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This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
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Author
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Topic: Have you ever gotten your memory back after an accident?
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-05-2009 01:39 PM
I just had a nasty accident. I was in the hospital from Monday afternoon until Thursday. I got hit by a car while riding my bicycle.
I am somewhat pissed off because I have no memory of the accident.
I *JUST* bought the bike, only minutes before! ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
I had been looking at bicycles for about a week. I'd been in and out of that store two or three times, just nosing about. Finally, I decided to pull the trigger and get the one I'd been looking at. Trek 7100e I didn't want anything fancy. Just a good "around town" bike. Maybe I'd ride to work once in a while.
Anyway, I digress...
I only live about 4 or 5 blocks away from the bike store.
My plan was to ride the bike home, lock it up in the garage then walk back to the store and pick up my car.
So, I'm all paid up. I lock up the owner's manual, the receipts and all the paperwork on the front seat of my car. I wheel the bike outside. I got all situated right near the back bumper of my car. I spent about a half-minute fussing with things to get everything adjusted the way I wanted it. Then I started peddling toward home.
I remember, maybe, 20 seconds after that...
I don't know what the hell happened. I don't know who hit me. I don't remember a damn thing.
The next thing I know, I'm sitting on the back bumper of an ambulance. There is a cop and a paramedic shouting at me, trying to convince me to get inside.
All I remember are quick flashes of events from here on out...
I remember shouting at the paramedic, "Leave me alone! I'm all right! I just want to go home!"
"You can't go home! You're all beat up!", I remember him saying back.
I don't remember, exactly, but I think I touched my face and my hand came up all bloody. I looked at him and said, "Aw, Dammitt!" We hopped inside, they strapped me to the gurney and off we went.
My face looked like I fell out of an ugly tree and hit every damn branch on the way down! Rocky Balboa looked better than I did! My left eye was swollen up like a grapefruit. Blood all over the place!
At the hospital, several CT scans later, I've got three cracked vertebrae. (C7, C8 & T1) I've got two hairline skull fractures around the left eye orbit and I have some small, petecieal hemorrhages in the right frontal area. No other broken bones. Just lots of bumps and scrapes and bruises.
It's my second day out of the hospital. The first full 24 hours.
Most of the bruising is going away. If I wear dark sunglasses when I go outdoors, I won't scare children and small animals. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I've got lots of lovely pain pills to take. And, over the week, I've lost almost 10 pounds of excess weight! Went from 265# to 256#!
(Now, THAT's what I call a "crash diet"! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) )
I'm probably going to go back to work next Tuesday or Wednesday, just for a half-day. I'll probably stay home for the rest of the week after that. I just want to get the feel of the place again. You know... "Back in the saddle", as they say.
Anyhoo...
Next comes all the insurance bullshit. :roll:
Then we have to start answering all kinds of shitty questions.
I really don't remember shit!
I remember wheeling the bike out of the store. I remember getting situated. I remember peddling away. MAYBE, I remember 20 seconds after that.
I don't remember getting hit.
I don't know who did it. (It's in the police report which will be mailed soon.)
I've got no frikken' idea what happened!
The next thing I know, the cop and the paramedic are trying to get me into the back of the ambulance.
I have no recollection of the incident and that disturbs me.
Yeah, I know... The Neurologists all told me. It's post-traumatic memory blockage. They say that it's probably better that I don't remember. I think I agree with them.
But, DAMMITT! I just want to know what the fuck happened!
For insurance purposes, maybe it's better that I DON'T remember... ifyouknowwhatimean... It would be the truth anyway.
So... To anybody who has had an accident:
Do you ever get your memory back? ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 09-05-2009 03:45 PM
Damn, Randy. That really sucks. I hope you make a full recovery very soon. Get all you can from that driver's car insurance. With the injuries you sustained and the sorts of long term pain you may have in the future you need to get as much money as you can to cover any of those unforeseen medical costs.
I don't know about recovery of memory after getting a concussion. I've been knocked out a couple different times in sporting accidents and even once in a fist fight. The memory of those knock out moments have never come back to me.
Were you wearing a helmet? It's possible to get a serious head injury even when wearing one of those goofy looking bicycle helmets, but they're better than nothing. They're just techie looking high density Styrofoam.
I do a lot of bicycling to stay in shape. I ride over 100 miles per week, mainly on a bike path at a park not far from where I live. I have a Novara FS Ponderosa bicycle, which I purchased at REI while vacationing in Colorado. Had to drive to the Littleton, CO store in metro Denver because the Colorado Springs store didn't one in the right size. Anyway, I really like the bike. It has a Rock Shox suspension, disc brakes, 24 gear settings, quick release wheels, etc. The bike is made for rough off-road riding. The bike is very durable, but it is no match against a car.
