Phase 2 of Testing: Neuropsych Testing

This morning I arrived at the hospital for the second of three tests to evaluate me for surgery. The Neuropsych Evaluation lasted three hours, and had various tasks to assess memory and brain function.

First, she interviewed me briefly about my life, and then went directly into the tasks I was to complete.  A picture was placed on the desk, and I recreated the drawing while looking at it, as well as changing the color of pencil I was drawing with when asked. Later, I drew the drawing from memory two more times within the span of the evaluation; I had a difficult time remembering the image I had seen before; I could only draw a few lines and a couple shapes. I racked my brain to remember the details of the picture. You could say that it looked that of a child’s drawing.

There was a facial recognition portion where she flipped through a book where I saw a collection of faces; I was shown another collection a bit after that. Then, I had to determine whether or not I recognized the face; I remembered about half of them, continuing to struggle.

For about five minutes, I played this game where I had to decide whether it was the color, the pattern, or the symbols they wanted me to match. I gaged which type of answer it wanted from me; I am guessing that it was testing how quickly I was able to distinguish change. This portion wasn’t as hard as the others I was asked to do.

Then, I was shown a series of pictures, and was asked to create those pictures with some small four-sided blocks (like a puzzle). I’m going to be honest here, I felt like a small child playing with toys. Although the picture was right in front of me, it took me several minutes to complete each puzzle; it got even more complex as more blocks and higher-level of difficulty pictures were added.

I completed other tests such as: word and letter association games, a math portion (not my strongest suit!), and remembering numbers (backwards and forwards). I was also asked simple questions, but I still had trouble recalling the answers.

She read two different stories with various key details to remember; each story was read at different times. These were brief stories, but I could only recall a few details. As a recurring theme in this post, I had a hard time recalling what I had just seen or heard. It was frustrating because I had never noticed how bad my short-term memory really is. We always said that “I should have been a blonde!” but now I know how much my short-term memory affects my life.

Looking back, we always blamed it on test anxiety, but now it makes so much sense as to why I have had my weaknesses with things such as: school (having to work harder), and lack of confidence in wanting to participate in class discussions. It was really challenging to remember the material for each quiz and test. How I managed to do as well as I have in school is amazing!

I can say all I want that I am strong, and that I have done this all on my own, but I couldn’t have done it without God. He gave me the gifts, discipline and strength to overcome the disabilities this malformation on my brain has caused. He has given me peace to get through what I am facing. Since I made the decision to let Him guide me in this journey, everything has fallen into place perfectly and I know this is God’s plan!