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My Day at the Fiesta Bowl ParadeAmateur and Professional musicians from around the Phoenix area come together every year to march and play at two rehearsals and march in the parade that gets some national exposure.
I was so excited as we prepared to take our place in the parade. I was running around taking pictures of bands from all over the country and of my son warming up with the drum section. Then it was time to make that turn onto the parade route. Boy, it was something to see. TV cameras both local and from NBC could be seen. And the crowd cheering us on as we played. It was electric and a real natural high!
About half way through the 3 miles route something happened. It seemed like in a blink of an eye a curtain went down and everything faded to black. I came out of amnesia in a hospital trauma unit 8 hours later.
Why am I here and why can't I get up and go home? I had been hit by a horse pulling a cart behind the band. It had been spooked or something and took off running and could not be controlled. It was my bad luck that I was in its way. I was hit with such force I flipped over the horse and cart and landed on my head. There was no doubt I had a TBI. I was told at the hospital in had a brain hemorrhage with some bruising to the brain and body.
The right frontal, temporal and parietal lobes had been damaged to some extent. I only spent 6 days in the hospital and was sent home to recover completely. It least that is what I thought.
I did outpatient therapy, testing, etc. After the first year I realized my life had really changed for the long term and that was a very depressing thought. But with the help of a loving family and a great and caring counselor I am doing OK. Still have cognitive problems as well as with balance, dizziness and depression. Have setbacks and some good periods where I seem to be coping pretty good. But that is life after TBI.
But what a shock to be having fun one minute then all of a sudden you find yourself in a hospital hooked up to various tubes and vomiting.
through vocational rehab to find a job that was suitable taking into consideration what I have lost. I am happy to say I have learned and am still learning the art of violin repair over the last 4 years. It doesn't matter that I can only handle working only a couple days a week. What seems so important is that I can take pride in the work I do and it is appreciated by my boss as he has told me. Also when I started I had know idea if I could keep such a job and continue to learn. Working mostly alone in the shop away from the busy sales floor has been a great help to concentrate on the tasks in front of me.Many thanks for the support of the tbichat chatters as we share our experiences and also the tbi email lists! (kmh :)
Jean Anderson
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