Thread: It's been awhile. Almost back to my former self.
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Old 06-19-2015, 11:14 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Las Vegas, NV
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SpaceCadet SpaceCadet is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 756
10 yr Member
Default It's been awhile. Almost back to my former self.
Boy, has it been one hell of a ride.

It's been quite some time since I posted on here. For the people who don't know me, I'm Nick and I suffered a complicated mild traumatic brain injury in 2011. The result left me with a bleeding and bruised brain, and a myriad of debilitating and unexplained symptoms.

The first two and a half years of my "recovery" weren't much of a ....well, recovery. I seemed to decline more and more everyday, no matter how much I rested, or followed the advice of my piers. Any form of stimulation would completely shut my brain down which left me with not much of a social life. I would lock myself in the house for days at a time because the slightest bit of sound or visual stimuli would destroy me, and I would only leave if I absolutely had to (doctor appointments, visits with my kids, etc).

It got to the point where I gave up trying to recover and started trying to actually live my life. It wasn't until then that I started recovering.

People kept telling me to push through - which at the time I thought was horrible advice. But, I did it. I slowly but surely resumed a semi-normal life and 4 years later I got it back. My girlfriend of 5 years and I are getting married, we have 4 beautiful children (2 of which are biologically mine), I taught myself how to program games and apps for Android and iPhone and now own a business which I am CEO and Lead Game/App Developer. 2 years ago (even one year ago), drinking any amount of alcohol would completely destroy me for days. I have absolutely no problem drinking any amount of alcohol now. Going to a club, crowded grocery store, theme park etc. was something I never thought I'd be able to do again. But now it no longer causes me any problems. 4 years ago I wouldn't be able to predict my life would be this way today.

I've got my life back!

I won't say it's perfect (then again who's life is perfect). And like Mark in Idaho has said before, people don't ever 100 percent recover from a brain injury and he's right. I still have residual symptoms left over but I'm okay with that. Because I can actually live now.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for the support over the years; especially to Mark in Idaho who stuck by my side through the whole ordeal. I'll never forget the 911 private messages I would send him in the middle of the night when I thought I was falling apart and just wanted to give up.

Never give up, people. You might not ever fully recover but you can live a semi normal and enjoyable life. You just have to want it. Find work arounds, find what works for you no matter how long it takes to find. Keep searching and keep pushing for normalcy!

God speed on your recoveries!

Nick

P.S. Just to show what I've accomplished post-brain injury, here's the link to one of the Android mobile games I developed on my own(which is free to download/play). Hopefully this will provide you with motivation to follow your dreams, whatever they may be:

Panic Rabbit!
__________________
What happened: I was randomly assaulted from behind in June of 2011. I was knocked unconscious for an unknown amount of time (less than 30 minutes) and have no memory of the event. CT scan showed contusion and hematoma of the left frontal lobe. I spent 3 days in the hospital. Diagnosed with Post-Concussion Syndrome in September 2011. Currently have Medicaid, Medicare and SSI.

Current symptoms: Brain fog, mild memory issues, problems with spontaneity, occasional spacing out, word finding difficulties, tinnitus in right ear and some other things that I can't explain.

Life after the brain injury: 4 years after the injury, I'm engaged to my beautiful girlfriend of 5 years, I'm the CEO of my own business, Notorious Labs, I've taught myself how to program complex games and apps which is a feat I never thought I'd accomplish and now live a semi-normal life with very mild PCS symptoms.

Slowly but surely regaining my life back.
Last edited by SpaceCadet; 06-19-2015 at 02:19 PM. Reason: Added link to one of my post-brain injury accomplishments.
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