As most of you know, the tumor was on the right side of my brain. It was right where the parietal, temporal and frontal lobes connect. Because it was touching all of them, removal damaged all 3 lobes. What does this mean? Well, it means that I have some disabilities from all three lobes, but not everything that is controlled by these lobes has been affected. Here is a list of things that are controlled by the right side of the brain:
Injuries of the right side of the brain can cause:
- Visual-spatia
- Visual memory deficits
- Left neglect (inattention to the left side of the body)
- Decreased awareness of deficits
- Altered creativity and music perception
- Loss of “the big picture” type of thinking
- Decreased control over left-sided body movements
The things that I am dealing with are: Visual-spatial impairment- I only have this problem when picking something up or something that is far away; Left neglect- my left hand is almost useless, I have no feeling in my palm which makes it very hard to use especially when picking things up and when I'm typing; Loss of the big picture type thinking- It is very hard for me to think and understand plans for the future, Adam usually has to break it down in small parts in order for me to understand the end result;
Here is a list of things controlled by the temporal lobe:
Temporal Lobe Functions
- Memory
- Understanding language (receptive language)
- Sequencing
- Hearing
- Organization
My memory is horrible now. If I don't write something down I WILL forget it. An example is the other day Adam asked me to get him a snack when I went into the gas station. I walked in, got drinks and the boys a snack and then paid and left. Totally forgot about Adam's snack and there was less than 5 minutes since he had asked me.
When someone talks to me it takes me a few seconds to process what they say before I can respond.
I can no longer do one thing while listening to someone talk to me. I don't know why, but my brain can't handle doing 2 things at once anymore.
Here is a list of things controlled by the frontal lobe:
Frontal Lobe Functions
- Attention and concentration
- Self-monitoring
- Organization
- Speaking (expressive language)
- Motor planning and initiation
- Awareness of abilities and limitations
- Personality
- Mental flexibility
- Inhibition of behavior
- Emotions
- Problem solving
- Planning
My concentration isn't bad when talking to someone, but reading is a challenge for me now especially if I am reading something like a history book.
Speaking- I find myself tripping over my words a lot now. It is frustrating because I know what I want to say, but it doesn't come out the way I want to say it!
I have a really hard time accepting my limitations. I can't lift or hold anything in my left arm, but I always try. I also have a hard time picking up heavy things and I have a hard time holding the boys for a long period of time. The hardest thing to accept is the fact that I can't carry my boys when their legs get tired because if I do, I hurt later.
Personality-- my personality has changed in the sense that I get angry really easily now. Something that used to not bother me will enrage me now. I'm working on how to control this though and hoping I can get back to how it was before.
Emotions--this goes along with my personality, sometimes I feel like I have no control over my emotions.
Lastly, things controlled by the parietal lobe:
Parietal Lobe Functions
As I mentioned above, I have pretty much no sense of touch in my left hand. One day Adam was pinching my palm as hard as he could and I didn't even notice until he told me to look at him. This makes it hard to pick stuff up and hold stuff in my left hand.
The only issue I have with visual perception is long distance, same goes for spatial perception.
I didn't make this post so people will feel sorry for me. I made this post so others could see that even though I am in remission, I'm still dealing with issues caused by the tumor and that even though I look fine on the outside, there are many things that I still struggle with everyday.
|
