Category: health

Handicap? Just Handy, Thanks

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I refuse to think of myself as “handicapped” — nor any other variant of the word. (handi-capable? differently-abled?)

Yes, I now use a cane every now and again — and with a regularity and at times that most people likely wouldn’t comprehend. Yes, I’m still finding a way to work with the limitations that were foisted upon me in January.

Until…

Until, with a modicum of tenaciousness, I return to running, and cycling, and motorcycling, and driving, and all of the other independent personal freedoms I once enjoyed.

Handicapped?

By some interpretations, currently, perhaps.

But not for long.

Nearly Healed…?

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Nearly. From the infection, that is. Here we are, September, and I’ve a couple things on my To Do list, that I’m hoping to have done soon:

-a work trip… once this bloody PICC line is removed, of course.

-rebuilding the primer/fuel filter assembly on the truck.

-getting a mount/ledge assembled for my exercise bike.

-actually -using- said exercise bike (I nearly have the strength to do very brief rides).

-rearranging my office. Need to rearrange it every now and again until I find something I like.

-several more complex carpentry projects—think “furniture”, of course.

-there’s a sailboat in need of being built—to say nothing, of course of the neglected sailboat whose hull needs to be reglassed.

-wood floors need to be installed in the house.

-oh, and we’ll need to do a bit of house-hunting in a nearby, but much larger city.

Rather embarrassingly, I’ve also picked up a cane — yes, really — to help me out a bit with balance in those somewhat unfamiliar areas or when I become mentally fatigued. Though few things are quite as entertaining as a middle-aged guy wearing a jogging shirt (and who actually jogs every now and again) but carries around a cane. People’s heads become somewhat explodey whilst they try to do the mental gymnastics.

Since Our Last Episode…

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…a great deal has happened. I’ve been to the ER, twice, with an unexplained fever, which absolutely kicked my ass. One easily overlooked and quite small detail led to a few more medical questions, then a few more CT scans and a rather long drive (hey, it’s cheaper than a helicopter flight) to Wenatchee and… I’d be admitted for a week for a rather aggressive treatment of a liver-abscess, which was likely suffered as an extra injury from the fall and had gone almost completely unnoticed until it was nearly too late.

Yes, really, almost too late.

I’m home now, but there’s likely another several weeks of antibiotics an the horizon. On the plus side, I’ve seen the imagery from the latest CT scan and everything else inside appears healthy — except that damned liver. Treatable? Probably. Time-consuming? Yep. It’ll take several months to recover from just the liver injury.

Oh, also, if you’re looking for “the” weight loss program, perhaps I can recommend an ungraceful fall from about 4m high including a liver injury at impact. I’ve lost 12 lbs in about 3 weeks.

On second thought, skip the high altitude fall, the brain injury, and other assorted blunt force trauma to soft tissues.

There are far more effective and healthier ways to lose a few pounds.

TBI Challenge The n-th

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Hearing issues.

Not hearing loss, mind you. But sensitivity to sound along with the inability to distinguish direction of certain sounds.

When I awoke, my hearing was simply gone, which was easy to explain. I couldn’t hear. People understood that.

Yes, it was problem enough. And in a few weeks it became manageable for a time while the problem evolved.

Somewhat later–a few days or weeks–it shifted to the point that I could perceive sounds. I think I then likened it to sounds being somewhat overdriven. The perception was that certain frequencies might be overdriven and yet others were normal, yet difficult to perceive because they’re bracketed by things overdriven.  This, of course, increases difficulty in consciously (subconsciously?) separating sounds for comprehension.

I still lack the ability to readily discern the origin of sounds. Yes, I know the birds are chirping. Yes, I know it’s in the direction of outside. Yes, I know there are loads of them.

But nearby voices, that I know to be at conversational distances, aren’t clear –  drowned out entirely by by background sounds of hundreds of birds, or loads of neighbor dogs barking, or passing trucks and machinery.

This isn’t a problem with my ears.

Not at all – the problem started, both left and right, as I recall – simultaneously. And I was effectively unconscious at the time.

This is a brain problem with interpretation of input data; it’s absolutely not an issue with the inner, middle, or outer ear.

Double Vision reduced by almost half!

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Just noticed this morning that my double vision (diplopia) is reduced by almost half! Since I became aware, I’ve been fighting with diplopia in the left, upper quarter of my vision – probably from some issue with a cranial nerve palsy or problem with the optic chiasm –  but not quite anymore. I’ve another check in with my optometrist in two more weeks and I think it’ll be entirely singular by then.