A Brain Injury and me.

I wonder if calling a brain aneurysm a brain injury is correct. I consider it a brain injury because when something damages the brain cells that creates an injury. A cerebral aneurysm, or brain injury, does damage, so... Interesting. Okay, I don't really care. I think it's the collateral damage that is important.
>What's the collateral damage?

• Physical abilities.
• Limited ability to think. (My mind goes blank when I get tired.)
• Limited ability to reason. (See above.)
  
• Speech.
  
• Concentration
• Weight control. (That's a tough one. I'm working on an extra 40# that I picked up somehow. I came across an interesting article that I'll post at the bottom.)
• Controlling body functions. (It can be embarrassing to the victims of a brain injury. You learn a lot about the care givers when it comes to this. )
• Fear! (I'll cover this in a little more detail.)

Those of use that have experienced a brain aneurysm that hemorraged are really sensitive to anything that involves the head. Any kind of a headache sends us into the panic mode. A stiff neck can cause instant sweating.

When a brain injury victim gets a bleeder the blood tends to collect at the base of the skull. This can cause a really sore neck, and a headache as well. We've already gone through a near death experience so take a guess at what we're thinking.

Is this an unreasonable fear? Are we supposed to fall back on the old saying of face your fear and spit in it's eye? It's really tough. Are you afraid of things that go bump in the night? If so, then what do you do?

I've always thought that I was pretty tough. I still do. Military and gung-ho and all that sort of stuff. However, I do have a couple of flaws that I can't seem to get a handle on. I'm working on it.

I mentioned a weight loss article above. This is my real sore spot now. I've loaded on an extra 40 pounds and as we all know, it's easy to put it on but a real arm twister to get off.

Click on the link below and it will take you to the article from "The Department Of Health And Human Services. National Insititute Of Health."

Selecting A Weight Loss Program.

That's it for today. Everyone take care and stay health.
Dick...


[Note: Specific medical advice should be obtained from a licensed health care practitioner. Consult your physician before you begin any nutrition, exercise, or dietary supplement program.]

Smoking Can Cause A Brain Aneurysm!

This is going to be short and to the point. Smoking kills. Need proof? It was all over the TV last night. Peter Jennings, a very famous news reporter died from lung cancer. I've been a fan of his for over 30 years. Remember VietNam? He covered it.

I've said this before. Smoking is one of the causes of a brain aneurysm. Throw those smokes out!.

Unfortunately, cigarette smoking is extremely addictive and, in many cases, is difficult to eliminate. Often many smokers can be in some level of denial and do not feel that their life will necessarily be shortened by this addiction.

There are others that have made the comment that if they die prematurely, so be it. What they don't recognize is that if one develops a stroke or chronic lung disease, one may not die from this but be chronically disabled.
Read the rest of this report here. Quit Smoking!

A side note: Here is the high side to my brain aneurysm bursting. The memory of ever smoking has been wiped out. It was a very tough way to kick smoking but what ever works I guess.

It's like losing a close friend when someone famous like Peter Jennings passes.
Take care and stay healthy.
Dick...

The Day Of The Brain Aneurysm aka Brain Injury

This is sort of a chronicle of the first day of my brain injury event as told to me by my wife. Keep in mind that time is of the essence when something like this happens; much like a heart attack or stroke. This is a case where everything fell right into place. Within five (5) minutes there was two county cruisers and three (3) Medical Emergency trucks at my house. I live in a very good coummunity.

Actually, most of the EMT's (Emergency Medical Techs) will treat a brain aneurysm as though it was a heart problem. This isn't necessarily good but the symptoms are identical so you can't really blame them.

My wife, as I mentioned earlier, is a well trained medical person and is well versed in what happens when someone suffers a brain trauma. She'd been through this about three weeks earlier with her friend.

The EMT's cut off my favorite green shirt; ruined it. They were about to slap the shock pads on my chest when Bonnie, that's my wife, jumped in and told them not to do that. She told them that I was having a brain trauma and not a heart condition and the paddles would probably cause more injury.

They gave her a skeptical look and started to go about their business of saving my life. Bonnie stood her ground and insisted that they stop using the paddles. Bonnie can be very forceful when she wants to be.

She explained in great detail why she would not let them try the heart shock method. Evidently she convinced them because they switched to some sort of injection to bring my heart rate back to the normal range.

I may be throwing rocks at the wrong people, but as I see it, the EMT's, because they don't actually get much training with this type of brain trauma, could be causing extra problems when they try to shock the heart back to a normal condition.

My personal observation is that many of those that suffer a brain injury end up with unnecessary stroke side effects . This is my own opinion and not in any way a fact.

The doctors did an excellent job once I got to the ER. They assessed the problem right away and got my system back to, what I guess is, normal. The brain does some pretty screwy things to you when it's agitated. When an cerebral aneurysm ruptures it really PO's your brain.

I don't really know what actually happened. However, I do know this happened.

• A hole was drilled in my head and a tube stuck in the hole.
• A tube was pushed into a slit they made in my throat.
• A couple of tubes were stuffed down my nose.
• A tube was crammed into a hole they cut into my stomach.
• A catheter was put in where they shouldn't put tubes.
• A tube was stuck into my chest. I think this tube was just an extra one and they didn't know where to put it.
  

The hardest part for me to grasp is that one moronic doctor came out of the ER room and told my wife that he doubted that I was going to make it and she should prepare for the worst. That's not what I call good, patient/doctor/family member, relationship.

Well guess what. I'm here and that makes that moron wrong.

I'll get into more of my hospital experience later. Until then, stay healthy, get the right nutrition, and follow a good diet plan.

Dick