Left Brain, Right Brain and Everything in Between

I was looking at some pictures on the Internet, and what happens when you have a stroke - which part of the brain takes care of things.  I had the stroke on the left hemisphere of my brain, which explains a lot of the issues I now have.

Sometimes, I wish, I would have had the stroke on the "right side" of my brain 😉 because it would have made it a bit easier for me.  The right side produces dreams, responsible for musicality (not such a big deal), drawing pictures (again, not a big deal to me 😏), and creates emotion (I'm not going to say it, those who know me, will laugh as well).  There are other things, and you can read them if you'd like.

The core of who and what I am, is represented by the left hemisphere - those who know me, can attest to that.  The left side controls language skills, speech, memorizing facts and names, reading and writing abilities, and controls science and math capabilities.  WOW!!!!  All of these things are me (or used to be, before I had the stroke).  So this is why it is so difficult for me to get back to the things I was good at, before I had the stroke!  (Or even half of what I was good at before I had the stroke 😮.)

Now, I am trying to look on the bright side (and it's a struggle these days as I have said in previous postings of my blog).  If I would have had the right side of my brain impacted - I'm not sure if I could drive anymore, I might have been in a wheel chair or would have to use a walker full-time, and it would be difficult to judge where I am in relation to spatial orientation, and I would be challenged with multi-tasking and parallel processing information.  Okay, so maybe it would have been so good either!

Having said all this and the issues I have had with depression and everything, it might help me to take sometime away from social media, just to get my "head" back in the game (and with the beginning of Lent starting - it might be a good thing for me)!  It can't hurt, at least, and eventually I'll be back!

There are a few things in the next couple of weeks; I have a volunteer training session at the Edmonton Humane Society, to volunteer with the animals; and there is an educational assistant information session, with the EPSB, so I'm going to check it out to see if that is an opportunity that I want to explore.  Also, I have put in an application for volunteer work at the Grey Nun's Hospital that I am waiting to hear back from.  Oh, and I still have to get a hold of the BIS Toastmasters to find out which Thursdays they meet, because it would definitely help me with the oral communication.  There is a bit going on, so we will see what happens!

Abuse

 

I spend some of my time with different groups that have something to do with brain injuries whether it be for support, therapy or how to do things differently now that I have had a stroke.  I'm going to share this from one of the groups - I won't tell you which group or anything like that - because it is supposed to be confidential but I also believe people should know about it and that they should report it, if it does happen to someone you know.

I was at one of the groups and there was a woman who has a brain injury.  She can't say very many words and it can be difficult to get things out when she needs to tell someone something.  You really have to be patient with her, and that's all right!  She started telling the group that there was a call on her answering machine - it was from the police.  They were wondering if she could come down to the Police station and do a video recording session with them.  She went on to say "it was good that they are taking an interest in her".  As she kept talking (I finally realized), she had suffered a sexual assault by her neighbor (the person that lives on the floor above her).  She was more emotional about the fact that the police wanted her statement that what actually happened to her!  She spoke a bit more and told all of us, that this was the SECOND time (I couldn't believe it), it happened.  Now the group leaders with this group, know her very well, and they are helping privately with her to get some help with all of this (I want all of you to know this).

I think about child sexual abuse and senior sexual abuse that goes on, because it is in the news and everything; but also it goes on with the disabled, too.  It must have been very difficult when it happened to her, who does she go to and what to do afterwards.  I really must give my support and kudos to this woman - firstly because she told all of us in the group and because even in her current state, she is thinking about her next steps with what she should do and how she should do it.  I think she is an amazing woman to share this!