Brain Anatomy Lab
Description: For this lab we were given a cauliflower that represented a brain. We first had to research then label each part of the brain onto the piece of cauliflower. Once all pieces were labeled Mrs. Neto gave our group the situation of our cauliflower brain having a stroke in the left frontal lobe. After giving us the situation we were told to write a narrative as the patient, doctor, or family member of the patient. I chose to write my narrative as the child of the patient that suffered from the stroke.
Narrative
I should have been more observant and cautious when it came to my mom’s health. After the doctor had explained what the symptoms are for an oncoming stroke, I knew that I could have tried to prevent it, or at least received help earlier. With a history of health problems such as high blood pressure and a heart attack that had only occurred a year earlier, my mom was a likely candidate for a stroke in her left frontal lobe, especially because she had been so caught up with trying to keep a roof over our heads, that taking care of herself was not one of her top priorities.
Mom had been complaining of having trouble seeing through her left eye, and numbness in her arms and legs a few days earlier. It worried me because she did not usually complain unless something had been really bothering her, but when I had asked her if she needed to go to the doctor, she brushed me off saying that she would be fine and that she must have only been tired. Two days later, when I went to wake her to start getting ready for work, she started to speak in a very quiet, non- comprehensible manner. I tried to help her get out of bed only to have her crash to the floor. Her body became completely stiff as she layed on the ground slowly becoming unconscious, while still trying to speak through her slurred words.
By the time I had reached the hospital the doctor was already prepared to speak to me, he explained that my mom had just had a stroke in the left frontal lobe of her brain, “You are both lucky you found her when you did, there was a significant amount of bleeding, if you would have waited any longer she would have died.” If only the doctor knew that the mom I had grown up with, and loved so dearly, had actually died that day. She was never the same after her stroke, and I will never forget the first words she spoke to me after waking up, “Do I know you?” My heart broke in that moment, but the doctor was quick to try and comfort me, “I know it’s hard but memory loss is very common with stroke patients. I want you to be prepared to help her deal with the long-term effects of a stroke, such as a choppy speech pattern, weakness in the left side of her body, and changes in her behaviour and personality.” I was prepared to do whatever it took to nurse my mom back to health, even if it meant dropping out of school and getting a job to be able to pay the bills and keep her healthy.
After a two week hospital stay, my mom was released. During those two weeks I had watched the one person I once felt so connected to, become someone completely unrecognizable, and I now had to take this stranger home with me. She was my mom and I still loved her more than anything in the world, but no amount of information or help from the doctors had prepared me to take care of her. She became extremely antisocial, some days she would not even look at me. I would wake up in the middle of the night to her cries, and without thinking I would run to her room but she would not accept my help. I could tell she was constantly in pain, it hurt me so much to see the one person that mattered so much to me in so much pain. She was suffering, and I felt so helpless. She did have good days though, we would sit and watch movies and laugh until we cried, but those days were rare. She was starting to complain of headaches, but when I asked the doctor about them, he had said she would be fine and that they were very common. I guess it was common for stroke patients to have another stroke too, because that is what happened to my mother. This time I didn’t get to her on time though. My mom died only two months after her first stroke. The only thing I have left in life is hope, I have hope that she is in a better place and no longer suffering.
