Wednesday, September 03, 2008

For the record

I wake up in the morning and the world looks normal. The sun is shining and the sky is blue and I look outside and kids are walking past on their way to school.

It's amazing how normal everything looks. I look at K and she seems normal. That is until she decides to say something and what comes out of her mouth is incomprehensible. It might be a sentence or a statement but it doesn't make sense.
Then K decides to do something in the kitchen. She is a brilliant cook but now she will turn on the stove, turn on the hotplates, turn on the lights, turn on the dishwasher. She baked lasagne sheets as if they were biscuits. She's forgotten how to operate the washing machine and the microwave oven. She will put dirty dishes in the rubbish bin instead of the dishwasher. She will put tea bags into every conceivable place.
If I ask her what she is doing, she replies with a meaningless statement or not at all.
If I make a joke she will laugh. If I ask her her name she will be stumped, she doesn't know the answer.
At night her sleep is disturbed and she will get up and wander around the house turning on all the lights and moving things around.

I have taken time off work to care for her but this is only temporary. In the long term I don't know what will happen.
I can't plan ahead, I can't come to terms with what is happening. I am at a loss of what to do.
No doctor can explain to me what the problem is, and I only partially accept the epilepsy diagnosis.

8 comments:

none said...

It sounds like a tumor, stroke or aneurism is affecting the speech and memory centers.

I've seen examples of schizophrenia that are similar. They have rational thoughts but the word bank is jumbled..the sentences make perfect sense to them but sound like nonsense to everyone else.

Maybe additional MRI or a cat scan would determine where the problem is coming from.

Whatever happened I wish the best for you and yours

Stucco said...

Jeez Lex, that's terrible. I hope things improve post haste.

Lexcen said...

Thanks for your thoughts. Hammer, I think you are right. There will be further tests as the MRI showed brain damage.

Jeannie said...

Wow. I can't imagine trying to live like that - you must be terrified what she might get up to while you are sleeping - do you have anyone to stay with her so you can have some time off? You will need it. And while it sounds like there are no such things as experts on this, could there be any mind exercises you could do with her that might help get the synapses connecting properly again do you think? Keep at the doctors. If there is a med school close by, perhaps someone is researching brain disorders and treatments and would be interested in looking into this with you.

Lexcen said...

Jeannie, K is seriously ill, that is what the neurologists tell me and she will be admitted to hospital again today.

Anonymous said...

I really hope the doctors can sort this out and help you and your wife. I hope she responds well to meds/treatment and things can actually be normal Lex.

Lexcen said...

K has been showing slight improvement which gives lots of hope that she will return to normal over time. Brain damage/epilepsy are the cause of her problems. Further tests and psychiatric assessment on the way.

Unknown said...

Take care of YOU too Lex! Can't help no one if you're a wreck. That said, you sound remarkably together.

Take care, John

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