An Aphasiologist Has a Stroke
Robert Goldfarb, Ph.D., is an aphasiologist, which is someone who explores language, speech, and swallowing problems. In 2013 while driving with his wife, Dr. Goldfarb experienced a sudden stabbing pain in his eye. By the time he pulled off the road and turned off the engine, he had lost control of his right side, and his speech became unintelligible, although his thoughts were clear. He suffered from dysarthria and right hemiparesis following a Transischemic attack or TIA. He has 9 more TIAs in the following days while staying in the intensive care unit (ICU). After being prescribed blood thinners to prevent a major stroke, he had one a day later. Doctors were concerned that he might have suffered from a brain stem stroke, increasing the likelihood of locked-in syndrome (LiS). People with LiS suffer from paralysis, including loss of most cranial nerve functions but remain cognitively the same as pre-stroke. After some tests, doctors discovered that the stroke was likely caused by atr