I used to bicycle from my house to the park, but I stopped doing that after too many close calls with car drivers afflicted with head up the ass disease. Now I mount the bicycle in my pickup bed using a Thule removable bicycle rack.
Even at the park I still have close calls with cars. There's two places where the bike path has to cross a street. Lots of idiot drivers pull through the intersection without looking. Many are too immersed in their mobile phones to notice any bicyclists or pedestrians crossing in front of them. It's pretty amazing a lot of people aren't being run over there.
This past week here in Lawton two teenage girls were hit by cars on the same day, both walking near their schools. One girl was clipped by the car's mirror. The driver wasn't watching what he was doing (probably involved with his phone). The other girl was text messaging on her phone and walked out in front of a car. She only received some bumps and scrapes because the car slowed down enough to keep from killing her.
When bicycling on a bike path you have to watch out for oblivious pedestrians. They can't hear you coming, even when you're honking an electronic horn at them. In the evening they still don't seem to see you coming even if your bike has a battery powered light as bright as a car head lamp. They're either yakking on their phones or have their iPods turned way up drowning out the outside world. Moms with little kids are one of the biggest hazards. Young children naturally just want to run in your way at the last minute as if they're gravitationally pulled towards danger. I've even nearly run over a few prairie dogs! Some of those little rodents just want to run in your way too!
When bicycling you just have to use the strategy of thinking everyone around you is blind, stupid and just can't see you. Defensive driving has to be taken to a new extreme.
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 09-05-2009 03:56 PM
Wow, Randy, quite a spot of bad luck -- fast recovery, my friend.
About 15 yrs ago I fell on an ice slick coming out a parking lot in back of my apartment and whacked my temple on the curb. I remembered nothing. It was a total blackout and I have no recollection from the time I fell to the time I became aware of my surrounding in my apartment. I knew NOTHING. Not my name, not the place I was standing which was in the bedroom; it was as if I had never been there before. When I walked into the living room it was like discovering a place for the first time. There was the wall of audio and video equipment, all of it was on, pilot lights all lit, yet I had no idea what any of it was for, who it belonged to or why I was there. It was really very frightening.
I saw the telephone on the desk, it looked familiar, but I didn't exactly know what to do with it. I picked up the handle, mostly out of curiosity, and pushed the first button which, luckily for me, was the programmed button with my girlfriend's office number. When she said "hello," it was a surprise....I actually didn't expect to hear a voice come out of it. I responded, but had no idea who this voice belonged to. Of course she recognized me and asked what was wrong. I told her that I thought I hit my head. She kept asking questions -- is there blood on your head, were you in a car accident, -- I couldn't answer any of them except for the blood which was all over my jacket and hands. But she kept calm and asked if anything hurt, my arms, my legs. She told me to sit down and she would be right there. Even at the end of the conversation, I still had no idea who she was. To this day, I am very grateful that I did recognize her when she came in the room. I don't think I would every have lived it down if I said something like, "So, who are you?" She rushed me to the hospital.
I had a concussion and the amnesia was fairly severe. I couldn't remember people or names, or who was president or my birth day. It was very traumatic. It took about two weeks for me to get most of my memory back, but it came back in patches. I spent hours going thru my telephone book trying to remember who each person was. It was incredibly frustrating. You know what it feels like when you are trying to think of a name or title of a movie and it is right on the tip of your tongue but it won't come to you? Well EVERYTHING was like that for weeks. Many times I would be able to remember one of my friends but not another -- talk about adding even more pressure to remember....in the first few days, I would even fake knowing someone just because I could see how much they wanted me to know who they were. I saw some co-workers one-up another because I would recognize him and not another, like it was some kind of competition. Then the one I didn't recognize would be angry at ME because of it. It was aweful.
The other side of that coin was, once I came upon a co-worker who I never liked and strangely enough, I recognized her right away, but I acted like she was still blocked from my memory....and would stay that way for as long as I could pull it off....hehe.
This I can tell you, tho, Randy, don't try to force yourself to remember -- it will just frustrate you to tears, and it never seems to actually help bring back the memory. It's when you are not focusing directly on something but maybe thinking of something related that a recognition will pop back, usually rather unexpectedly.
