Matt gave a quick, single nod and turned back. A dark-haired Asian man approached Liz’s closed door and pulled out her folder. He wore mint colored scrubs. Matt approached him and glanced at the man’s ID badge that hung around his neck.
“Excuse me, Dr. Tai?”
The doctor looked up, startled.
“Hi, I’m sorry. I’m Matt Owen, Elizabeth’s husband.”
The man’s expression lightened. “Oh yes, Mr. Owen, hello.” He held out his hand. “Dr. Tai, I’m the neurologist.” The man’s voice was deep but friendly.
“Yes, I’ve been expecting you. Umm…Liz is still sleeping, can we speak out here.”
“Of course,” The doctor pulled out some x-rays along with detailed pages and charts. “I’ve been looking at Liz’s scans and read her trauma report. I spoke to her briefly in radiology last night, and can give you a brief explanation of what she’s experiencing.”
“Please.”
“It appears your wife is suffering from what we call Post Traumatic Amnesia. This specific type of memory loss can be due to either physical trauma to the head from an accident, or—and this is rare but has been known to be a cause—intense stress.”
Matt’s stopped breathing. “What does that mean?”
Dr. Tai shook his head. “I’m just giving you the definition. Given the fact that Elizabeth did suffer from a blow to the head, we can rule out the stress related cause. We’ve ruled out alcoholism, use of drugs, or any other neurological diseases. We did of course test her for all of those things.”
Matt just nodded. Suddenly unable to find his voice. “How long?” he rasped out after a moment.
“In most cases, amnesia is a temporary condition, lasting from a few hours to as long as a few months. Depending on the severity of the trauma, it’s hardly ever permanent.”
Matt was looking for some comfort by that last part, but he just couldn’t find it. “I guess I never understood this part of amnesia but why is she able to communicate, recognize nurses and doctors or the fact that she was in a hospital?”
“Those are what we call memories of habit, procedural memory. So she can understand, or rather remember the meaning of words and how to use them,” he explained. “What she doesn’t remember, are facts and events, like who you are, how you met, where she went to high school, etcetera. Those are declarative memories. When those more detailed memories of her life return, older memories are usually remembered first, and then more recent ones, until almost all memory is recovered.”
The doctor waited while Matt absorbed this information.
“So most likely,” Dr. Tai continued, “She’ll remember childhood friends before she remembers your wedding day.”
“I understand,” Matt acknowledged.
“As far as severity. In order for me to administer proper treatment, it would help if I knew Elizabeth’s psychological state before the accident. Do you know if she was under any stress…maybe at work?”
Matt focused on the shiny white tiled floor and shook his head.
“What about at home?” The doctor pressed. The question asked as simply as if he were asking if they had any pets.
Matt popped his head back up. “Of course not, we were perfect,” he lied, defensively. Although he believed everythingwasperfect between them. Until two days ago when he found out their so-called perfect marriage was based on a lie that she kept from him since before they were engaged.
Dr. Tai glanced down at his folder. “I noticed you two didn’t have any children. Perhaps she was struggling with conceiving? Sometimes that can cause an intense amount of stress on a woman.”
Matt had just about had it with this guy. “I’m sorry, I’d like to see my wife now. I’ve already been away too long.”
“Of course. I’ll need to speak to her when she’s awake.” He shut her folder, putting it back on the door. “I have to check on another patient, I’ll be back shortly.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” he offered politely, turning the knob as Dr. Tai strode away.
To his surprise, there had been a nurse in there with her. He recognized her to be Nurse Bridgett. The same one from when Liz woke from her accident. She was in the middle of adjusting Liz’s pillow, propping her up gently. Liz was awake. His heart broke to see how weak she looked. He wondered if she’d woken up with any type of memory.
“Liz?” he asked, hopeful.
The nurse turned back at him and gave him a slight shake of her head.
He nodded, with the same subtlety.
