photo creditI have a bit of trouble with dyslexia, at least I think that is what it is. I don't have trouble reading or writing or learning, per se, but on many occasions I will read something a thousand times as one thing and then, all of a sudden, one day, something makes me look at the same printed word just a little bit differently and it takes on a new meaning altogether. Some words will appear as total jibberish and I must concentrate intensely to unscramble it in my brain. This is a big problem with medical terminology. I know what the word means, I can spell it, I can write it, (well except for the letters b, d and p- I always have to pause and think about which way the loop faces on the stem) and more often than not, I can pronounce it correctly with in the confines of my synapses, but when forced to speak it out loud, it will not roll out of my memory and into my mouth correctly. Often times I will resort to a lay term instead, hiding safely behind a simpler pronunciation. I realize that this doesn't exactly project intelligence when conversing with other health care professionals. Lately I have taken to prefacing my sentence with..."I'm not going to pronounce this correctly, but..." when I want to use a grown-up word. Most people on the other end are more than happy to jump in and show off the fact that it is easy for them to say. The saddest part is that hearing someone else pronounce a word doesn't necessarily help me pronounce it. I seem to speak a bit dyslexic also.
I have a worse time with numbers. Once I remember a number, I usually don't forget it (duh) but recite four digits to me and if asked to recall them later, I will invariably transpose one or more of them. Thirteen-fifty-eight (1358), becomes fifteen-thirty-eight (1538), etc.
I also have an interesting thing that happens with colors. Not all colors or even random colors, but specifically red and green. No, I am not color blind. Apparently I am color dyslexic too. If I see a red vehicle and I am asked to recall what color that vehicle was, I will be POSITIVE that it was green. The reverse is true for recalling a green vehicle as red. This isn't specific to vehicles, it could be the color of a sweater or a sticky note or almost anything. Fortunately it doesn't happen with items that known to be a specific color such as grass or blood or traffic lights.
I could write a whole chapter on my food rituals, but I'll spare you. Besides, I don't think it has anything to do with the topic of this post. There was this one incident though that is interesting, well at least to me, this whole post is probably so NOT interesting to the rest of you, but indulge me. So, I had made two pieces of toast with almond butter and blueberry preserves. As is often the case, I was eating it while I paced around the kitchen (don't ask). I had both pieces of toast on a napkin in my hand while wandering around the room entranced in deep thought of some sort. I would take a bite, chew and pace, switch pieces, take a bite, chew and pace. Switch pieces, take a bite, chew and pace. Did I mention I have food rituals? The idea is to eat all of the crust of both pieces first so that your final two savory bites are the heavily laden, softest center of the toast. Somewhere in mid-chew, I looked down at the toast in my hand and the toast in the napkin. I laid both pieces down on the table for a better comparison.
Toast twins!

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