My Brain
I have been out of commission for some time, unable to write. Writing is just about my favorite thing to do, so not writing is a big deal. Here I go with the long version of what happened.
At the end of January I had a major concussion stemming from a bad dream. There are several small blood vessels running between the hemispheres of my brain. Brains shrink some as we age, so the vessels are more vulnerable to impacts. One of them ruptured San bled into the space between my skull and my brain, creating a subdural hematoma. It was a sac containing the blood. Osmosis did it’s thing even after the bleeding stopped and the sac-hematoma grew.
I was not aware of this, but had a low grade headache for about a month. I went to my primary care doctor who sent me to Porter Hospital for a CAT scan. They took one look and had an ambulance haul me down to Littleton Hospital where the brain surgeons practice.
The hematoma was large enough to start shoving things around, causing the headache. Another CAT scan at and consulting with a neurosurgeon led us to wait and see if the hematoma would be reabsorbed on its own. After two weeks I got weaker to the point I couldn’t stand up and step out of the bathtub. I sort of slithered over the top and fell after I stood up.
Back to Littleton Hospital, another night in the ICU, and surgery. I told the neurosurgeon i could pick up a four inch hole saw at Home Depot, but he said he already had one. I also asked him to drill a hole in the part of my skull he took out and install a threaded bushing so I could mount a reading lamp. He said he didn’t have the parts or he would do it.
The surgeon took a piece of bone out exposing the hematoma on the right side of my skull, drained it, rinsed things, and put in a drain through a hole below the big hole.
After the surgery my head was wrapped in a big bandage that ran under my chin. After a day, a tech came in, took the bandage off and proceeded to staple the incision shut. A nurse had given me a pain pill, but the tech didn’t do a local at all. Maybe twenty staples went in with me howling in pain. One the one to ten scale it was a nine. He apologized but it didn’t help.
The drain was a piece of perforated plastic tubing to drain any additional fluid. The fluid looked like the liquid you see in the bottom of the meat tray. If you want to experience something strange, have a tube pulled out of the space above your brain. Weird.
Through the entire process all the medical people were just great, friendly, warm, caring, and helpful. With two exceptions. The jerk who put the staples in and a nurse practitioner who refused to believe he had done it in that fashion, not my favorite people.. However, the accident was bad, but the medical process was positive. Great people, good job.
After a couple of weeks I was feeling better, with good days and bad days. On a bad day I decided to go to a meeting three blocks away. I couldn’t maintain a steady gate, kept going faster until I fell. I fell two times with neighbors helping me up. The third time was right outside the meeting and I took a dive into the street pavement. Scalp laceration, blood, help from friends at the meeting, ambulance, and another trip to hospital, this time Swedish because the Denver Health ambulances won’t go to Littleton. I got four staples, done properly this time, and more good care.
The recovery process addressed my severe balance and dizziness episodes along with the need to rest. Throughout all the recovery, I wanted pie and ice cream. More pie and ice cream. And even more. I had in home physical therapy and occupational therapy,
My glasses were pretty bent up from the fall. A maintenance man came into the room and I asked him if he had some pliers. He did, and said he works on glasses. He tried, but didn’t make much progress with the titanium frame. He took the glasses, said “I’ll be right back”, and took them to a nearby optical shop where they straightened the frames and replaced a temple, no charge.
My recovery continues, I can now drive short distances, they want me to walk a lot, and I feel like I have turned a corner. My life is forever changed. The outpouring of support from medical people, friends, and my Insight Meditation group is just wonderful. The food is good as well. I have given resentment up, the major issue remaining in my lifetime journey. Gratitude is replacing resentment.
I don’t recommend brain trauma and surgery as your path, but it is working for me. I tend to resist changing my life, and it has always required some sort of wake up call to induce me to move. in this case it was literally getting hit upside my head.