Kerin,
Thank you for your reply!
You are absolutely correct in your comments.... Thanx for offering
your thoughts on mine!
Pretty smart you must be!

In Traumatic_Brain_Injury@yahoogroups.com, "Kerin" <kerin_g@...>
wrote:

> Our injuries physically damaged our brains. Sometimes medications
are necessary, sometimes they are not. Sometimes they do more harm
than good, sometimes the good outweights the bad.<

Due to ones injuries, the specific locations damaged and the rewiring
that has taken place to compensate for the functinal abilities of
those areas injured... drugs given for a certain condition(s) may
have from the fully intended to absolutely no affect what-so-ever.


> It is an individual decision whether or not to take medications for
an injury. The decision should be made along with a trained medical
doctor, and lots of personal research. And of course, pay attention
to your body. Each of us is different. Each injury is different.<


Yes it is an individual(s) decision!!! And that decision should be
YOURS!!! Not the doctors, who will almost without doubt or fail tell
you that you "need" to take/try/use whatever it is the pharma-rep
just left him samples of.
Personal research!!! YES!!!! Lots of it too!and "pay attention to
your body"!!! Damn right!!!! and KEEP A JOURNAL record everything....

Want to freak the doctors out? Take notes on all your research...
write down all your questions before you go to your
appointments...write down your sources too.....Ask the doctors very
pointed and specific questions... WRITE DOWN EVERY WORD THEY SAY..
they will be shocked at first, But the good doctors will be impressed
and they will be much more likely to spend a lot more time getting
"personal" with your case. Any doctor that raises any even the most
minor objection to your interest and participation in your own course
of treatment /rehab desrves a great big "F.Y. buddy" on your way out
the door.


> It is also a good idea to educate yourself and family about brain
injury. A good place to get information is www.tbiguide.com The
information is clear and easy to understand.<

I have what must be hundreds of TBI related links (none of which take
you to neither the Texas Back Institute nor the Texas Bible Institute)
on three or four browsers that I am planning on eventually moving to:
http://del.icio.us

I highly recommend that all y'all go there and type in something
relevant to whatever it is you are looking for. There and my personal
fave for informed and relevant results:
http://clusty.com

My wife is a university library system director of technical services
so I have all sorts of help with search and research related matters,
and I have been geeking around for a long long time, and IMHO am as
good a researcher (actually better) and have as many in-house/on-line
resources as most any university library is likely to offer... I can
point out all sorts of M$Windows sites and software... but I can
offer no advice on its'/their installation and/or usage (but I can
offer lots of superior alternatives!) as I/we run only LinuxOS at
home and our son uses the Mac OSX.whatever-is-the-latest-version.
No offense intended, butit IMHO M$Windows is software for morons and
I am no moron, I just have a slight case of TBI,



> Hang in there and don't give up on yourself.

Yep!!! I never ever even give the first thought to giving up on me!
There is no "I" in surrender. There is no "I" in cede..... But there
is an "I" in "willing"

I am truly one of the most fortunate people around....

I was in a very ugly accident April 10, 2002.... I woke up six weeks
later to find that I could not walk, could not read, could not
understand half of what I was told, lost several years worth of
memories, couldn't feed or dress myself....oh yeah, and found out
that my left side was now half the size of my right and that I was
now a full time and exclusive right hander. I was really pissed about
all this to say the least.

But I am a really mean and tenacious and bad attituded kind of guy
when it comes to such things.... I don't care how much something
hurts, how many times I have to try to do something until I can
actually do it, what people say or think to be realistic or
achievable.... I will do anything I damn well decide I am going to
do....

It has taken me quite some time to realize understand and accept that
I am extremely fortunate in those regards and that I should not
expect anywhere near the same from others with TBI. Well, I try not
to get to down on anyone anyway...

Four years on and I pretty much do as I please, with a few
exceptions... no more chainsaws, no more firearms.... and a lot of
transient issues that vary from day to day....I really don't care as
long as the headaches stay at bay, which they won't...oh well. I am
permanently "seasick" and the world is constantly in motion.

I had a brain stem hemorrahage, partial separation of frontal lobes,
sub-arachnoid hematoma, and three other issues which I understand
should have been either terminal or at the least permanently
vegetative in their effects. other issues at. I have "no functional
ballance mechanisms" but you'de never know to walk with me.... bike
riding and rock climbing are never again items though... well I will
on occasion ride a bike, on grass, very badly and to the great
discomfort of all around me. And swimming is not a good idea either,
but what the hell.... I still will on occasion.... rock climbing,yeah
baby, only problem is I can't find anybody willing to go with me, not
that I blame anyone....

I was told by a neurosurgeon from Wake Forest university that I am
the most amazing person he has ever seen.... he says that the only
thing any more amazing than my even surviving my injuries, was that I
display any form of recovery at all.




> Some days are easier than others, some are harder.

Yep, And somehow I find something good in all of them....Besides,
since no one ever promised me a rose garden, I planted a hundred of
my own.

It's like my daddy used to tell me when I was young....
"Lifes just not not meant to be fair son, either do something about
it, or just shut up, quit your damn whining, and get used to it."


Next up....
"Large, wild, and aggressive puppies as physical therapy"
LOL.... the adventure continues

Hope I didn't offend anybody along the way.... No offense intended if
I did, so it goes I guess