Post from a member: I personally suffered a TBI 2 months ago, and i just wanted to share something that I wrote, in hopes of inspiring people. So, it has been 2 months since my accident. I am reminded every day how lucky I am to be alive. Brain injury is confusing to people who don’t have one. I had brain hemorrhaging in two different places, epidural and subdural, along with a skull fracture. After being misdiagnosed twice, I bled for over 18 hours. When you go on a night out, you expect to wake up the next morning in your own bed, not in a hospital with tubes sticking out of you. Since the accident, I have completely lost my sense of smell and taste. I have been told by my surgeon that the part of my brain that controls my sense of smell is permanently damaged. Unfortunately for me, there is no treatment for a complete loss of smell from an injury. Imagine walking in the house with your mother and she says, “Oh! Supper smells so wonderful!”, or not being able to smell your clean laundry.. Or how about that fresh coffee first thing in the morning. I never would have imagined how important my smell would be. It wasn’t until that sense was gone that I’ve began to appreciate the importance to my quality of life. Despite all of this, I think I’ve had it easy compared to what my family was, and still is, going through. Watching someone you love in ICU unable to function, only occasionally appearing conscious, and not knowing what level of recovery they were going to have, must have been horrendous. Their suffering was probably made worse by the fact I was normally so active and independent. Although I was very disoriented and agitated for some time, just knowing I could have been much worse, makes me feel lucky to be alive. I thank God I’m alive and feel so lucky to be here for my family, but at the same time unlucky. I was riding on a golf cart and simply fell off onto some cement. My 19 year old sister, and her two wonderful friends saved my life. I’m determined to make the most of my family and of life. I know exactly where 8 weeks of inactivity has left me, and the work required to get back to where I was. If there’s one thing I have learned in this recovery process, it’s that time heals all wounds. The “here today and gone tomorrow” potential that we all face has never been so personally realistic before. In the matter of seconds, lives can be irreversibly altered. Death could have easily been the result. The value of this one near miss with death has been a positive reawakening to the value of each day. Each one of us has only a limited time on this Earth. No one can predict when your time will end. But the time between life and death is a time to give thanks for each day, to see the sun rise again, to know that you can accomplish, can help, can assist others to appreciate their life. Seize each day as if it is your last because honestly, that just might be the case. Take each day for the real gift that it is; enjoy each day and add a joyful thought or laugh and enjoy the life you have been given. You have a gift, a gift that is immeasurable in its own right. You can make each day a day of value, or you can chose to complain about it. What kind of day will you have now?
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 12:42:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015