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I am a survivor as well as a medical professional...I've been in 2 MVAs, having experienced an mTBI in the first, being unconscious for 12 hours and being disoriented for about a day after...I was working on my PhD in neuropsychology, ironically I realize. Tried to go back to school almost immediately and that was less than successful. To make matters worse, I had several Tonic-Clonic Seizures that semester. All in all it took 10 years before I could return to school and I wasn't able to continue in my program for neuropsychology. The computations were performed by hand back then and I just wasn't quick enough and my short term memory was unreliable at best.
I also struggled with outbursts of anger and depression, I had been a 4.0 student all my life. I was having a very tough time adapting and repeated Seizures weren't helping either. The medication I had to take left me exhausted and the brain injury interfered with my basic reasoning. I was working at a local counseling center and I had trouble using a phone, it was bad. I had to take time off to focus on recovery. Like so many here, I lost friends not because they didn't care, per se...but because I couldn't do the emotional and intellectual work of maintaining a stable friendship. As I had studied neuropsychology, at least I understood what was happening and could do some small things to rehabilitate my brain. Crossword puzzles, math challenges that were timed, Checkers against the computer, and counseling. I finally sought professional assistance as well. Finally after 10 years, I decided to try nursing school.
It wasn't easy. I passed with a 3.0, not spectacular...but it was still just enough to pass (2.85 pass) I definitely wasn't the gifted/talented student I used to be in public school or the honors student I was at University...it was a very painful change. It would take a long time to accept who I was now.
After graduating, I became an Emergency/Trauma nurse and earned my first assist. (I was able to assist in the actual surgical procedure to a limited degree) I loved doing Emergency/Trauma nursing. Unfortunately, a second accident put end to that 15 years later. I lost part of my leg and sustained another concussion. I couldn't stand for hours in surgery anymore and I couldn't concentrate for long. I left very depressed. There was one thing that did save me...I had found my wife while I was working as an ED nurse. She stayed by me while I got myself back together and switched to psychiatric nursing, specializing in traumatic brain injury. I want to help as many as people as I can who have suffered traumatic brain injury as I have. I know many people have it much worse than I do. Regardless, I also can emphasize and I know what it is like, especially when I am tired. My memory is like a bucket without a bottom, I have trouble with word finding, I get confused sometimes if I am distracted by someone while in the middle of a task, I can be very labile sometimes, and I get frequent headaches. I also talk way too much :-D. Sorry about that. If there is a way that this old, brain injured nurse can help...that's within my ability, leave me a reply and I'll see if I am able...