by: Terry Wilson
I was knocked unconscious from an explosion of a boiler at work. The boiler door came off and struck me in the head, throwing me backward where I also hit a bench and the concrete floor. The door was cast iron, aproximately 4 feet diameter and weighed aproximately 300 pounds. I don't remember the incident. My next memory was waking up in the emergency room fighting with the doctors. My head was strapped to a gurney and I was getting an MRI. I stayed in the hospital for 4 days and was finally released. I functioned fairly well at the hospital, but the pain meds I was given was fairly high dose form of morphine. When I got home and the meds wore off, the pain increased 10 fold.
I experienced problems with lights, hearing, and memory during the next few months. Since the accident, just over a year ago, I have recovered significantly. Now my problems are associated with verbal processing, some attention and concentration, and slight loss of dexterity and strength in my right side of my body. It is hard now because talking to me it is difficult for others to understand there is a problem. But what I am learning is that I'm having difficulty with remembering new information that is given to me verbally. And when I have to concentrate on multiple tasks while listening, my concentration level drops off dramatically. This is significant because prior to the injury, one of my strengths at work was the ability to multi task. Other problems I'm having includes easily frustrated, becoming agitated when I am interupted or faced with increasing difficulties. It has been really difficult for my wife since the accident and has cause some strain. She has coped with it well and really still stands behind me. We've been lucky to have been seen by a really good doctor as well as a special brain clinic. Without their aid, I would have been released to work to face my problems on my own.
My biggest surprise with my injury has been finding out how little most doctors know about brain injuries. My treatment at San Francisco General was very minimal and not focused at all on my brain injury. They stated on my injury assesment that I could return to work in "two weeks"! That was the assessment for their neurologist! Then my next treatment was at UC Davis. I got better treatment there from an excellent trama doctor. But still there was very limited knowledge of brain injuries there and I was only given a Speech Therapist to help me with my difficulties. It just scratched the surface. The Neurologist at UC Davis only examined me to see if I needed surgery or other treatment of my nerve tissue, rather than the cognitive aspects of my injury.
I'm still in the process of rehab, though currently it has been put on hold due to the workers compensation process. It has been so frustrating having to wait for rehab due to the financial battle between lawyers and getting approvals.
This experience has been quite an awakening. I took for granted what many people take for granted. Our brains are who we are as a person. To think that an injury can change who we are, everything that represents our personality is really amazing. I've been so involved in understanding personal relationships better and the psychology of relationships. So many thinks I've taken for granted I want to understand better. One of the survivor stories I read explained it well, there are many people who take for granted the importance of who they are and become mentally lazy!