transient--lasting only for a short time
global--affecting the entire brain
amnesia--a partial or total loss of memory
"Transient global amnesia is a sudden, temporary episode of memory loss. During an episode, your recall of recent events simply vanishes, so you can't remember where you are or how you got there. In addition, you may not remember anything about what's happening in the here and now. Consequently, you may keep repeating the same questions because you may not remember the answers you've just been given. You may also draw a blank when asked to remember things that happened a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour or a minute ago. With transient global amnesia, you do remember who you are is who you are and you recognize the people who you know well." Mayo Clinic
During my four hours at the hospital, the ER doctor ran a battery of tests to determine the cause of my sudden and total memory loss. The incidents of TGA is so rare, he didn't know. As my memory began to return and he had eliminated stroke and heart attack, the ER doctor released me to a follow-up visit with a neurologist the next week.
That ordinary afternoon in the fall of 1998, I was at the gym working out. My wife was there too and we had arrived in separate cars from our respective jobs. All I remember is that I was pushing the limits of my bench press ability and next someone was asking me if I was okay. I was sitting in a chair across the gym from where I had been working out. All of a sudden my wife was standing there asking me the same thing.
My wife told me later that on the way to the hospital, I asked her about my car probably two dozen times (or more). I, also, remember that we stopped by the school to tell our son where we going. He was on the back parking lot doing something band related. I recall that he expressed concern for my welfare. I knew I was with my wife. I recognized my son and that was it. After forty years of living and the living of that particular day, that was the sum total of what I knew and who I knew. During the four hours in the ER, I only recalled that my wife asked me, what seemed like a dozen times, if I remembered what we had planned to do that night. I had no idea. And I recall one of those tests. I didn't even know which hospital we were in, although my wife had worked there nearly twenty years.
For birthday/Father's Day this year I asked for a new camera. This camera, a Canon EOS Rebel T7i, seems to be perfect for my level of photographic ability. It is an entry-level DSLR, but is plenty sophisticated enough to provide me with a world of photography opportunities. When I unpacked it, and got ready to use it for the first time, it had everything but a memory card. With a quick trip to Walmart, I purchased a 32 gigabyte SanDisk Memory Card. I inserted the small device into its port in the camera. I was now ready to take pictures with my new camera. Even the most expensive camera is nothing without its memory.
The next week the neurologist started asking me questions about what had happened to me at the gym. After only a few questions he said, with no hesitation, "I know what happened to you. It's called a TGA, transient global amnesia". He then described the symptoms that were in lock-step with what had happened to me. He said that many times the condition was triggered by vigorous exercise.He explained that a TGA was not the same as a TIA, a mini-stroke; there had been no brain damage. And most importantly he said that it would probably never happen again.
Although the neurologist assured me that there was no brain damage, my TGA gives me a convenient excuse for my memory issues. I have little problem with remembering things twenty, thirty or forty years ago, it's things that occurred in the last twenty four hours or the last ten minutes that give me the most trouble. Yesterday, after a careful search for my car keys, I found them in the ignition of my car. Who knew the effects of a TGA could last twenty years? I even have an explanation for the phenomenon of arriving in the kitchen and having no idea why I am in the kitchen. What's your excuse?
A DSLR is a digital single-lens reflex camera. Instead of storing the images on film, the DSLR stores its images on an image sensor. Since this sensor will lose its images when the camera is turned off, it transfers its digital images to a removable flash card or memory card. In your brain, think of the camera's image sensor as your short-term memory and the memory card as the long-term memory. Your brain, like your digital camera, can't function properly without both of them.
Over the years when recalling our bizarre afternoon and evening with the TGA, my wife and I have wondered what would have happened had she not been at the gym that day. We had not been members very long and nobody would have known me. My wallet would have been in the car and no one would have known which car was mine. Who would they have called ? How would they have found my identity? Now all they would have to do is put my picture on Facebook and within minutes someone would have come running. "Do you recognize this man? He has no idea who he is. Please call with any information or come pick him up." But this was 1998, Facebook was still six years away. I'm sure that within a few hours my wife would have missed me and remembered I was going to the gym. I'm quite sure that she would have eventually found me and taken me to the hospital.
I had bought a memory card for another camera that would have fit this one. It's very small and easily misplaced. After searching my camera bag and when I couldn't find it anywhere else is when I went to Walmart to buy another one. They aren't very expensive and I would have replaced it anyway with this one that is faster and has more storage. Yesterday after taking the first photos with my new camera, I popped out the card. When I reached to put it in the slot in my computer, it wouldn't fit. Something was in the slot. It was the other card. Oh well, backup memory is always a good idea. You never know when you're going to need it.
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