Sam,

I am so sorry. This is really unfair, I know it. I know you want and deserve to have a normal life.

I know you need to be a normal high school (I'm assuming) student, you need your peers to respect you. You are smart and competent and deserve respect, and your injury does not affect that. However, other people are shallow and make uneducated judgments, as you know, and that can't change the decisions you make for your own well being.

Something I imagine you are worrying about: not finishing the year. Okay. Pretty bad, yes. You have to talk to your parents and teachers about this worry. There are options. But just pushing through may not take you there, and more importantly, you will not have healed, meaning that in the fall you will not be in a position to handle a full time year.

I am so, so sorry that Mark is correct and there is not going to be a medication that will cover for you and 'bridge' you until you recover.

Someone might have ideas about the numbness - I don't. But what I can tell you is that this is a very painful process of acceptance, at all ages. You will feel like you are losing parts of your life - but you will get them back. It is really, really hard and most of us have gone through it. No one here underestimates how difficult it is - and we are here for you.

Also: Try to find a support group nearby, especially one with young people. There should be one. Contact biausa.org of your state. Social difficulties happen for many of us after our brain injuries, but rough snap judgments especially happen a lot in adolescence and young adulthood - we older people forget because we survived (as will you) but as a result we aren't always as sympathetic as we should be. Other kids with injuries will get that.

Warmly,
Julie