Neuropsychological Evaluation Results

I went to the hospital today to get the results from my Neuropsychological Evaluation last week. It was a lot to take in, but I now know more about my brain than I ever have, more than most people will in their entire lives.

There were significant differences between abilities. My IQ fell in the high average range, while my perceptual-organizational abilities fell in the moderately impaired range, which is consistent with the location of my malformation in the right temporal lobe (the cause of my seizures). I had no clue that my brain has been functioning my whole life with these impairments. It’s amazing how the brain compensates for deficits, and still continues to function.

 My memory for visual information was poor, as well as my memory for complex verbal information. Initially, my memory for verbal lists was strong, but after a period of delay, my memory declines. This explains why when I face situations of complexity in general, I slow down and have a hard time sorting through, and processing everything that is going on (what comes across as panic). I have to handle one task at a time, before I tackle the next. Also, my weakness in memory explains a great deal in my daily life; for example, finding words and mental flexibility, which are both cognitive difficulties; I battle with my memory everyday.

 As far as my academic performance, I have miraculously compensated for the life-long malformation in my brain. God, my study skills, and drive to work hard have helped me tremendously to overcome and find my own strategies to make it through. My strong verbal skills have contributed greatly to my success in my gift of language (which is my focus in my college education).

Although I have all of these deficits, the left hemisphere of my brain remains dominant, which is such a God thing because the right temporal lobe is where the malformation is. Everything is continuing to align perfectly, and this is how I know that this is God’s plan for me. Tomorrow I have the last phase of testing: the WADA test.

It feels weird knowing exactly how my brain functions, but I am so happy that I finally have answers!

P.S. My two-week “seizure free” record was broken last night when I had the worst Simple Partial seizure in my two years of being diagnosed with Epilepsy. It came from the right temporal lobe, and the sensations lasted 30-45 minutes. Continue to pray for me!