Part 2 - Lysdexics Untie!
This entry was posted on 4/20/2007 11:20 PM and is filed under Recovery.
LYSDEXICS UNTIE!
Translation for the unimpaired: "Dyslexics Unite!"
Before I begin this next section, you may ask why I would give this detailed account of such a morbid subject? I suppose to dispel the myth that drinking and driving is “no big deal.” But more importantly, to give some first-hand clarity on The Hidden Injury (brain damage), and to offer support and encouragement to others in similar circumstances (either the injured or those angels who support us). It was only from hearing accounts of other injured people that helped me see that I was not losing my mind, I was not alone, and my life was not over. Sharing my experience for the benefit of others has really helped to take the bite out of it and to put the focus where it should be—on the healing and moving on. Also, my jumping up and down, singing halleluiahs and grinning like a goober later on will make more sense with a point of reference from where I started.
THE INJURIES:
Prognosis 1: Severe Whiplash. Damaged muscles, tendons, and ligaments from neck to pelvis. Muscle spasms, fatigue, limping, hunching, and a vice-grip over my skull that I call Magnito’s Helmet of Pain. Backwards curve in cervical vertebrae. One shriveled, stringy leg on the left from damage to left hip; one butch, rock-solid leg on the right from doing all the work of holding me up. Joint problems in feet, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, jaw from misalignment. Numb hands and arms from pinched nerve outlets due to twisted vertebrae. Bulging disks.
Prognosis 2: Various & Sundry. The annoyances and embarrassing conditions that came on within 1 week of the crash, some of which still plague me: asthma, hemorrhoids, bowel problems, wrecked immune system, chronic canker sores, my “second bung-hole” (my snidely affectionate term for the bed sore I acquired after reclining for weeks on a twisted coccyx).
Prognosis 3: PTVS (Post Traumatic Visual Syndrome). In the strain and impacts, my eyes were jarred so badly that the muscles got stretched out. My vision was warped and I constantly thought I saw things that weren’t there—especially dangerous while driving. I couldn’t estimate distance and kept on bumping into things. To correct this, they gave me warped prisms to exercise my eyes while reading and while watching the TV across the room. My depth perception and peripheral vision are still bad.
Prognosis 4: PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Lovingly called “The Rage Thang” in my house. Volatility, irritability, drastic mood swings, paranoia, depression, hyper-vigilance, hyper-sensitivity. Irrational phobias and/or rabid hatred of the following: moving vehicles of any kind, driving, riding in a car, the medical world, the insurance world, the world of legal systems, the highway, tight spaces, other human beings (especially drunk ones), stepping outside of my own house, not having absolute and utter control over Every Single Circumstance of Life, falling-tripping-maiming-sneezing-breathing…you get the point. (I am only being partially sarcastic with all of this.) Chronic nightmares, flashbacks, what I call “flash-forwards”—graphically gruesome images conjured by my brain at any given moment pertaining to any circumstance where there is a 1:1,000,000,000 chance that something bad could happen. All compounded by:
Prognosis 5: Dain Bramage. Technically “closed head injury” or “mild traumatic brain injury.” In other words, my skull wasn’t cracked open and I wasn’t unconscious for more than 20-30 minutes at a time. Damage to frontal lobe, motor strip, right and left temporal lobes, and right and left parietal lobes. Basically I have Shaken Baby Syndrome from having my brain slammed into my skull in 3 different impacts, and from my head hitting the door frame.
My list of symptoms comes mainly from reference to my neuro-psychologist’s reports and a compilation from Brain Functions and Map by Robert P. Lehr Jr., Ph.D: http://www.neuroskills.com/tbi/brain.shtml
You can find other valuable websites that have really helped me and my loved ones understand and deal with this in the links page of my website: www.izzydancer.com
Translation for the unimpaired: "Dyslexics Unite!"
Before I begin this next section, you may ask why I would give this detailed account of such a morbid subject? I suppose to dispel the myth that drinking and driving is “no big deal.” But more importantly, to give some first-hand clarity on The Hidden Injury (brain damage), and to offer support and encouragement to others in similar circumstances (either the injured or those angels who support us). It was only from hearing accounts of other injured people that helped me see that I was not losing my mind, I was not alone, and my life was not over. Sharing my experience for the benefit of others has really helped to take the bite out of it and to put the focus where it should be—on the healing and moving on. Also, my jumping up and down, singing halleluiahs and grinning like a goober later on will make more sense with a point of reference from where I started.
THE INJURIES:
Prognosis 1: Severe Whiplash. Damaged muscles, tendons, and ligaments from neck to pelvis. Muscle spasms, fatigue, limping, hunching, and a vice-grip over my skull that I call Magnito’s Helmet of Pain. Backwards curve in cervical vertebrae. One shriveled, stringy leg on the left from damage to left hip; one butch, rock-solid leg on the right from doing all the work of holding me up. Joint problems in feet, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, jaw from misalignment. Numb hands and arms from pinched nerve outlets due to twisted vertebrae. Bulging disks.
Prognosis 2: Various & Sundry. The annoyances and embarrassing conditions that came on within 1 week of the crash, some of which still plague me: asthma, hemorrhoids, bowel problems, wrecked immune system, chronic canker sores, my “second bung-hole” (my snidely affectionate term for the bed sore I acquired after reclining for weeks on a twisted coccyx).
Prognosis 3: PTVS (Post Traumatic Visual Syndrome). In the strain and impacts, my eyes were jarred so badly that the muscles got stretched out. My vision was warped and I constantly thought I saw things that weren’t there—especially dangerous while driving. I couldn’t estimate distance and kept on bumping into things. To correct this, they gave me warped prisms to exercise my eyes while reading and while watching the TV across the room. My depth perception and peripheral vision are still bad.
Prognosis 4: PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Lovingly called “The Rage Thang” in my house. Volatility, irritability, drastic mood swings, paranoia, depression, hyper-vigilance, hyper-sensitivity. Irrational phobias and/or rabid hatred of the following: moving vehicles of any kind, driving, riding in a car, the medical world, the insurance world, the world of legal systems, the highway, tight spaces, other human beings (especially drunk ones), stepping outside of my own house, not having absolute and utter control over Every Single Circumstance of Life, falling-tripping-maiming-sneezing-breathing…you get the point. (I am only being partially sarcastic with all of this.) Chronic nightmares, flashbacks, what I call “flash-forwards”—graphically gruesome images conjured by my brain at any given moment pertaining to any circumstance where there is a 1:1,000,000,000 chance that something bad could happen. All compounded by:
Prognosis 5: Dain Bramage. Technically “closed head injury” or “mild traumatic brain injury.” In other words, my skull wasn’t cracked open and I wasn’t unconscious for more than 20-30 minutes at a time. Damage to frontal lobe, motor strip, right and left temporal lobes, and right and left parietal lobes. Basically I have Shaken Baby Syndrome from having my brain slammed into my skull in 3 different impacts, and from my head hitting the door frame.
My list of symptoms comes mainly from reference to my neuro-psychologist’s reports and a compilation from Brain Functions and Map by Robert P. Lehr Jr., Ph.D: http://www.neuroskills.com/tbi/brain.shtml
You can find other valuable websites that have really helped me and my loved ones understand and deal with this in the links page of my website: www.izzydancer.com