Seniors Choice Newsmagazine
February 2007
- By Rudy Loeser -
This happened last November and was, to him, an event of huge proportions.
He woke up one morning, put on the coffee, had his toast, and juice, and then went to the computer in order to get on with his day. I can tell you that, at this point, he felt fine. Breakfast conversation was normal and he did not burn his toast. In fact, it began as a totally normal morning, but he soon discovered that something was wrong. When he sat down at his computer he realized, to his horror, that he did not know how to turn it on.
He tried for about 10 minutes, hitting every key, testing the electrical connections, but nothing worked. The computer remained silent, refused to light up and, finally, caused him to give up in dismay. A truly scary moment but, as if that shock were not enough, it was to be followed by something much more frightening.
He decided that it might be a good idea to lie down, calm down and read a few pages of the book he had begun the evening before, perhaps even to have another nap. Reading is one of life's great pleasures; one that can dampen anxiety, agitation and other turmoil. At this point, he decided not to call his doctor, not to go to the hospital, or, for that matter, drive anywhere because he knew that he was definitely not in a driving mode. He decided to lie down and read. And that is when the even bigger scare hit.
He held the book in his hand and was confronted with a page of nonsense. All he saw were groups of letters that seemed to be totally random, without meaning and conveying gibberish. Never in his life had he been confronted with a page of letters that held no meaning. He was totally at a loss as to what to do next and so took what seemed to him a childish way out. He crawled under the covers and closed his eyes. If nothing had changed after he had a nap, he'd call an ambulance.
It took him a while to go to sleep because he could not escape the fact that, for the better part of his life, he had made a living from writing. He did fall asleep and when he awoke a few hours later, the first thing he did was reach for the book. To his great relief he found that he could read and comprehend, if not completely and cohesively, at least the words were reasonably clear. He reasoned, this being the case, he would get into the car and drive to his doctor's office. The doctor saw him immediately, and after listening to his story he suggested a CAT scan at the Kelowna General Hospital, after which they would have a better idea concerning the sudden malady. Once they had the results of the test, they could decide what steps to take.
So, he waited and waited and waited for the phone call - seven weeks elapsed before he made it to the diagnostic department for the scan. In the meantime, he wrestled with a much-curtailed short-term memory which refused to divulge phone numbers, including his own, his bank number, the day of the week and Lord knows what other information. Moreover, when he sat down at the piano, the left hand had no idea how to behave in relation to the right. Meanwhile, he has not yet received the results of his CAT scan. I am amazed that, in the meantime, he finds it a fascinating exercise to live with new holes in his knowledge and perceptions. |
