I Had a Stroke When I Was 26

by Nina Mitchell

I am a young woman whose Mind went Pop. Mindpop. My stroke took away my limbs and speech for a while. Here are some chronicles…

I. Missing Fruits

I had aphasia, a general term for loss of language. Some patients have difficulty with nouns, or articles, or complicated words … all manner of language problems. There is a famous case of a patient who spoke fine, but lost the names of … fruits and vegetables.

In practice, not being able to communicate fully is a prison.

II. Mr. Tucker

If you have only one usable hand, talking to your computer is better than poking at it with one finger. So I use voice-activated software to “type.”

The software deliberately comes with no swear words in its vocabulary. This is to avoid mishearing the name of your boss, Mr. Tucker.

However, you can teach it any new word you want. I had an amusing morning swearing at my computer, repeatedly.

III. Lace Trace

If you lace your shoes differently, you can tie your shoes with one hand.

IV. Youth

“You are so young!” people say when they find out about my stroke. Miss Manners does not have a good answer to them. “Yes?” “Thank you?” “You are so old?”

But young people’s strokes are increasing:

Strokes are rising dramatically among young and middle-aged Americans while dropping in older people….

Apparently I have lots of young stroke buddies. Put your canes in the air!

Previously: Other Mindpop posts.

Nina Mitchell had a stroke when she was 26. More chronicles are at Mindpop or Facebook.

© 2011 by Nina Mitchell, The material in this article is protected by copyright and may not be copied or published or otherwise distributed without the Author’s permission. All Rights Reserved.