Blame it on the brain #1

Say "aphasia."

Now, do you know what it means?

According to one of my dictionaries, it's "the partial or total inability to produce and understand speech as a result of brain damage caused by injury or disease."

Too sterile. I like the way the folks who have it have explained it to me. It's not so simply this: You have the word(s) in your mind, you know exactly what you want to say, but something else comes out instead or perhaps nothing at all.

While working on these brain-related books (brain injuries, strokes, brain tumors-brain cancer) I've been meeting a lot of individuals and families who cope with aphasia … a word that was likely never in their vocabulary until they had to deal with it.

Like the young, highly educated woman who had a stroke at about age 30 and when talking to her mom, sometimes "Dad" is what comes out. With a wink, her mom told me she only gets a little miffed when her daughter says "Grandma" instead of "Mom."

Blame it on the brain that's battling its way back from an injury, which could be from a stroke, disease or an external force. Not everybody who has those conditions has aphasia, and among those who have it, every case is different.

We'll talk about frustrating … next blog …