Reading on Amnesia Lane
Currently I am studying a Master of Education in Teacher Librarianship. The course I am doing over the summer is Literature Across the Curriculum and today our readings focused on the history of literature and caused me to reflect upon my own literary history. I have always been an avid reader, voraciously devouring as many books as I could lay my hands on. I was truely born with a reading list I will never finish. I would often have three, four or even five books going at a time. I craved more time to read, but there was never enough. I escaped the troubles, anxieties and worries of my physical world into a world where the good ended well and the bad got their come-uppance.
When I had my stroke my world was rocked to its core. Aphasia was a huge challenge for me, I remember being able to say "yes" and "no" and not much else. I struggled to read even a few words. As time went by, both my heroic mother and I developed ways to address the issue of aphasia. I only spent one week in hospital before being transferred to home care and 6 sessions of various outpatients therapy. My speech therapist couldn't even get through the 6 sessions owing to the development of a severe stutter. So Mum and I were on our own, helped out by my husband and other family members.
I will never forget the first book I read post-stroke: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, read aloud to my husband in the evenings. In the beginning I managed a page before I was too fatigued to continue and each page took about 30 minutes to get through. Eventually I gained more confidence and by the end of the year I was back reading at a somewhat normal pace. I could again climb to the heights of mountains and dive to the depths of the sea with the characters in my books. I could escape into worlds where characters weren't disabled, labeled or left out.
I often remark what a wonder it was that I learned to read and write again at the decrepit age of 30, especially when my students complain that the work is too challenging and they can't do it. I remind myself daily that I can achieve the goals I set for myself, albeit they take longer to achieve.
Aphasia is still an issue, especially now I am studying again. I have a wall of post-it notes with words and meanings stuck onto them. Sometimes I have to look up a word two or three times and it still doesn't stick in my brain. But yay though I walk down Amnesia Lane, I shall fear no word!
