Sunday, April 01, 2007

Me and My Brain



This is my brain, can you see the stroke?

For the full audio version, click the player below.




Having a stroke is like seeing a blue screen come up on your monitor saying your computer had a critical error and apologizes for having to shut down. When you reboot nothing happens!

Most home computer users haven’t the faintest idea how to fix the problem and if it continues not to turn on they take it to the shop and have an expert fix it.

If the hard disk is fried or the board is toasty you have to spend some money on fixing it or replacing it. Unfortunately you can’t do that with your brain. You’re stuck with it for the rest of your life. One per customer and please keep the line moving.

I’ve always thought a computer is patterned after a brain. Every piece of information gets stored somewhere. We have 5 senses or ways of looking at the information with links to other already known information and how it relates back so the brain is the ultimate search engine.

This revelation gives me a lot of hope. While areas of my brain no longer work many do and might contain the information I need to get mobile and talking again. In fact get it all back.

As a kid we’re told that we only use 10% of our brain. Science just doesn’t really know what the other 90% is doing. I think those percentages have changed over the years but still a lot is unknown about the workings of the brain.

Computers with bad sectors on the hard drive can in some cases be worked around. It might be slower but it’s better that nothing at all.
This it my theory I came up with in my hospital bed between therapy sessions and sleep sessions. The life I’ve known is at a full stop so I took the opportunity to let my imagination come up with alterative ways to get better.

It dawned on me words I can’t say I can think. Words I think I can’t spell. So thought, speech and spelling for one word is in different sectors in my brain. How computer like! A work around must be possible.

A runner would say this is the point where they “ Hit the Wall “. They either give up or push through to the finish line. Finishing first is not the point. The point is finishing!

So here I am at the wall. I didn’t know I’d entered a race but I’m in it just the same. Stop or Go the decision is up to me. I can’t take the computer back to the store I'll just have to work with it and fix it.

Just to make everything a little more interesting at this point I don’t know the route or where the finish line is. All I know is when my brain and I cross that finish line I will be very happy with my recovery.

I’ll keep looking for ways of doing the seemingly impossible. Do what I know I can’t and get what I supposedly can’t reach.

Reprogramming is now in session.