I have two memory troubles: almost any common word can elude me, even when I’d used it within minutes of the loss; if I’m distracted even for a second, I can’t recall [the] previous thread. Oh, these happen over and again. And memory thrives in the cortex, where I was struck.
Have I lost a piece of memory function or am I just working with less space to keep time? If I work hard retracing a previous thread, I’ll usually get back, just because it’s within the area of the context of the conversation. But word retrieval can be impossible, and made worse by the strange effect that I seem to reject with incredulity the sought-for word when I finally retrieve it.
More data soon.
Btw, I recently tried a working-memory test on line and performed at average, though much faster than average, surprisingly, since I’m a slow reader/responder, and never could read well under stress. It was designed for the general public, but I don’t know the details of the pool of subjects. Maybe aphasics like me are drawn to such tests when offered on adverts — which is how I saw it. I’d imagine that aphasics would slow down the average speeds and the working-memory load.
Breaking news: I found several articles correlating helicobacter pylori and stroke:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15694938?dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15064099?dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15694938?dopt=Abstract
as well as
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16047464?dopt=Abstract
I believe I suffered an H. pylori infection for about twenty years.
To my dismay, I find my doctors don’t seem aware of this research at all, although they seem to me diligent, intelligent, well-educated, and thoroughly good and good-intentioned doctors.
aphasic diary 
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