Moltroub...Merl and All...
You note the brain shrinkage...as we age...and, that is so true...if we do not keep it active...
or it is injured/damaged in some way... and, of course, some specific diseases...
Today, my NY Times has "Can You Get Smarter"... and is accessible on line as: NY Times - Can You Get Smarter? (and, I imagine..."of course, as long as its not a SmartPhone for a DumbCaller)
Of interest, they note "starting at age 55, our hippocampus, a brain region critical to memory, shrinks 1-2% every year, to say nothing of...fact that one in 9 people age 65-older has Alzheimer's (AD)...
The # afflicted is expected to grow rapidly as the baby boom generation ages..." And, the article goes on to address the positives of brain training...etc...
I was also involved w/PositScience @ www.brainhq.com ...In 2007, I was planning to take their "Brain Fitness" at a local assisted ling center...because I needed an instructor...(otherwise I could have bought a CD for home use). Some added humor...talking w/long-term, more elderly friends, the 102 y/o hubby was saying I was supposed to discover something... His adorable, brilliant wife, told me he wanted me to pick up the March 2007 issue of the Discover magazine... It had a grand article intro to the founder of the Posit Science... SOOOO, that was the 102 y/o explaining to the 66 y/o who had survived brain treatment... most importantly....the highly marketed minimally invasive procedure...when able to walk/talk in my 3rd ER (in 29 days)...
My initial neuropsych tests, 90 days s/p procedure...reading level ranged from 2 years to 13.8 years...
And, because of all that, I could have stayed the same...or sought care...and, it has been a horrendous issue...to even be able to explain it to you... The neuro-mds involved....encouraged me to return to work...(and my story-formatted records so indicate I was 'back-to work'...) A year and a half later, I was immediately granted SS Disability...and, there is so much more to the story...
I did nothing but therapy after therapy... including the most important to me...the vision therapy...I am yet a slow, slow, reader...
Before I can tell you more of the NYTimes article... I have to read, type, outline... but at least, I regained the sensibility of needing that...
I have gone in 3 times for f/u neuropsych testing since the SS Disablity...to experience...the areas as achievement, the reductions, and the "same"... I began all this @ 61 years...to now 74 years...
There are parts of mine that have 'stayed the same'...and my simplest explanation of one issue... on reading/comprehension/memory... On the PositScience...one is to view 15 words...in sequence...and, then list them...In 8 years...I have not been able to surpass 3 words...Conversely, in my WonderWord game in the mornings...I average 6 minutes...But...I can see the words thru-out the game...Whereas, when I glance at 15 words (PositScience)...each not again visible...my memory is almost worthless... (is that 'not visible?')
One of these days, I will write to PositScience...for them to study and add help in regaining that portion of memory... it has to secure to specific portions of our vision/memory pieces...And, no, I'd never rely, waste my time, asking an average neuro-doc...
Now, that I've whined/cried/witched...have a great evening!!! ...
Moltroub said:
Alice, I'm glad you're going to follow up with your Neurosurgeon. I vasospasmed 26 of the 28 days in ICU, my doctor used the triple H therapy. I'm not sure that was available when you ruptured.
Patioplans - you're right, cisterns are deeper places along the subarachnoid space in which our cerebral spinal fluid flows. I thought they were just in the brain, the subarachnoid space covers our brain and down and around the spinal cord (can't think of the right word)
Merl- there is only so much space in our brains, that's why even a concussion can effect the brain. But as we age, our brains shrink, just like babies who have more space in their skull, we get that way too.
For everyone- Merl makes a point about doctors, I hate to think our specialists and even our PCPs are blowing us off. Mine doesn't. And I'm eternally grateful for that as she found another aneurysm six months after I ruptured. She explained my local hospital would never have seen it because they don't have the machines available that she does. She never blows me off and answers everything in language that we both understand. Some medical professionals hide behind med jargon, it's a safety valve for their emotions.
Dr Stacey Quintero Wolfe is the best Neurosurgeon in my opinion. But since not everyone here has Dr. Q-W let me reiterate how important it is to go in with a list of questions and concerns. If the medical professional goes into "med speak" don't pretend you understand, ask them to dumb it down. I do it all the time and it works. When Dr. Q-W doesn't know something, she tells us. I know she is working on (can't think of the word - but it's developing a history of when I do "x" then "y" happens). This woman never met me before I ruptured, my local hospital didn't send all my history ( I think it's because they were in the process of digitalizing to a new program). But just think, our docs have to do this with each and everyone of us, and there's not that many of us. But they keep collecting information and building more knowledge and that means greater success rates for those that follow. Make sure you understand what the doctor is saying, before you leave their office.