Aphasia

How many people reading this know what aphasia is? Raise your hand! But don't comment, because only Tracee knows how to do that ;P

Aphasia will probably be what my life's work centres on. It's a language disability which results from damage to the language areas of the brain. Generally, the person's intellect is the same, but they aren't able to communicate at the same level they were at previous to the stroke/head injury/etc. It can affect speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. This semester we have a class about adult neurological disorders and not surprisingly, half of it focuses on aphasia. We had a guest speaker today. She gave us "homework": To tell at least 10 people about aphasia. I'm hoping this gets to at least five?

Our guest speaker was an amazing 34 year old woman who had a brain aneurysm when she was 27 years old and eight months pregnant with her first child. She remembers having a really intense headache and being in and out of consciousness and vomiting while her husband drove her to the hospital. She woke up two weeks later with a new baby and a quarter of her skull removed. The right side of her body was paralyzed and she couldn't speak. She could remember two people: her parents. Slowly she made gains. She remembered her husband, but called him Graham (his name is Rob - Graham was the name of her boss).

Eight years post-stroke she is now a motivational speaker, has had a hand in creating the official Australian aphasia handbook for patients and their families, and owns a personal training business. She went from being in a wheelchair, to walking, then running, and then running 42 k marathons. Along the way she had successes and setbacks. The damage to her brain left her experiencing grand mal seizures. Some of the meds she's had to take have caused her hair to fall out. She quit her job, a high-level HR career. However, she loves her current job and is having much more fun at it.

Sometimes they call aphasia an "invisible" disability and listening to this woman it's easy to figure out why. She's in great shape. When she talks, she sounds almost like someone who hasn't been through all of this trauma, except every so often she pauses, or substitutes a word, or repeats herself - which any of us do on a day to day basis, hers is just a bit more noticeable (but probably wouldn't be to most people). She has to deal with things that the rest of us take for granted every day. For example, she might go to the grocery store and the clerk will say "That'll be $lskdufklsdjfdjf" and she'll take out a bill hoping that it will cover it. Or, if her two kids (now 8 and 5) are both competing for her attention in the morning, her brain can't handle it and she stops understanding what either of them are saying. How do you get a 5 and 8 year old to understand what aphasia is? They've never known her any other way. She says now that they're getting older, it can be more complicated, especially their attitudes. She might say "Can you put the peanut butter back in the freezer?" and her son will scoff and laugh at her. One day they'll realize how many amazing accomplishments she's made and how lucky they both are to be alive and have a mother who's alive, but right now they just can't grasp it. When they get a little older, they might even be angry that their mother is different. Are there support groups for this sort of thing?

My research project this year and next will focus on Aphasia and what happens when people are discharged from the hospital. What kind of therapy, if any, will they get? How is the follow-up? Is there a follow-up? How many people are actually diagnosed with it? Which hospitals are on the ball? I'm so glad I had the opportunity to do a placement in the Rehab Centre in Ottawa during my CDA program in 2008. It's really helped me realize what my passion is in this field. With anything, there's a "hierarchy" for adult speech: Laryngectomy/Head and Neck Cancer is Highest, then Acute Care, then Rehab but they're all extremely important and I think you need to have a certain personality to work with these people who have been through hell for the last few weeks of their lives and give them motivation for the long road ahead. I honestly think I can do that. I hope I can do that.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/mum-beats-aneurism/story-e6freoof-1111113136883