1/24/11
The reason why I’m doing this blog page is to update my friends as to what’s happening and to help other people that may have a traumatic brain injury like I have. I’m not a doctor or nurse so everything is just my point of view, but it may help someone out there.
In August of 2009 I was working on a fashion shoot at a studio in New York City. I started throwing up and was losing my yvision. I thought it was the catering. I managed to finish the shoot. My assistant brought me back to the hotel. I called my neurologist and he said to sleep it off. My other doctors told me to go the emergency right away, which I did. We called for a town car as it was faster than an ambulance, and it brought me to the hospital I wanted to go, NY Presbyterian Weill/Cornell. Most ambulance will take you to the closest hospital. That’s another reason why I took a town car.
Once I got to the emergency entrance of NY Presbyterian, I stumbled out of the car into my parents arms who were waiting there. I had called them. Some nurses that were off duty also saw my state, got a wheelchair and brought me into emergency.
They wasted no time at emergency. They stabilized me, called my neurology team. I was stabilized and prepared myself for an emergency operation to take place in a few days. I almost didn’t make it. I would have died except for the quick response at the emergency room. That was to be my first time I avoided death.
They moved me to intensive care that night where they monitored me, stabilized me. Two weeks later after a bout with two infections on September 8th, 2009, I had surgery. I had a condition called cavernous malformation in the pons area. Basically, in layman’s terms, it’s a slow malformed capillary thing on the brain stem. Most people don’t live having this condition. I got lucky.
The operation was successful. It took 4 hours. They managed to remove the bad malformation on my brain stem. They also stabilized and put me back in intensive care where they did a few more procedures like; give me another operation where they put a feeding tube in, another operation to give me a filter to my heart because I had two blood clots in my leg and finally a third operation to give me a trac because I couldn't seem to be able to handle them taking the breathing tube out of my throat. I remained there for two weeks until they moved me to Helen Hayes rehabilitation hospital for rehabilitation. I still felt like I was run over by a New York taxi and dragged down a block. I felt like hell.
Rehabilitation is an amazing thing. The people at Helen Hayes were so good to me. I had to be taught how to do everything all over again. It was like being a baby again. But, with good therapy, I excelled and within five months I was fairly stable, but nowhere near normal.
I went home on New Year’s Eve and spent stayed at my parents. It was a good New Year’s present to get out of the hospital. Then my whole life started falling apart. My life was like a bad country song. My wife moved to Texas with my daughter, and she subsequently sued me for divorce. My dog died in my arms. My yearly check up showed I had to have another emergency operation. So, my world was basically turned upside down.
After the first operation, and after 6 months of therapy at Helen Hayes, I was able to stand up holding on to something, walk with assistance, and more importantly, take pictures. I wanted to show the world how I saw things. The pictures are very abstract, full of color and have a lot of movement in them. They are pretty close to how I saw the world. I hope I can share the pictures with you one day, somehow.
The second operation really knocked me on my ass. It seemed to be much more difficult than the first. Though I didn’t have a trach everything seemed longer to recover from. I was nowhere near to what I had accomplished after the first operation. I felt like I lost the whole year. It’s like starting over again. Very frustrating, but like Winston Churchill said, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” So I do.
It’s been very difficult and the word I keep remembering, the words of my neurologist, “You have to learn the true meaning of patience.” Take one day at a time and I do now. I patiently wait for the day I can see normal and walk normal and play with my daughter at the beach.
It’s been almost 2 years now, and I’ve avoided death many times, but I’m still impatient. I just want to get better soon. Anyway, that’s pretty much my story.
With this blog I will update people on my progress. Feel free to email me your comments or questions I’ll catch you when I can. I still can’t type. I need help from someone like my good friend Julie who is writing this for me.
B. Nice
The reason why I’m doing this blog page is to update my friends as to what’s happening and to help other people that may have a traumatic brain injury like I have. I’m not a doctor or nurse so everything is just my point of view, but it may help someone out there.
In August of 2009 I was working on a fashion shoot at a studio in New York City. I started throwing up and was losing my yvision. I thought it was the catering. I managed to finish the shoot. My assistant brought me back to the hotel. I called my neurologist and he said to sleep it off. My other doctors told me to go the emergency right away, which I did. We called for a town car as it was faster than an ambulance, and it brought me to the hospital I wanted to go, NY Presbyterian Weill/Cornell. Most ambulance will take you to the closest hospital. That’s another reason why I took a town car.
Once I got to the emergency entrance of NY Presbyterian, I stumbled out of the car into my parents arms who were waiting there. I had called them. Some nurses that were off duty also saw my state, got a wheelchair and brought me into emergency.
They wasted no time at emergency. They stabilized me, called my neurology team. I was stabilized and prepared myself for an emergency operation to take place in a few days. I almost didn’t make it. I would have died except for the quick response at the emergency room. That was to be my first time I avoided death.
They moved me to intensive care that night where they monitored me, stabilized me. Two weeks later after a bout with two infections on September 8th, 2009, I had surgery. I had a condition called cavernous malformation in the pons area. Basically, in layman’s terms, it’s a slow malformed capillary thing on the brain stem. Most people don’t live having this condition. I got lucky.
The operation was successful. It took 4 hours. They managed to remove the bad malformation on my brain stem. They also stabilized and put me back in intensive care where they did a few more procedures like; give me another operation where they put a feeding tube in, another operation to give me a filter to my heart because I had two blood clots in my leg and finally a third operation to give me a trac because I couldn't seem to be able to handle them taking the breathing tube out of my throat. I remained there for two weeks until they moved me to Helen Hayes rehabilitation hospital for rehabilitation. I still felt like I was run over by a New York taxi and dragged down a block. I felt like hell.
Rehabilitation is an amazing thing. The people at Helen Hayes were so good to me. I had to be taught how to do everything all over again. It was like being a baby again. But, with good therapy, I excelled and within five months I was fairly stable, but nowhere near normal.
I went home on New Year’s Eve and spent stayed at my parents. It was a good New Year’s present to get out of the hospital. Then my whole life started falling apart. My life was like a bad country song. My wife moved to Texas with my daughter, and she subsequently sued me for divorce. My dog died in my arms. My yearly check up showed I had to have another emergency operation. So, my world was basically turned upside down.
After the first operation, and after 6 months of therapy at Helen Hayes, I was able to stand up holding on to something, walk with assistance, and more importantly, take pictures. I wanted to show the world how I saw things. The pictures are very abstract, full of color and have a lot of movement in them. They are pretty close to how I saw the world. I hope I can share the pictures with you one day, somehow.
The second operation really knocked me on my ass. It seemed to be much more difficult than the first. Though I didn’t have a trach everything seemed longer to recover from. I was nowhere near to what I had accomplished after the first operation. I felt like I lost the whole year. It’s like starting over again. Very frustrating, but like Winston Churchill said, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” So I do.
It’s been very difficult and the word I keep remembering, the words of my neurologist, “You have to learn the true meaning of patience.” Take one day at a time and I do now. I patiently wait for the day I can see normal and walk normal and play with my daughter at the beach.
It’s been almost 2 years now, and I’ve avoided death many times, but I’m still impatient. I just want to get better soon. Anyway, that’s pretty much my story.
With this blog I will update people on my progress. Feel free to email me your comments or questions I’ll catch you when I can. I still can’t type. I need help from someone like my good friend Julie who is writing this for me.
B. Nice
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