A Place to Share
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A Place to Share |
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Email Robert
My name is Robert Rogers, I live in Covington, Georgia, and I am a survivor of an
A.B.I. On New Years Day of 1994 , I suffered a brain hemorrhage as the result of an
arteriovenous malformation(A.V.M). I have come to terms with the fact that since
that day my life is forever altered. Just like any person with the ever increasing
inability to reason, I convinced myself that the Influenza bug landed on me. So for
three days I layed around the house with my hemorrhaging brain, each hour taking me
closer to death. By the third night I could no longer endure the pain within my
head, and my wife drove me to the Emergency Room, where I initially received the
misdiagnosis of meningitis.
After admission for testing, a spinal tap revealed an unusually large amount of
blood in my cerebrospinal fluid, and a C.T. scan soon followed. The scan revealed a
"lemon size" mass of vascular tissue, involving eight "misplaced" arteries, in the
right occipital, and parietal lobes of my brain. According to the neurologist on
call, I should have died long before diagnosis. Taken by helicopter to the nearest
head trauma center, I underwent the first of, at last count, thirty-three brain
related surgeries. Little did I know, this was only the beginning.
On February 14, 1994 I checked into Emory University Hospital, and underwent the
first of two procedures known as "embolization." On Feb 17, Dr Dan Barrow, then one
of less than a dozen specialists of A.V.M.'s, in the U.S. performed a craniotomy,
removing the malformation. The surgery was deemed a success, and though I no longer
faced an impending fatal hemorrhage, it left me with an array of hurdles to deal
with. Hurdles such as; paralysis, hemianopsia, seizures, depression, headaches, a
staph infection, a seemingly endless need for revised shunts due to malfunction and
infection, etc.
After about a week I needed my first shunt revision, which landed me a nosocomial,
intercranial infection. Fortunately, the outcome of this little inconvenience turned
out far better than it's horrid potential. After weeks of antibiotic therapy, and
the hell of an intercranial in&out irrigation system, I became well enough to
proceed to rehab. Months of rehab, years of physical therapy, multiple shunt
revisions, and then on April 1, 1996 I was diagnosed with cancer. To make a long
story short, I'm still here! On December 1, 1996 God gave me a son, and a daughter
on August 1, 2001, which was not supposed to be possible. I can't say enough about
how much my friends at TBIchat help me. Just knowing you are out there, and that you
truly understand, is one of the best therapies I could wish for. God bless you all.
Thank you all, and a special thanks to Janee, who helped me post my story.