And… you’re out
I hear a commercial on the car radio now that always makes me laugh. It starts with, “Men are you thinking about the health of your prostate right now”? Then it goes on to selling some herbal remedial for better care.
Well no actually I wasn’t thinking of that about as much as you are right now.
I’ll go further and bet it has never crossed your minds what a whack to the head can do to a life either? I certainly never did when it came to myself.
On July 9th, 2006 I slipped in my own kitchen, fell backwards, and the back of my head smacked the tile floor. Yes I was knocked out; no I do not know how long. I do know exactly at what time though, 2:14 am as that was the time on the microwave to my left. My ex-wife woke me up sleeping on the couch (not the floor) and told me to rest in bed. Then at 10am I was awaken again because I was now bleeding on the pillows.
Now awake, I was in a complete altered state of consciousness. Yes, I knew I was hurt, but only assumed a concussion as I had accompanying vomiting and headaches. At this point I self-diagnosed based upon previous knowledge and coaches training for injuries. So I stayed in bed the rest of the day thinking the emergency room would be over doing it and tried to rest.
The day was spent fighting off massive headaches, vomiting, and (still) being stubborn about the need for a trip to the ER. I had decided to wait until Monday morning and if the situation was the same, I would call my doctor.
Okay, so I called my doctor. Upon arrival at the ER I was taken immediately and sent in for a CAT scan. Lying on the bed in the ER I heard the attending physician say, “Find out who the Neurosurgeon is on call, we have a brain bleed”. Dr. Smith (That is really his name) informed my ex-wife and me that my situation was “serious” and I was being admitted. My IV lines were disconnected as they were providing me fluids for having continuously vomited; now however, extra fluids were dangerous.
After being wheeled into the room which I would be staying in, I realized at that time, not much made sense. Matter of fact nothing made sense. I was weak and complied with everything (like a child) I was being told. Then I was asked a bunch of questions, here comes the good part (meeting the Neurosurgeon) and then came the happy juice!
Please take note here – you do NOT have to have a bleeding brain to have damage!!!
More to follow Mr. Q
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Prior to the smack on the head
Who I was
Prior to the accident there were many ways in which I could have been described by others. Not really meaning to, I pretty much exhausted everyone’s vocabulary of descriptive terms for myself. That means even the range of profane ones were used up (You know Kevin you're a ...). I have been going through a series of neurological evaluations and have had to say what I was like before the injury. Well, here it goes, and for those of you who know me before I smacked my head, let me know if I am missing anything.
I am a mathematics teacher. I have been honored and blessed all my life to teach algebra and geometry to students of all abilities and ages. In doing so I never really considered what I did a job. It was a passion and I loved every minute. In my classroom "I" was the class clown. I had more energy and was more enthused then those I taught. I loved life and everyone around me. I think I did pretty decently educating others. I know I tried to never teach two years the same and to the best of my knowledge, never did.
I also loved sports, played sports, and coached. My other passion – soccer. I threw myself into everything I did, held nothing back, and expected my athletes to do the same. The philosophy we all adopted while getting crushed every year in soccer was “NEVER GIVE UP & NEVER GIVE IN”. I loved those guys! We went from the absolute worst in Polk County to third in the county tournament and second in the district tournament.
I still remember those games, the brawl with Mulberry and Chris never dropping the ball. I still remember Shane scoring the winning goal against Winter Haven. I still remember Jose Z’s first rainbow at Clermont. I remember Sterling being so tiny and yet so tenacious and feared at defense. I remember Henrick bending a ball for the first time and my guys stopping to stare. Great stuff – great times – a life full of fond memories.
As a teacher I gave and expected nothing less in the classroom. Therefore coming in on a Saturday to give extra assistance – no problem, I was there. I was also the school tech specialist and network administrator. Beside my math classes I was running around the campus prepping computers, repairing computers, solving computer related problems etc or (blah – blah – blah). I was also working at the local community college as adjunct instructor for math and beginning teacher courses. Yup, I was now teaching people who wanted to be teachers. (Scary thought isn’t it – cloning gone bad).