At that time I was the Recording Engineer for the center and the first time back to work, I remember looking at the sound console thinking, "I know what this thing does?" I was terrified. Cindy was by my side the whole time and was a great comfort because it was very scary but she assured me that I would remember, and even if I didn't, I would learn it again. It did all come back, or at least most of it. I got the technical stuff within maybe 5 days. The people stuff seemed to take longer. Most people was pretty cool about it. If there is any long term memory that is permanently lost.....I'll never know about it.
Thing is, I never got back the memory what happened immediately after the fall. To this day, I have no idea how I got back to our apartment from the parking lot which was around the block, or who helped me and why they didn't stay to call 911. The doctor said I may very well have been coherent for a short time and talking to that person, but I have no recollection of it at all. So you may not ever get back the memory of exactly what happened. Then again, my doctors also told me the brain is a mystery (not something you want to here from the doctor who is supposed to fix it for you) and everyone will recover differently and at different speeds from this type of trauma. It's just from my experience, I never got that time back right after the fall.
It's amazing to me that someone could hit a person, obviously causing serious injury, and then not stay to help.
Again, feel better Randy; the physical healing will probably be allot easier than dealing with the insurance company!
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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today
Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99
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posted 09-05-2009 04:13 PM
I am very sorry to hear about your experience, Randy (you'll be getting a lot of this, and people mean it). I've blacked out a few times (no concussions) but have never recovered the memories. All I recall is waking up on the ground, wondering "WTF??" It is pretty scary. My theory is that the memory never had a chance to be recorded in the first place, not any of this memory-blockage nonsense. When something is happening to you and you don't know what it is and it is all very sudden, it is no wonder that the mind cannot remember the details. It doesn't know what to remember it as. It never had a chance to do much, if any interpretation of the event before you went unconscious. Gone forever, most likely. By the way, do you know where the accident occurred? How far did you ride?
Slightly off topic and not geared specifically towards Randy himself:
When I see bicyclists on the road and I am driving, I get extremely nervous. I am afraid that I will hit them. I feel that bicycles should be on the sidewalk. People are a lot softer than cars. Sometimes you don't have a choice, however. But when I bike, I always stay on the sidewalks and/or paths when I can. What also scares me is that many cyclists these days seem to be of the mindset that they always have the right of way. They expect cars to to all of the work in avoiding them, but they don't seem to make much effort avoiding cars. Turning right in your car and there is a bike coming up from behind? The cyclist will expect you to yield and let him go straight. This happened to my mom. The guy hit the back of her car and fell off. He was OK except for a few minor scratches, but he came off with an arrogant attitude about the whole thing.
Motorcycles scare me, too. I always feel like I will squash them. Their speed is rarely consistent.
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-05-2009 04:30 PM
quote: "Wikipedia"
Retrograde amnesia sufferers may partially regain memory later, but memories are not regained with anterograde amnesia because they were not encoded properly.
According to that, it doesn't look like I ever will remember.
As I said, maybe it's better that I don't. ![[Shrug]](graemlins/shrug.gif)
I'm not one for suing people when it's not necessary. I only do it when I have to.
But, if the responsible parties don't step up, I will certainly take it up with a lawyer as the situation calls for.
I believe in giving the other person the chance to come forward and be honest before taking the legal route but I'll play hardball if they make me.
All I wanted to do was get my bike back home. According to Google Earth, it is only 1.4 miles from the store to my house. The bike would have been inside the garage and I probably wouldn't have taken it out again until after dinner.
I was only planning to ride it around the neighborhood streets for the first day. I wanted to check out how the gears shifted and fiddle with the trip computer. I was not interested in riding 50 miles a day. For somebody in my physical condition, I figure it is wise to limit myself to an hour's worth of riding until I start getting used to it. I had no intentions of pretending I'm in the "Tour de France." Nor do I ever intend to. This whole thing was supposed to be about getting some exercise and having fun doing it.
No, I did not have a helmet. For a 1 mile jaunt from the store to my house, I had no concept that I'd even need it. Shit like this happening is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance!
I WAS thinking about it. The shop I bought the bike at offers a discount on accessories when you buy a bike. I was mentally taking count of all the stuff I'd need. I fully intended to get some more stuff when I returned to pick up my car.
Y'Know what... I don't think a helmet would have made much difference with my injuries.
I have hairline fractures around the left eye socket. I was told I went face-first into the hood of the car that hit me. A helmet would be useless, there.
I have three cracked vertebrae. The left transverse processes of C7, C8 and T1 are cracked.
