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Apparently was very lucky in many respects - among others, apparently my family was told not to expect me to survive, or at best, I'd be a vegetable. Apparently cost some heavy personal bets among hospital staff on those 2 points, tho! Was also extremely fortunately in which neurosurgeon I got - the one officially on duty was away on call, was unfortunately the type who probably would've gone in surgically for no other reason than to bump fees up. ER staff, however, was told "No, get Dr. ---, he's here and just coming out of OR". This doctor just pumped me full of steroids to reduce swelling and sat back to wait&see, which turned out to be the right thing to do. Was in coma 4 days, & am told I knew who I was immediately on regaining consciousness, also was aware I was in hospital even tho I didn't know why. Was apparently also up & walking - or at least giving it a heckuva try - within hours.

This is unfortunately a poor city for head injury care, considering its population (somewhere around 1/3 million, including nearby Cambridge & Guelph) - once the immediate livesaving crisis was over, I was left pretty much on my own with no followup referrals. Tried returning to work within a couple of months (was accountant/customer service/order desk/computer wiz for small mfg. firm), managed about 6 months enduring constant conflicts with new manager, eventually was asked to leave or face insubordination dismissal. This despite having been with the co. nearly 20 yrs and having helped build it up to very profitable operation. (For those of you knowledgable in such things, picture typical aftertax profit of around $3/4 mil. annually with $30 in common shares.) They did eventually back down a little and at least write off what happened to my medical condition, tho was not permitted to return.

Was about 1-1/2 yrs before was finally able to get referral to a neurologist, who told me on first visit he was convinced I was totally disabled, and set me up for the whole eeg, CATscan, PETscan, MRI & neuro-psych. battery of testing. (To back up slightly, there was little or no external injury, putting me in the classic "invisible disability" category.) Tests revealed lesions and "seizure-like activity" on right side of frontal lobe, which essentially was the bottom line in qualifying me for CPP (roughly equivalent to Soc.Security) and private disability benefits.

Went thru bad depression first year or 2 - not, thank heaven, suicidal - frequent crying breakdowns triggered by ANY kind of emotional input, frequently no apparent trigger at all. The neuro had put me on Tegretol hoping that would help, but I couldn't see any improvement even after a year on it. Finally went to my family doc who, out of the blue, said he'd observed manic-depressive tendencies for many years (common, I'm told, in workaholics like me) and put me on Zoloft which has been tremendous help.

What else? Well, badly miss working (also drove cab parttime weekends nearly 20 yrs, which in a lot of ways was my main social scene). Miss driving - was never told to stop, and still have valid licence, but don't feel confident I could do it safely. Mostly spend time with computer or reading - my wife got me net access as Xmas present, have been delighted with contacts I've made here and at tbinet.

Anyway ... I'm told one characteristic of frontal-lobe (and often a dead-giveaway in its diagnosis) is tendency to ramble and trouble staying on track, essentially mild aphasia, & I can see above I've done a fair bit already.

I'm an oldtimer still on Win31, so essentially don't have access to chats other than IRC - will certainly check in the room here periodically, & you'll probably see me on the Board from time to time putting my 2 cents in. Would be quite happy to exchange email with anyone interested

Email Mike

Hi again, and Happy New Year to all.