At 22:25 21-2-2003 -0600, Ronn Blankenship wrote:
Well, I *did* have a major concussion once (kept me out of school for six weeks), but that was some 25 years ago. I don't think it would take 25 years for any brain damage to become apparent.
Goodness! Six weeks? Do you mind sharing what happened?
I think the technical term for why it took six weeks is "error in judgement". That, and the fact that medical know-how back then wasn't what it is now.
My memory of that time is fuzzy at best and has some major holes -- actually, there's more hole than memory there -- but here goes.
After having been beaten unconscious (sp?), found lying on the grass just outside the school grounds, and carried home by my mother (which means I must have been unconscious for at least half an hour), my mother called our family doctor, learned he wasn't on duty, and called an other doctor. That one came over, examined me, and apparently said I should be okay after a few days of rest. After about ten days my condition still hadn't improved, so my mother called our family doctor, who came over, suspected a major concussion, and ordered immediate hospitalisation. They kept me in the hospital for another ten days or so, after which I was released and ordered to keep a few weeks rest till either a test in the hospital, or an examination by our family doctor (don't remember), would show I was fit to go back to school.
My parents, both being of the "let's not make a fuzz about this" kind, never filed a medical malpractice suit against that first doctor, and told the police they didn't want to press charges against the kids who had beaten me up.
Are any of our medically-trained members familiar with the usual effects on a person's brain after such an experience? Three things to consider: I must have been no more than ten years old (probably closer to eight years), the lights were out for at least half an hour (possibly longer), and my memory isn't exactly what it should be. FREX, I have worked for about 15 companies over the last 13.5 years, but if I would meet any of my former colleagues, I would almost certainly not remember his/her name. Worse yet, there are a handful of people I work with four days a week, but when I need to mention one of them in a conversation with someone else, I sometimes just can't rembember that person's name. A few weeks ago I needed to mention to someone the last name of one of my colleagues whose desk is backed against mine, and I had to look up that person's last name in the phone list because I couldn't remember...
Believe me, it's scary when that happens. I sometimes joke that my memory is so bad that I need a map to be able to go home after work -- but I sometimes wonder if and when the time will come that it will no longer be a joke...
FWIW, my memory for trivial details is excellent. And I can drone on and on for hours about science-related stuff without ever having to refer to the textbook, much to the chagrin of some of my students who wish I'd shut up. OTOH, I also have a lousy memory for names. Faces I recognize, but coming up with the names which go with them is a whole 'nother matter sometimes. I suspect it's less a matter of having had a concussion at an early age than simply having a lousy memory for names. I doubt you'd be able to write such intelligent-sounding posts as you frequently do here if your memory in general were seriously affected. Forgetting names, anniversaries, dentist appointments, etc., is normal (if annoying, or in the second instance, life-threatening . . . ).
-- Ronn! :)
Almighty Ruler of the all, Whose Power extends to great and small, Who guides the stars with steadfast law, Whose least creation fills with awe, O grant thy mercy and thy grace, To those who venture into space.
(Robert A. Heinlein's added verse to the Navy Hymn)
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