I have petechial hemorrhages in the right frontal area. The doctor guesses that it is a kind of "rebound" injury where the skull suddenly starts/stops moving but the gray matter keeps sloshing around inside.
The doctor and every person involved ask me the same question: "Were you wearing a helmet?" as if it was a pre-programmed response. But I can also tell the look of begrudging agreement on their faces when I ask them, "Given my injuries, would it have made much difference?"
I have known the owner of that bike shop for more than 25 years. Bicycles are his life's work. He agrees. Wearing a helmet in this case would have made only a minor difference if it made any difference at all.
Besides, the day I was released from the hospital this woman social worker came into my room and GAVE me a bicycle helmet. So even though it probably wouldn't have made a difference, I have a helmet now.
So, for nearly $500 worth of bicycle shot to hell in one day, what do I have to show for it?
A nice, shiny bicycle helmet! ![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif)
BTW: Thanks for all the words of encouragement.
As silly as some may think they seem on the surface, they really do help! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Aaron Mehocic
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 804
From: New Castle, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-05-2009 06:04 PM
I banged my head off of a cement basement floor a little over eleven years ago after passing out following a hot shower. I was standing up straight when I passed out and fell back in the same manner that a tall tree falls while being cut down. Cracked my head open on the occipital bone of the skull, blood everywhere, the whole nine yards as Randy and Frank already wrote in their particular cases. I remember everything becoming very clear - crystal clear - just before the black out. Oddly enough, it was as if my vision became almost 20/20 without my glasses even though I've needed corrective lenses since 1986. To me, this is proof that one's mind can even produce perfect vision if the physiology of the moment allows. Literally mind over matter.
I don't know why I passed out, and neither did any of the doctors. Scans and an MRI showed nothing. One doctor theorized it might be the onset of diabetes, but blood sugar tests were normal. As for my memory, it has suffered and I have never believed I ever got back to 100%. In the months right after the accident, I had a very hard time concentrating. Listening to lectures during my senior year of college was absolutely unbearable. To this day I still slur certain words or reverse letters (ie: Jew Nersey instead of New Jersey). I also have a hard time keeping my daughter's names straight, often calling my youngest by her older sister's name. When I'm frustrated I embarrassingly ask the kid what her name is. Never had any problem like that before passing out.
Health-wise I tended to recover quite quickly with no lasting signs of impairment. For about two weeks after the accident I used a cane to help regain my balance, the stitches (nine of them - I think) all dissolved as I was told they would. My weight also fluctuated because, of course, I had no appetite. When I returned to college I refused to carry any heavy books or packs, but by that time I was pretty much using only a note book and pen anyway.
Today if you ask me if I'm in good health I'll tell you yeah, but no I don't think I'm mentally the same person I was before the accident. I have to think longer and harder than I used to and things just don't come as easy anymore. Some would say that's the aging process. I'd agree if I wasn't only in my mid 30's. Good luck to you in your road to healing and recovery.
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Chad Souder
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 962
From: Waterloo, IA, USA
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 09-05-2009 07:05 PM
I've never recalled memories from my accident in 2001. Some 76 year old man pulled out from a stop sign in front of me as I was moving 45 mph through a small town. The witness said there was no way I could have avoided it. There are laws against driving drunk, but not against driving old. Anyway, I don't remeber several seconds before the accident either. When I "came to," the EMTs were already there. I watched with interest as they used the jaws of life of the door of the other truck and then politely requested that at their convenience, if they were not too tired, if they could please come try to get my door open as well. I believe it came out something like "Aaaauughheerrry" since I had the wind knocked out of me. So the time leading up to the accident is gone for me too. That could go with the "memory never being recorded" theory Joe has, as it would never have switch out of my short term and into my long term memory. Someone into hypnotism once told me that a good hypnothereapist could get me to recall the memory, but that sounded as inviting an idea to me as getting into another wreck. I know what happened due to the witness's statement and that's good enough for me.
As far as permanent effects, my long-term memory is fine but my short-term memory often fails me. As far as permanent effects, my long-term memory is fine but my short-term memory often fails me.
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-05-2009 11:07 PM
Thanks, Emma.
The guy who owns the bike shop is a family friend from long ago. I got a good explanation of the differences between models.
For obvious reasons, I don't remember model numbers very well. I know the model number of my bike because it's written on the receipt. However, I remember the differences between models okay.
Here's what he explained to me:
First, we're talking about a "hybrid" bike. It's a cross between a "road bike" (what we used to call a 10-speed when we were kids) and a "mountain bike." It's got a lighter frame than a mountain bike but heavier wheels than a 10-speed, road bike.
