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Submitted 7/2001
I was in a car accident last September 3rd. I was in the back seat sleeping. The driver did not realize that the road came to a T and that
he had to make a right until it was too late. He recently admitted to me that he was doing 70mph when he realized the road came to an end. He
slammed on the brakes which he said must have slowed the car down to 65mph before we went off the road, straight down 5 feet and then head on into a
tree. I must have been shot straight up into the ceiling of the car and then forward into the windshield.
I was unconscious for a day and a half with a contusion/internal bleeding in my brain. The hospital released me from their care about 4
days after the accident. None of the doctors nor my family members (who I can't blame)
ever told me what I was going through and/or what to expect after the accident. My parents both thought and heard from
friends that my memory and my vertigo would take 4-6 months before 100% recovery. Well I tried going back to hanging cable from telephone poles
about a month after the accident, once my broken vertebrae in my back had healed, little did I know that the vertigo and memory were for real and
not just in my head until I tried to return to work! I lasted for four days before I said to myself, "there's something not
right in my head, I need more time off to recover." I have not been and will not be back to work until the vertigo goes away, because there is no
way I feel comfortable climbing 25 feet in the air on a telephone pole while my head is still imbalanced.
I thought that was all I was coping with in terms of recovery over the past 11 months, the vertigo and memory problems, but ohhh
noooo!
I've recently started helping a friend with his weeding and mulching business
just so I could get off the couch, make a little money and hope/feel as though I was moving in a good positive forward direction. All I've
learned from doing so is that I am now also aware of the fact that I am extremely irritable, moody,
dis-inhibited, and fatigued extremely easily. I'm 27 years old and I feel as though I have the mental energy level of a
70 year old.
I thank the Lord for the fact that my girlfriend for some reason still does not want to lose me. I would be miserable and completely lost
without her. She has been the one who has nursed me back to my present level of recovery-what she sees in me I don't know! Prior to the
accident I thought of myself as quite a catch, but nowadays I see myself as a moody
temperamental pain the butt. So I'm very lucky to still have her with me and I do not want to lose her. I just moved in with her
recently, and by doing so I gained access to the internet. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was without a computer all my life until now.
Thank the Lord she has one.
Just recently I have found the kind of doctors who specialize in rehabilitating those recovering from
tbi's. I've recently been prescribed Depakote for the irritability and dis-inhibition. I've only
taken it a week, and just ask my girlfriend and other friends-It's not working yet! I have patience though. In fact I learned to stop hoping
for and expecting a full recovery from this accident about 3 months ago, and I'm accepting the new me pretty well. The doctor has also set me up
with vestibular rehabilitation doctors in order to treat my vertigo; I'm assuming nothing can be done to bring the memory back to normal?!!!
I'm not sure whom I've sent all this information to but I hope it adds some new familiar sounding information to the pot of
TBI stories.
Veronica L Vaillancourt
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