First and foremost, today is important to me in that I can be grateful for and celebrate being alive. As my neurosurgeon later told me, that wasn’t considered the most likely outcome at the time.

There remains about 5 weeks of my life that I have little or no memory, including Thanksgiving and Christmas 2010. I do remember a little bit of my family visiting me in the hospital that Christmas. My daughter brought her pug, and I remember his eyes as he rested his paws on the rail of the hospital bed. Everyone seemed so cheerful!

I remember a little bit of my first meeting with my speech therapist in January 2011. I incorrectly guessed that the year was 2008. I didn’t know who the President was, where I was, why I wasn’t home, or why I was in a wheelchair. A week or so later the clinical neuropsychologist spoke with me and recorded the following:

“Patient’s speech was fluent, but paraphasic with notable word finding difficulties. He misreported his age as 40. He was unable to follow a 3-step command but was able to follow some 2-step commands. He registered 3 of 3 words, but could not recall any with distraction, or identify any when provided with multiple choice cues. The patient produced some confused speech and numerous paraphasic errors. He reports difficulties with memory and decision making. He does display an aphasic disturbance as well as some confusion and difficulties with attention and memory. Considerable improvement in his functioning is anticipated with time and additional rehabilitation.”

After one month of inpatient and three additional months of outpatient therapy, the follow-up neuropsychological evaluation reports:

“On examination, the patient demonstrated intact cognition in all domains assessed including learning and memory, attention, processing speed, language skills and executive functions. He has shown an excellent recovery from his severe injury only five months age. From a cognitive standpoint there are no concerns with respect to the patient returning to work full time or returning to driving.”

I am very grateful for all those who participated in my recovery, from the doctors and other medical professionals to family and friends. I am glad I found this forum as a place to share information, and our experience, strength, and hope.

Sorry for the long post, thanks for letting me share this with you.

Miracles happen, they just come in various forms. I’m not the same person I was before my TBI, and I’m OK with that. God bless all of you in this holiday season and always.