You want a lighter frame because it's easier to maneuver but you still need some strength because you will have to deal with some obstacles like potholes and curbs, etc. You're going to be riding over mostly smooth terrain but not flat ground like you would on a road bike. You want beefier wheels than a 10-speed to handle bumps, etc. but you don't want knobby, off-road tires either.
Second, you look at riding position. You can ride in an "upright" position like we did on our old Schwinn bikes when we were kids. You can ride in the "egg" position like bicycle racers often use when riding 10-speeds. You can also adopt a "sport" position that lies somewhere between the "upright" and "egg" positions. You will move from "upright," through "sport" and towards the "egg" position as you progress from "comfort" riding through higher maneuverability riding and, finally, down into high speed/efficiency riding.
Third, you're considering quality of components and overall design/construction. Cheaper bikes have components meant to be taken as a group rather than individual parts. You will also see "flimsier" frames and wheel rims.
If you break a spoke on a cheaper wheel, you might have to replace the whole thing rather than have your bicycle mechanic re-spoke it. Hubs, break shoes, gear cassettes and things like that will last longer on more expensive bikes. If/when they wear out you can replace just the suspect parts and you aren't compelled to buy a whole new assembly.
The bike I bought: The Trek 7100. It has a heavier-built frame with shock absorbers in the front forks. It's got a "mid-sporty" riding position and upgraded hubs, breaks, gears and derailers, etc. The frame and wheels are still made of aluminum so I still have less weight to haul around when I need to maneuver.
I do not intend to ride long distances. It is about 8 miles from my home to my place of work. Just about every place I can think of riding to is less than 10 miles away from home. The MOST ambitious ride I can think of, at this time, given my (pre-crash) state of health and fitness is approximately 20 miles round trip. And, with that, I'd have to work up to it.
I picked my model because I wanted something I could grow into a little but but I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money. I liked the sportier riding position because it feels a little more like exercise to me. I picked upgraded components because... well face it... I'm a technician! I think I can replace a break shoe or some other small part when it wears out!
I have known the shop owner for years. Although I would never expect to get goods below his cost, I certainly expect a fair price and good advice. The bike I bought was only $100 more than the cheaper model. That includes the cost of the trip computer that I bought to go along with it. (Time, distance, speed & 2 memories. Only cost ≈$30. Then I got a discount for accessories-with-purchase.)
If you are looking at the Model 7000 vs. the Model 7100, either one will be a good choice. The thing that made the decision for me was the sportier riding position and the better components.
So, there you have it. That's my bike-buying decision. Take what you know about me and apply it to your situation.
As to the danger of riding bikes:
Regardless of where or when you do it, you have to consider it an "assumed-risk" sport. No matter how safely you ride... No matter how careful you are... You are going to have to accept that you WILL have an accident, even if it is only minor.
You are bound to get bumps, bruises, scrapes and sore muscles. You will eventually come home sporting a case of "road rash."
I'm sorry to sound so blunt... I don't mean to be rude... But if you can't accept the risk that you might get hit by a car, you don't belong on a bicycle.
This comes from a guy who just got his ass creamed!
This was a freak accident! It was a 1 in 1,000,000 chance! A 1 in 10,000,000 chance, even!
Come ON! A guy buys a bicycle and gets run over 30 SECONDS after paying for it?! You can't make shit like this UP! Even Stephen King wouldn't have dreamed this up in one of his novels!
D'You know what? I'm getting back on that damn bike, don't-cha know! Just for the freakin' PRINCIPLE of it!
Okay...okay, okay...
I'm being a cranky-ass "brain concussion guy" right now.
I don't mean to offend.
Yes, I do understand your concern about riding bicycles near roadways. But I think if you take it easy and use your common sense you will have no problem riding safely.
Don't let me scare you too badly!
Oh! By the way!
Here are some pics I took from Google Earth to show you where it happened.
Those two red arrows in the second picture show what I remember doing.
I came out of the bike shop and stood by the crooked arrow. I turned left, got ready and started peddling.
The end of the second red arrow is where my memory ends.
I don't remember anything until you get to the little red "splotch" on the left. Even then, I only remember little "flashes" and "snippets" of things.
I do not know who hit my or where they came from.
I'm guessing... only guessing... the woman came out of that parking lot behind the office building and didn't look as she exited. I only know these things because people told me things, after the fact.
My memory ends at the point on that second red arrow, pointing left.
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