Random Question 11/20:

[Brad]

I've suffered a few concussions over the years, some major and some "minor". The first one I had in my early teen years, I hit a tree while riding my four wheeler and was thrown through the air. I was wearing a helmet (which probably saved my life) but the impact of my head smacking the ground was still enough to cause a pretty bad concussion.

The last thing I remembered was my Dad asking if I was okay, and responding to him "Yea, I think so" while undoing my helmet's strap. I don't remember taking my helmet off, nor do I remember the 15 minutes afterwards even though I was walking around and talking.

My dad and friend told me that I was just asking the same question over and over again (I wanted to know what had happened to my four wheeler because it was in pretty bad shape ). They kept trying to explain to me that I had wrecked it which I would understand for a couple of seconds before asking "What happened?" again. (Again I do not remember any of this).

I did "come to" at one point, I was sitting in the back seat of my Dads Girlfriend's car. I remember asking her "What's going on?" and she told me that I was going to the Hospital (with a mean tone to her voice, I guess I'd been pestering her for a while and don't remember ).

I blacked out again and came to in the waiting room at the ER, I remember sitting in a chair with my helmet in my lap. I did come to for good at some point before they placed me in the "tube" for a CT scan...although it's hard to remember exact details of the rest of the day...

I had a couple more after that first one, but it was by far the worse in my book. My sleeping habits have been very screwed up since that day. My short term memory is not as good as it used to be (people in the know will probably blame that one on something else ). I have really bad headaches in the back of my head, sometimes they run from one temple all the way around to the other.

Other things I notice (other people claim they don't): For a short time after my second concussion I would slur a lot of words. The sluring has mostly gone away...however often times I find myself not begin able to remember names/common words. Sometimes I "make up" new works by combining the start and ending of two words without meaning to. Sometimes I stop in the middle of speaking searching for a word even for very simple things (like the name of a football team). Often times I find myself having to correct myself, and that sucks when speaking to people you just met.

The worse of all is not begin able to remember many things that happened in my life before the concussion. Lately I've been looking at a lot of old photo albums and that has helped me remember some things. But I still can't remember things clearly...for example I can't remember birthday parties from my child hood days even though a lot of my friends do. Many of my childhood memories are gone or very "fuzzy".

I've never broken a bone in my life. I'd break both my legs if it meant I could get back to how things were pre-concussion. I would not have my hand sawed off though....that just sounds way too painful!

--------------- Added [DATE]1195634938[/DATE] at [TIME]1195634938[/TIME] ---------------

Originally Posted by Reeve of shinra

I've had my heart broken a few times... took a while to heal and jack daniels didn't really do much for the pain.

Amen.