Six years ago I wrote these words in a Facebook post.
“I was in the restroom at a cafe today. Guy walks in very quickly, looks at me and says, "You need to leave" as he goes straight to a stall.
I hear the seat fall, and the sounds of unbuckling and dropping pants followed by the most horrifying explosion of bowel contents.
He was correct. I needed to leave.
“Thank you, stranger, for the warning.” I don’t remember writing them.
I also don’t remember my meal at that restaurant or the drive home afterward. I don’t remember getting on my mower, mowing the yard, or falling off the mower.
I’m told I walked in the house, sat on the couch and announced, “I think I fell off the mower and hit my head but I don’t remember it.” Twenty times. That’s when my wife decided to take me to the hospital. I don’t remember that ride or the stay in the ER. I do remember part of the hospital stay.
I want to take this time to apologize to the staff at Baptist-Desoto, Let’s just say I can be an extremely difficulty patient.
I do remember the headaches and the light sensitivity that lasted for nearly a year and still resurfaces from time to time. Fluorescent lights were the worst. I learned that all fluorescents flicker, some just do it faster than others. I had to keep the overhead lights in my office turned off and brought in three LED lamps from Walmart. I remember being unable to find the right words when I wanted to say something.
I especially remember not being able to remember names.
This bothered me. One thing I had always been able to do was remember who people are-where I met them, how I knew them, and how they were connected to other people I knew. Nope. My internal Rolodex was disconnected and no longer in service. This still happens when I’m tired.
Since I first learned to read I’ve always had a book or three in process. Usually I’d have one fiction book and one non-fiction book at hand. I’d read from one or both every night.
I couldn’t read a book for more than two years. I’d try, but I couldn’t follow what I was reading for more than ten pages or so. If I set the book down, I couldn’t remember what I had read earlier.
That changed thanks to a recommendation from a friend of my oldest child, I read “Monster Hunters International” by Larry Correia. I picked it up and before I realized it, I had read 200 pages. I haven’t stopped reading since.
For the next year and a half I thought I was fully recovered And every couple of months I’d have a headache I couldn’t get rid of. After several days of headaches the pain would suddenly go away completely, and I’d realize my thinking was more clear, and I could remember things I couldn’t remember before.
Six years later I think I’m back to my normal. I’m probably wrong. There are still days when lights really bother me. Other times, I struggle to remember names.
What’s my point? I think I have one.
Two points, really.
Be patient with others. I’m blessed with friends and family who have been and still are patient with me when I have attacks of brain fog, and can’t remember the last name of someone I’ve known for 20 years or more.
Take head injuries seriously. Your quarterback didn’t “get his bell rung”. He has a closed head/ traumatic brain injury. Have him checked by a pro, not just by his coach who’s after a state championship. The NFL is spending a ton of money on brain injury research and prevention. MLB and other pro sports have instituted concussion protocols after a century of “shake it off and get back on the field.”
Hallelujah.
You only have one brain. Take care of it.
