A Lesson On The Brain

Thursday June 20, 2013

Here is a brief lesson on the areas of the brain that Mom's cancer has affected.

We were told that she had a "Left Parietal/Occipital Craniotomy".

So, the tumor was located left of the midline of the brain, between and amongst the Parietal and Occipital Lobes.

The facts below help us to understand the symptoms (or deficits as they're being called) that Mom is having.

The Parietal Lobe is located here:

 













It controls the following functions:

 

• The sensory area - sensation from muscles and skin.

• It controls visual and touch perception, voluntary movements that are goal directed and that manipulate objects, and integration of senses needed for understanding single concepts, such as apple pie triggering smell, taste, vision and touch sensory cues comprising the single concept "apple pie."

• You may find you are unable to attend to two or more things at one time, such as listening to something and looking for something simultaneously.

• You may experience anomia or the inability to name something, for example, not knowing what to call breakfast or a sandwich.

• You may experience agraphia, which is the inability to call up words when writing something, like being unable to write the word for water.

• Similarly, you may realize you suffer from alexia when you discover you cannot read or cannot read correctly.

• You may also lose your ability to draw--and stick figures would count--or to tell left from right.

• Dyscalculia may be apparent in a loss of the ability to perform mathematical calculations such as are needed for balancing bank account statements.

• You may similarly have difficulties with eye-hand coordination such as is needed to sew on a button.

• Lastly, apraxia may cause difficulty with focusing visual attention and being fully aware of body parts and/or spatial surroundings.

Credit: Yahoo.com

  The Occipital Lobe is located here:

 

 

It controls the following functions:

 

• The occipital lobe processes visual information. The information that is sent through the eyes, and is then interpreted by this lobe.

 

• This lobe of the brain is also responsible for recognizing shape. It is the smallest of the four lobes.

 

• This lobe, like the others, is separated into a right and left portion. The two lobes serve the opposite side of the body. For instance, the right portion serves the left side of the body, and vice versa.

 

Credit: Yahoo.com

 

Another simple visual is below.  Areas 9 and 1 on the left side is where her tumor was.

 

There you have it.  A brief lesson on the brain.  Pretty crazy huh?  I find it fascinating.  The more I learn, the more I realize the true precision with which we were created.