Tag: tbi

Life…

On By JohnIn family, tbiLeave a comment

3 January — Odin’s 9th birthday: I vaguely recall he crawled up on the bed for a hug. Very, very vaguely.

He handled this all incredibly well.

My memory of conversations from this particular day is now little more than dream-like; no organization or substance. No order or details. I’m told I was “awake” for a short while — an hour or so.

While I’m told this particular day was a milestone of sorts for me, it wasn’t ‘til I was fully awake about two or three days later that I realized this was his birthday.

Is there anybody in there?

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1st of January, thumbing through a woodworker magazine. Don’t be fooled—the lights are on but nobody’s home: or, put another way: I’ve no memory of that magazine or flipping its pages. In fact, my memory, I’m told, was only a few minutes long.

They extubated me just a few days prior.

Hello?

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Christmas day.

Daisy showed me this and a few others — where, I assure everyone, I’m quite comatose — where I look like I have Happy Feet.

Not true.

If I had to guess, I’d say the feet were trying to find the exit.

The injuries don’t look very bad from out here…

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The timeline. Day 0 (top three), at the local ER (at Samaritan) with dad & Daisy watching over, while the local Drs., EMTs, and Air Life wrapping me up for transport.

Honestly, the injuries don’t look bad at all—but I assure you the part you don’t see is internal.

I’ve no memory of the fall and contact and none of the following two weeks.

**Looking at the first photos, and the injury to my shoulder, I’d assume I took the the mass of the rest of my body from 12ft high onto concrete.**

Then three of the following several days at Sacred Heart (Spokane) where I remained pretty much unchanged and in ICU I’m told.

Sacred Heart hospital for ICU until I was where I remained for a week or so until I was off of life support — and out of the woods (and without a map). Though, I admit, after seeing some of the later footage, I’ve no memory of it and even less confidence in my state of conciseness.

Speaking Of…

On By JohnIn tbiLeave a comment

On the topic of TBI, Daisy has informed me that a neighboring child was hit by a car some time ago… nine or ten months ago? When I find out the child’s name, I should make the time to drop by and spend some time with him and his parents.

Unconciosness

The indicators of increased probability are—aside from immediate severity of course—are:

Between 3 and 60 years old: less than two, older than 60, and odds decrease. I’m a bit on the older side — but 45 is a good place to be.

Duration – shorter is, of course, better. Ideally, “Oh, I’m fine, just a bump on the head” is what you’d want to hear. And that’s better than having somebody out for an hour, and that’s better than being out for a day, which is better than being out for ten, or a month or two…and at six months — well, it’s time to seriously consider your options.

Health. It’s possible that two people with identical health will have drastically different responses to the world. The physical condition of the patient has absolutely no bearing on the impact, severity, or prognosis.

Conciosness

This is where you want to be. Vision’s clear? No ringing in your ears? Got your memories and coordination? Good! Minor TBI, and you’ll probably be back to work in a few days!

Blurry or double-vision? Ringing? Coordination issues? All three—then some (fatige, sensitivity to motion, inability to focus, headaches!)—Major TBI—and odds are good that you’ll be resuming all of your Olde Ways in six months. Not running marathons, mind, but light duty: six months’ time.

Yep, really.

All the while, you’ll thank the Gods for letting you live, and curse them for the same reason.