{"id":285,"date":"2019-05-28T17:06:58","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T17:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hojnotes.com\/?p=285"},"modified":"2019-05-31T15:19:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T15:19:08","slug":"what-comes-to-mind-when-researching-my-mothers-upcoming-brain-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/28\/what-comes-to-mind-when-researching-my-mothers-upcoming-brain-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"What Comes to Mind When Researching My Mother\u2019s Upcoming Brain Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em>Take a look at my new toy<\/em><\/p><p><em>It\u2019ll blow your head in two, oh boy<\/em><\/p><cite>Truth Hits Everybody, The Police<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I almost never refer to my mom as mother unless I\u2019m joking.&nbsp; But as my research plunged me deeper into this awesome and awful technology, mom simply felt too informal.&nbsp; Whose lucid mom volunteers for brain surgery, anyway?&nbsp; Every little thing a mom does is magic: she bakes chocolate chip cookies; stirs corn starch into a bubbling paprikash; rolls tender leaves of cabbage around peppered beef; crochets afghan throws; knits booties and sweater vests of her own free will.&nbsp; Only a wacky mutha could sign on for a metal rod sunk through bony temple, smuggled past the parietal cortex, down deep to a dysfunctional sub-thalamus, the last stop before medulla oblongata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hearing my mother\u2019s brain surgery had been scheduled for this June &#8211; two surgery dates actually, weeks apart (she qualified for an electrode implant in each hemisphere) &#8211; what had first come to mind was, how will this interfere with my annual summer visit?\u00a0 Cheryl, wife and enlightened voice asked, <em>why don\u2019t you plan your trip to coincide with your Mom\u2019s surgery?\u00a0 Your sister would probably like the help.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The truth hits everybody, and mine arrived like a freight.&nbsp; In line for brains, I thought they said trains and asked for one with frequent stops.&nbsp; Is there a part of the brain evolved for empathy, and if so, would a scan of mine reveal a stone cold <em>Homo neanderthalenthis<\/em>: dormant, unlit, inactive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other hand, if you\u2019d told me years ago my mother would slowly evolve a disorder of the brain, I\u2019d have replied, <em>Tell me something I don\u2019t know<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Step 1: Attach stereotactic frame<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align:center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/creative-writing\/what-comes-to-mind-when-researching-my-mothers-upcoming-brain-surgery\/\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to read on about the 8 Surgical Steps of Deep Brain Stimulation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Take a look at my new toy It\u2019ll blow your head in two, oh boy Truth Hits Everybody, The Police I almost never refer to my mom as mother unless I\u2019m joking.&nbsp; But as my research plunged me deeper into this awesome and awful technology, mom simply felt too informal.&nbsp; Whose lucid mom volunteers for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298,"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions\/298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hojnotes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}