Not Quite As Clever As I Used To Be...

A few weeks ago, I had my post-operative psychological assessment. The format was the identical to the one I took months ago, before my first surgery. I was tested on a whole host of different areas, including memory, intelligence and mood.

I got the results back last week and it appears that all the drilling into my brain has had a lasting effect. My memory remains terrible - I am in the bottom 30th percentile, but it was already bad before the surgery (likely the result of years of tumour damage). The biggest change was actually in my intelligence - my "non-verbal intelligence" to be precise - problem solving - maths, logic etc. Before surgery, I scored in the top 98th+ percentile. Now, I've dropped right down to the 84th percentile! I'm told that it can creep back up over time as the brain repairs itself and find new neural pathways to do the tasks that used to come so easily to me.

I have to say that I haven't really noticed much difference which suggests that I never really used my brain that much anyway. I have to redo the tests in a year's time to track progress. Until then, forgive me if I look a bit confused from time to time, I'm not quite as clever as I used to be.

My "verbal intelligence" - the ability to express arguments, rationalise and explain abstract concepts has remained unaffected, which is just as well because that's the bit that I need more for work and day to day living. Luckily I'm not a nuclear physicist or a calculus teacher!