no," and "oh Lord." So he dialed the on-call oncologist's number, and we were told to go to the emergency room at U of M, where they tried to ask me dizzying questions I couldn't answer, and gave me various scans, which indicated positive for brain metastases.
I was admitted and have so far been through three whole-brain radiation treatments. I will undergo fourteen altogether.
What really helped me recover speech and thinking (I couldn't remember properly the days of the week or months of the year--I couldn't remember our dog's name; I couldn't spell "Elkins" or "Yanosko") was a tiny steroid pill. I have been evaluated by a speech therapist, who believes I am doing just fine. The brain radiation might cause some temporary loss of memory or cognition, but it may be possible to increase the steroid. I have also heard a lot of positive stories about people being successfully treated for brain mets so I am very hopeful.
It was terribly frightening, but we will deal with this.
For now I feel like I've had the brain helmet put on and could operate on Spock if I needed to.
I had posted to a bulletin board and was flipping back and forth with Brian between Alias, Puppy Bowl IV, and the Superbowl. I was also trying to begin knitting a hat, and started having trouble counting my cast-on stitches.
I suddenly felt very stupid. In addition to actually having problems counting, I couldn't remember how to finish casting on. Then I couldn't figure out how to start knitting the round.
Then I got tired of watching Alias, so I tried to tell Brian that he could watch the Superbowl, since we had already seen most of a showing of Puppy Bowl.
The words wouldn't come out.
I got frustrated, Brian got frustrated with me, so I went upstairs to take a bath. When Brian tried to ask me what was wrong, I really couldn't explain or do anything much more than cry. I could pretty much only say "yes," "no," and "oh Lord." So he dialed the on-call oncologist's number, and we were told to go to the emergency room at U of M, where they tried to ask me dizzying questions I couldn't answer, and gave me various scans, which indicated positive for brain metastases.
I was admitted and have so far been through three whole-brain radiation treatments. I will undergo fourteen altogether.
What really helped me recover speech and thinking (I couldn't remember properly the days of the week or months of the year--I couldn't remember our dog's name; I couldn't spell "Elkins" or "Yanosko") was a tiny steroid pill. I have been evaluated by a speech therapist, who believes I am doing just fine. The brain radiation might cause some temporary loss of memory or cognition, but it may be possible to increase the steroid. I have also heard a lot of positive stories about people being successfully treated for brain mets so I am very hopeful.
It was terribly frightening, but we will deal with this.
For now I feel like I've had the brain helmet put on and could operate on Spock if I needed to.
Labels: aphasia, brain metastases, brain scan, Brian, CT scan, Decadron, MRI, star trek, WBR, whole-brain radiation
