Speaker: Brain Injury from the Patient’s Point of View
Brain Injury from the Patient’s Point of View
patient’s point of view
Pretense
I saw a quote on Facebook: “You’ve got it backwards actually—I’m faking being well!” I’m done faking it. All this time, more than eight years since the surgeries, I’ve worried about being a malingerer. I’ve worried that I was over-dramatizing some of my symptoms, that really, I just need to try harder, that I’m not … Read more
The Queen
Queen Elizabeth The roar of a diesel engine fills the universe, my universe. Then dies abruptly. Close your eyes. Think of the queen. I picture her wave, the barely discernible motion of her wrist—so efficient and graceful. Her corgis trailing after her. “Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.” What did Ellen DeGeneres say about a kingdom? … Read more
Details
EEG exhibiting seizure activity. Dr. Robert said that I only had two angiomas. Dr. Stuart told me that of my multiple angiomas only two had bled. But according to the brain MRI report, there were indications of “hemorrhage scattered throughout the hemispheres and in the right middle cerebellar peduncle.” (The cerebellar peduncle is the part … Read more
Prior Authorization
“That’ll be one thousand blah blah dollars. Do you want to complete your order?” My brain shut down briefly after the “one thousand,” rebooting in time to hear the “dollars.” No, I didn’t want to complete my order. I was trying to refill my prescription for anti-seizure meds. The problem was that I wanted the … Read more