So that’s me. Endless energy, boundless enthusiasm, assertive, proactive, never say never, believes can’t is a dirty four letter word, and never will say no to doing and giving more. Oops, I forget, wildly fun prankster who cared for others, flippantly irreverent towards school “rules”, yet would always do what I was asked – I never had to be told. I was always on the front lines for students, their parents, and willing to take the heat with administrators for the right thing, not the politically correct thing.
More to come
Prior to the accident there were many ways in which I could have been described by others. Not really meaning to, I pretty much exhausted everyone’s vocabulary of descriptive terms for myself. That means even the range of profane ones were used up (You know Kevin you're a ...). I have been going through a series of neurological evaluations and have had to say what I was like before the injury. Well, here it goes, and for those of you who know me before I smacked my head, let me know if I am missing anything.
I am a mathematics teacher. I have been honored and blessed all my life to teach algebra and geometry to students of all abilities and ages. In doing so I never really considered what I did a job. It was a passion and I loved every minute. In my classroom "I" was the class clown. I had more energy and was more enthused then those I taught. I loved life and everyone around me. I think I did pretty decently educating others. I know I tried to never teach two years the same and to the best of my knowledge, never did.
I also loved sports, played sports, and coached. My other passion – soccer. I threw myself into everything I did, held nothing back, and expected my athletes to do the same. The philosophy we all adopted while getting crushed every year in soccer was “NEVER GIVE UP & NEVER GIVE IN”. I loved those guys! We went from the absolute worst in Polk County to third in the county tournament and second in the district tournament.
I still remember those games, the brawl with Mulberry and Chris never dropping the ball. I still remember Shane scoring the winning goal against Winter Haven. I still remember Jose Z’s first rainbow at Clermont. I remember Sterling being so tiny and yet so tenacious and feared at defense. I remember Henrick bending a ball for the first time and my guys stopping to stare. Great stuff – great times – a life full of fond memories.
As a teacher I gave and expected nothing less in the classroom. Therefore coming in on a Saturday to give extra assistance – no problem, I was there. I was also the school tech specialist and network administrator. Beside my math classes I was running around the campus prepping computers, repairing computers, solving computer related problems etc or (blah – blah – blah). I was also working at the local community college as adjunct instructor for math and beginning teacher courses. Yup, I was now teaching people who wanted to be teachers. (Scary thought isn’t it – cloning gone bad).
So that’s me. Endless energy, boundless enthusiasm, assertive, proactive, never say never, believes can’t is a dirty four letter word, and never will say no to doing and giving more. Oops, I forget, wildly fun prankster who cared for others, flippantly irreverent towards school “rules”, yet would always do what I was asked – I never had to be told. I was always on the front lines for students, their parents, and willing to take the heat with administrators for the right thing, not the politically correct thing.
More to come
Friday, November 6, 2009
First post
Hi!
My name is Kevin (or Mr. Q) I am going to start blogging about an incident that took place in my life, a TBI or traumatic brain injury. I have one goal and purpose in mind, that is to shatter the silence of this injury and hopefully allow others suffering to finally get the help they need. I am right now aware that those who suffer with a TBI can never achieve a "full recovery". That does not mean however, life cannot be substantially increased.
I am also very painfully aware of what we all suffer with a TBI and am blessed right now that I have the capabilities to express it. I will encourage to share their insights and perceptions into this tradegy as perhaps, "one more" life can be touched and changed. I can tell you all right now that one of the most hurtful but perhaps seemingly innocent things to say to a TBI sufferer is, "well you seem fine to me".
More to come.
Mr. Q
My name is Kevin (or Mr. Q) I am going to start blogging about an incident that took place in my life, a TBI or traumatic brain injury. I have one goal and purpose in mind, that is to shatter the silence of this injury and hopefully allow others suffering to finally get the help they need. I am right now aware that those who suffer with a TBI can never achieve a "full recovery". That does not mean however, life cannot be substantially increased.
I am also very painfully aware of what we all suffer with a TBI and am blessed right now that I have the capabilities to express it. I will encourage to share their insights and perceptions into this tradegy as perhaps, "one more" life can be touched and changed. I can tell you all right now that one of the most hurtful but perhaps seemingly innocent things to say to a TBI sufferer is, "well you seem fine to me".
More to come.
Mr. Q
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