Comment by difosfor | Hacker News Reader

Comment by difosfor | Hacker News Reader

A big metal Christmas street ornament installation fell on my head and shoulder as a rode my bike on the street underneath. Briefly on a ventilator. Thankfully can't remember that or the week after personally and mostly recovered over the following weeks, months and years. Kind of like a logarithmic curve; fast at first and then ever slower. From what I was told, that's generally the case and there isn't really anything you can do except accept it and learn to deal with it and just take care of yourself as always. After being able to speak again etc I remember the frustration of feeling tired but subsequently not even being able to deal with previously relaxing things like watching TV or reading a book or listening to music. Pretty much was just sleeping 16 hours, eating and meditating during that time. Had to learn to speak a bit slower (used to speak too fast anyway) to work around damage in that area of my brain. Still get brain fatigue almost every day which gives a subtle strange kind of headache and makes me struggle with words and clumsy etc. I still get stressed a lot more easily and find it more difficult to concentrate. I think my IQ must have dropped; also according to friends. Regardless I've learned to live with it pretty well with a lot of help from experts; kept my job but working 20 hour weeks now, with colleagues shielding me from stress, helping out and accepting when I have a bad week. Also learned that even while I'm tired and feel stupid; that's not the end of the world either and I can still do and enjoy things. All in all I can do most anything again; just for a shorter time and gotten used to it where it now just feels normal. Feel pretty blessed with all the help I got and that I was able to recover as I did. Could have been a lot worse.

Anyhow, yeah, sorry for my rambling. Be careful with your head and carpe diem and all that!

PS: Keep doing fun and challenging things as far as possible. I happened to dance 3 to 4 days a week before; am back to 1 to 2 days now except for Corona measures getting in the way these last years. Think that can help exercise your brain in many ways. Also working and speaking different languages etc.

This book has been a godsend for my chronic pain problems, including, somewhat surprisingly, neurological stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-T... (I suggest looking up "whiplash" in the index.) As weird as it sounds, when I massage the muscles around my head and neck, I get noticeable cognitive changes in the minutes and days that follow.

I second this book, it is honestly life changing for me and my pains, to release them with them methods in taught in the book.

Interesting, will check it out. Could use help with my neck.

That's terrible. Glad you are on the mend. I know it sounds hokey but it might be worth looking into lion's mane mushrooms as they have had some results with neurogenesis in the brain.

Thanks for sharing. Nightmarish. Good on you for keeping at the healing process.

How long has it been since the incident? How do friends tactfully tell you your IQ has dropped, and would you rather they hadn't?

Yes, I think most friends would say “don’t worry you weren’t that clever to begin with” or some other friendly jokey thing. I’m not sure offering up their version of the “truth” is helpful at all, they are unlikely to be brain specialists!

Just over 6 years ago now. I'm still working out my damage claim to the city with my lawyer and was discussing the differences before/after to claim with friends when they gave me their outside perspective*. So that was fine by me. They normally don't mention it; we're just getting on with our lives. Also, to be clear, I'm really not that bad off; I'm used to it and can live a pretty normal life.

*) E.g: Not being as good at board games as before; more forgetful, slower, struggling with words etc. Noticeably also especially in cases where I experience my what I call 'brain fatigue'. A really weird thing to get used to besides the usual physical and sleep types of fatigue. I think it used to be aligned with sleep but now I usually get this before I get that.

Hi, excuse the question, just genuinely curious, did the bike helmet help prevent worse damage in any way?

I wasn't wearing a helmet; we usually still don't wear those on bicycles in the Netherlands. I do when I'm on a holiday and have thought about wearing it here as well, but still don't to be honest. I guess you could say riding a bike is like going for a walk here if that makes sense to you?

Thank you very much for posting this. Holy cow.

I had a slight brain injury in college, a concussion. Everyone was taking care of the urgent cases, so it took a while to realize that I was no longer tracking anything beyond five minutes at a time.

I almost remember a dream-like experience of sitting in the Emergency Room under observation: they made me sit upright, when I so desperately wanted to lie down and sleep. A good friend sat with me through all that and throughout the night, waking me up every half hour or so. Each time he did so, I would be experiencing the whole shock and fear all over again, asking the same exact questions. After some long hours of this, I "woke up" and started to have a continuous narrative.

I will never forget waking up, staring at the hospital ID tag on my wrist, with the date, May 27th... I could not believe it. I was missing six weeks. What the hell?

I had to sleep a lot that week. In the months that followed, a flash of memory would surface, like a fish jumping out of the pond: a fleeting, flash of silver. I would grab my pocket day planner calendar, and mark down the date that memory illuminated. And so over that summer, I got back almost everything except those final few days before the fall.

It was a year later that I got back the day, just an hour or so before the crash.

First responders said they saw that kind of thing all the time, with guys who had too many beers in them when they whacked themselves in the head. I hadn't had alcohol at the time, but it was college, I bet there was some chronic sleep deprivation in there.

Did I fully recover? I have no idea. It's me. My self.

(The following semester, I had a Philosophy of the Mind class, heavy stuff, Paul Churchland and Professor Searle.

I am actually somewhat thankful I have had this experience, for it is a visceral perspective I cannot imagine inducing on purpose, in a survivable way. Acid or peyote? I don't know. I never tried. Not interested. I've had my ride.)

I absolutely feel that good physical condition -- it was a relatively athletic phase for me -- contributed to the shape of my recovery. And the brain challenges of software and electrical engineering (and philosophy)...

I certainly feel way dumber now, and indeed I flunked half my classes that following semester. But I've had doctors administer IQ tests since, and have gotten the impression that that number didn't change very much.

A good friend of mine has had a life-altering stroke some months after a nearly fatal bicycle crash. His stamina and conditioning still sees him riding as much as 100 miles each weekend, but can no longer speak clearly or walk without some support.

My experience is by no means comparable to his, or to yours. It just drives home the tenuous nature of my experience of reality. It's not just a philosophy class.

Wow, that's an interesting write up of your experience as well! Yeah, an accident can give you a fresh perspective on life. And brain trauma also on your consciousness. I remember really wanting to improve my life afterwards; really digging into therapy for pre existing psychological issues as well. I have to admit I've kind of lost that flame again which I guess is normal after time. But my perspective has definitely also been widened and I think/hope that will last forever.

Such an inspiring story. Glad to hear you're recovering your life.

However I have to say that you are lucky. I doubt the majority of employers would be so kind and accommodating nor would work colleagues be as supportive.

Thanks. Helps that my brother is the CEO Also we have a lot of long term employees for an IT company, feels almost like a family with them. So yeah, very lucky indeed.

Did you manage to get any compensation from whoever installed the ornament?

this. OP.. did you get to sue the person?

City is taking intermediate responsibility and covering costs. They could in turn still claim it from the final responsible party, but I think that's really just them. I'm still working out a final future damage claim for my career etc. Will definitely get something, hopefully enough to help me buy a house.

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