Concussion: What Did You Say?

A lot of comedians do routines about how a husband does not hear what his wife is saying and how that drives her nuts. There are some husbands who I'm sure would wish that they didn't have to hear their wives talk. 
When you live with a concussion though that can become a reality although you don't intend it to be.
 
For example there are plenty of times when my wife will call my attention by saying "I want to tell you something."
I will stop whatever I'm doing, and with all great intentions will be absolutely focused on her and will wait to hear what she has to say. I'm expecting her to say something...so I wait...and wait...but she never says anything. I will then ask her to start talking or ask what she said. This used to drive her nuts just after my concussion. Then she noticed how in these situations while she was talking my facial expression would change. I would look confused. She figured out that I was being serious when I asked what she said and not being a jerk.
 
The best way I can describe this scenario is to compare it to having a completely full glass of water, filled all the way so it is even with the rim. Then someone pours more water into the glass. The new water never gets to the inside of the glass. It rolls down the sides or splashes out. If you're a Star Trek fan there are lots of episodes where the crew is talking and then the ship hits a rupture in the space time continuum and everyone freezes in time only for them to figure out later in the episode what they missed.

It is a very strange feeling and very disconcerting, because I don't have a sense of what happened during those few seconds. In the example above I never hear what my wife is saying. I don't even remember her mouth moving. I'm just there waiting for her to start talking. What she said is completely not registered in my brain, or if it is registered, it is so quickly forgotten that I don't even remember; kind of like the water leaving the glass. So far I've noticed it in conversations and sometimes watching films or TV shows. I know something happened but don't know what.

My wife knows when this happens to me because my face suddenly changes, and she can see on my face that I am completely clueless and lost and confused as to whatever it was she was talking about. This is frustrating for her and I. It would be nice to return to "normal," but I am not normal, unlike the husbands in those comedy routines.
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy