It was a strange feeling; offputting. And both Max and I felt it although we couldn’t quite talk about it. Mum had had a right hemisphere stroke and she had normal post-stroke symptoms – fatigue, headache, dysphagia, insistence she could walk if only the Doctors would let her, left side neglect and an inability to recognise her own left arm as hers.
But there was something else; something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I’d be sitting next to her or hovering over her and she’d give me this look. A strange, unreadable look I’d never seen before. Other family members would walk into the room and she’d greet them normally but when I was there she sometimes reacted strangely to my presence.
In the overall scheme of things, this seemed small and unimportant but still it niggled. Why me? Later I’d discover that Max was experiencing the same thing although it was obviously not something we spoke about. And how to put words to it anyway? Can you imagine that conversation?
“Mum’s being a bit weird toward me.”
“She’s had a stroke. Duh.”
Luckily for me I’ve long had a layman’s interest in neurological issues and one day it hit me: it was my glasses. I’ve recently been diagnosed with mild astigmatism and now wear glasses almost all the time. My memory tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that sometimes people with brain damage can find it difficult to recognise faces and things like glasses can confuse the issue.
I did a quick experiment with Mum; asking her who I was with my glasses on or off. The verdict was clear: Mum had (mild) visual Agnosia and was unable to recognise people – even people she knew extremely well – if they were wearing glasses. Mum would hear my voice and I would tell her I was Gen so she knew intellectually it was me but would see a stranger when she looked at me. It must have been extremely disconcerting to look up at a familiar voice to see someone you didn’t know. No wonder she was confused! For the first week or two after the stroke, we all made sure we didn’t wear glasses around Mum so she could recognise us.
Agnosia is quite common after a stroke and is the inability to recognise familiar faces and objects by sight. Mum also showed some evidence of other recognition problems – she knew and was thrilled she’d received flowers but didn’t react to them when we showed them to her. She seemed unable to recognise people and objects in photographs.
Once Mum began her recovery process, she began to bluff and not just with her Agnosia; with everything from her reading exercises to her occupational therapy. She knew I was Gen by my voice so would lie when I asked her if she recognised me with my glasses on. She couldn’t help giving me that same odd confused look when I wasn’t speaking though – you can’t fake that.
The good news is that Mum’s Agnosia seems to have now resolved completely. She can recognise people even with their glasses on and she can accurately pick out objects in photographs. In that, at least, Mum has made a full recovery.
Did you know?
Brad Pitt has suffered from birth with congenital Prosopagnosia (face blindness): the inability to recognise people’s faces. He has to work out who a person is by their clothes, their voice, and the context of their encounter. This has led to a reputation for being “snobby” because he fails to greet people he passes in the street. So if you should ever meet Brad Pitt, make sure to speak first because he won’t recognise you no matter how many times you meet.
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