Finding the right word?

[Pembo]

Just before and after surgery I had a real problem with this and I've noticed that I sometimes I still can't figure out the word I need to say. It's as if my mind just draws a blank. And I still mix up words on occasion as well. I'm 14 mo post op and I thought this would all go away.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is there anything I can do to help myself?

[matti]

Hi Pembo - Yes, I have the same problem. I also noticed it a few months before my surgery and am still experiencing it 7 years later.  A little while back someone else posted this same question or it came up in a thread (not sure). Some of the respondents said they also are having the same problem. At first I thought I had a stroke, but drs. said no. I find that at times I can not finish my sentences. I just keep drawing blanks. I did not think anyone noticed, but my husband said he noticed it right away. He has been great, I find that he just steps right in and finishes what I can't. I hate to say it, but sometimes I feel so stupid. I know the words I want to say, but they just don't come out right. When I am in a social situation, I work really hard at getting the right words out, it can really be stressful as well as tiring.

I would love to hear if anyone has any ideas why this happens. Is it related to the type of surgical approach used? I had the middle fossa approach, lost my hearing nerve and facial nerve was damaged. Maybe there is a correlation?

matti

[Pembo]

My tumor was right side and I had sub-occipital approach. So I don't think it is the surgical approach. Most likely the nerves involved, darn those nerves.

Glad to know I'm not alone and I know exactly what you mean when you have to work hard on your listening and then on your speaking in social situations. I've found that I'm very quiet in large groups. I tend to do better in one on one coversations.

[OneEye]

Pempo - I have this problem all the time.  I hold a Master's degree and now I have a hard time getting a complete sentence out.  Check out the report at www.theblackriver.net/wobbler/wobblercognitive.html by Dr. Kenneth Erickson titled "Cognitive Aspects of Vestibular Disorders".  You will see many of these symptons identified and partly explained.  Hope this helps.

OneEye 

[thecakes]

   Yepers, this is troubling. I can be in the middle on a good story then....blank.  I kind of laugh and say its a brain tumor thing then I ask what i was talking about.  This is embarrassing-big time  thecakes

[wanderer]

Before surgery,   I slowly started to lose words,   get toungue tied,  and even studder a bit.    I really thought I was going crazy or that I was losing my IQ. 

After surgery most of it subsided.   However I have had some strange things with typing or hand writing.   Sometimes I type a word and I am thinking the correct one but I type it in the wrong tense,  or phonetically even though I know how to spell it properly.   Or sometimes It's just a completely different word all together.

Immediately after surgery while typing the first letter of each word would end up at the end of the word.   

My doctor swears it's nothing he did to me because my surgery was on the left side.

Oh well,  it is interesting.

[wadsy]

Hi Pembo,

Yes, I have the same problem in some conversations. Its not a stutter but just a sorta stumble to make sure it comes out right. Sometimes it doesn't and words are mixed up. Like I say things like 'conversations in problems' instead of 'problems in conversations' for instance. The anesthetist said to me that the drugs they use to keep you under during surgery tend to 'dumb down' his patients for few few months after. His words, not mine. Maybe it is that, or the manipulation on the brain. Who knows? Or a combination of both maybe. My now ex-girlfriend complained that I would forget what I had said some weeks prior too. When prompted it would come back to me. Funny thing though I have a great mind for numbers and things like that which hasn't altered much. Such is life post AN............................

[Vincent87]

Yup...Mom has that problem too.  She's 8 months post-op.  Someone on this forum referred to those moments as "brain skips"-an analogy of when a 33 or 45 record skips.  Mom is 69 and has ALWAYS been on top of her game.  We just chalk it all up to the gamma knife.  There's Life Before Gamma Knife and Life After.  She had a Quality of Life before...doesn't now sadly.

[Rc Moser]

Me to, I think it's short term memory loss. simple Math is difficult for me also, things I use  to do in my head are now on paper.  I also, mumble and studder more. My mind gets ahead of my fingers too.

[luv2teachsped]

Hi everyone: I too had the problem with "wrong words" for a few years before my surgery, but chalked it up to "fibro fog", as I have fibromyalgia. But 8 mo. post surgery and it gets hilarious at times. Yesterday I was reading a story to my students about penguins and every time I came to penguin I said pumpkin.  Even my special ed kids new I was way off and started to say penguin every time before i goofed again!  Good thing we can laugh!!luv2teachsped

[okiesandy]

I am not to sure it is the surgery. I didn't have surgery. I have found even before treatment that I had lost some memory.  I seem to have some big gaps. Also, I can be in the middle of a statement and can't seem to pull up the word I need to complete it. Maybe 5 minutes later the word will pop into my mind. I went back to work the week after my CK. I called my assistant Joyce (her name is Janice), not only, that I sent out 4 memos calling her Joyce. I find my self doing things to cover my mistakes and having to go back and recheck again and again my work. How scary, I work with contracts all day. I have found I can't spell beans and as for math. that is why they make calculators. That is if I can even punch the correct buttons. Some times that takes a couple of trys.

This has bothered me so badly I went for testing. My memory tested as normal. My comprehension is fine. I have been diagnosed as having stress trauma. Geez, I wonder why? Let's see, a brain tumor that was fast growing, loss of left side hearing in three days, diagnosed with AIED and now with Cochlear Hydrops, a form of Menier's. Told I may lose hearing in my only hearing ear very soon. On steroids that make me mean and very out spoken. trying to hang onto a job for 26 more months so that I can retire. Did I even mention fighting with my insurance to go out of state for treatment. Being turned down and then making the decision to either pay a cash price for surgery at HEI or having CK by local oncologist. Having CK and the mask did not fit. Had it done with out a mask. Wondering if the danged tumor will die or grow. STRESS what the heck is that?

[Angela]

A quick glance of that article tells me that I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed!
Now I know why I have "verbal constipation" and can't remember things like I used to (pre-op).