I became aware of the interview John Fetterman (running for US senate in Pennsylvania against Dr. Oz) gave to NBC. I read about it in Slate before actually watching the interview. What I learned from the article was that he had a stroke in May. He’s back and says that he can still serve. He is saying that the disability is temporary and he will be back to normal one day.
Let’s put aside the latter sentiment for a minute. Let’s start with the interview, which I watched once I was at my laptop. From the start, I was put off because the interviewer for NBC noted that things were very different, that he was using closed caption, etc. Why did she need to note that? I mean, I have to wear glasses when I read, but that’s not noted every time I talk.
I’m not going to go hard on her for mentioning accommodations or the fact that he had a stroke. By the way, I’m having to rewatch the interview as I type this because I don’t remember everything in detail, even though I watched it an hour ago or so. That’s one of my issues with my ischemic stroke (not sure what kind he had), by the way. My short-term memory isn’t as good as it used to be.
I want to talk about that for a minute. I had a phenomenal memory before my medical crisis. I could remember long conversations and videos I had seen in detail. I never forgot a name, no matter how long it had been since I saw someone. Now, however, it’s different.
I can still retain information I read/see, but sometimes I have to refresh my memory before getting the full recall. I don’t remember people’s names immediately the way I once did, and sometimes, I have trouble recalling who I told what to. I have forgotten words now and again, so when Fetterman said empathetic, paused and said, emphatic and could not be sure which he meant, I related to that.