Yesterday, mom and I had a conversation that serves as a great example of fabrication. Fabrication is a practice of making up information. It is a symptom of HE, among other things, and it's important to note that fabrication is NOT lying. People with this particular problem believe everything they make up as if it happened in reality - it IS real to them. Many people don't understand fabrication in HE patients. Thus, I've decided to post this as an example. This is intended to educate the reader. This is not judgement and I am not angry with my mother. She honestly doesn't know she does it, which is part of the issue. People in this situation do not have the capacity to see the fault in their memory. It is literally impossible for her to acknowledge or accept, or even understand, that she does this, and it's all from ammonia built up in the brain. Conversation as follows:
Mom: Do we have any chicken soup thawed?
Me: No, we ate all the thawed stuff. We have a lot frozen.
Mom: How much?
Me: That tub in the freezer.
Mom: That huge tub?
Me: Yeah...do you want me to thaw it out?
Mom: You can't thaw that thing...it's plastic.
Me: Why can't I thaw out stuff in plastic? We always do.
Mom: No, you can't do that. Plastic melts in the oven.
Me: In the OVEN??
Mom: The toaster.
Me: What?! I'm so confused. How would I put a tub of frozen soup in the toaster?
Mom: Not the toaster...the oven. The little one. The one on top of the microwave.
Me: Yes, I know what the toaster oven is...but why would I put the soup in there?
Mom: You just said you would...to thaw it.
Me: No, I didn't. I would not put a plastic tub in the toaster oven. That is not a good idea.
Mom: Well that's why I was wondering why you'd do it!
Me: Except I never said it! I never said "oven" or "toaster" or "toaster oven"...that doesn't even make sense.
Mom: I KNOW!! THAT'S WHY I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'D DO IT!
I asked her if she realized that she had fabricated that, and that she was putting words in my mouth. She said no and was offended that I would "call [her] a liar." I tried to get her to see that she assumed that I would do something, even though it didn't make sense, and that I told her about it, but then she called me an ass, and I realized that she would never see it. She believed entirely that I said I'd thaw a giant plastic tub of chicken soup in the toaster oven. She did realize something, though, because she was overly sweet afterwards. Lots of "thank you's" I don't usually get and a "I hope you have a good nap and a good day..."
She's on the phone now, balling someone out. Don't know who, but apparently they are liars and stealing her money and I've heard "don't you DARE pass me on to someone else!" a few times. I'm sure she's giving some customer service entity a run for their money...or a run for her money...one or the other.
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