Personal Narrative: Dealing With A Brain Disorder

I’ve always been passionate about understanding others; stepping into their shoes and seeing, thinking, and appreciating the lives they live. I think it is important to take that extra step and see things from a different point of view. It is the only way to achieve a true understanding. I believe in this philosophy so much so, that it’s one of the main reasons I have this blog; to give others a glimpse of a life with mental illness. I’ve been in treatment for 2 months and 26 days and I think it’s time for another peek into my brain.

I will be talking about a time in my life that was not easy that i had to go through. When I was around age 5 my mom noticed a lot of twitching and blinking of my eyes she was worried and had no idea what it was, so she took me to the doctor. They said I had focal seizures, as a little kid you don’t really understand or know how to feel. But I could just remember my mom constantly worried about me. The reason behind me having these seizures, was when I was born there was a part on my lower brain that didn’t form so it left scar tissue and was causing them. But at the time we were still living in Texas the doctors tried multiple surgeries, but none of them helped so we moved to Tennessee for better doctoring. That’s when I started going to Vanderbilt and ever since then it’s been a journey.

An auditory processing disorder, is when your ears and brain don’t cooperate together, the ways in which the brain interprets sound through speaking and or sounds.

The field that I plan to go in to is neurosurgery and I believe that if I attend your institution that it will be a major stepping-stone towards my ultimate goal. Neurosurgery is a field that takes an immense amount of skill, patience and remarkable leadership skills. Even now, life is shaping me to become one of the best surgeons in my field. My position as a captain in the marching band and president of my church's youth group has provided me with the knowledge that helped me to become a better leader and to gain patience when things do not go as planned.

It’s a struggle to get out of bed sometimes, I often just sit there struggling to comprehend the sequence of events which have taken place over the past year. I mean, I’m used to this now, its normal to me, but the fact that this has happened and that I am now ‘disabled’ as people would put it is hard to get my head around. And every time I look down I’m reminded of the pain and the struggle I faced, it’s a physical scar which links me to my grueling past, a physical and emotional journey.

Recently I discovered that I have brain tumor. My surgery is scheduled in two weeks, unfortunately this requires an incision in my frontal lobe. This will cause loss of intelligence, personality, and behavior. I have Fourteen days left with a fully functioning brain, wanting to spend this time doing what I love made me decide what to do. In this two week period I will focus on family, friends, and some of my favorite activities. The first five days are going to be spent with my family at Smith Mountain Lake. Following the time at the lake I will rent a beach house and pack it full of my longtime friends. Lastly in the final days leading up to my surgery I will be in the mountains doing what I personally enjoy most. Overall I will be relaxing,

Over the past four years, I have seen more doctors than an average person will see in a lifetime. From endocrinologists to neurologist, I have tirelessly sought medical treatment for multiple brain injuries I incurred at a young age. Through my personal struggle, I learned that there is limited treatment for concussions and traumatic brain injuries in the state of New Mexico. It has become apparent that there is a lack of treatment not only for brain related issues, but for all health issues in the state of New Mexico, especially in rural communities such as mine.

Over the past four years I have seen more doctors than an average person would see in their lifetime. From endocrinologists to neurosurgeons, I have tirelessly sought medical help to overcome multiple traumatic brain injuries I incurred as an early teen. Prior to these head injuries I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do with my life or what my future would encompass. The outlook I had on life prior to my head injuries has drastically changed through the course of my recovery. Although my road to recovery has been filled with hardships, disappointments, and pain, I have found a new direction filled with opportunity to advocate on behalf of others.

My neurosurgeon, husband, daughter, and I agreed to a plan. On February 18, he will be removing the right side of my hardware from my skull down to C-2/3 where he will saw the rod in half and leave the rest of my fusion. The right side of my fusion has failed. While removing the fusion, he will be taking four screws out of my brain and one out of my neck. My fusion was placed nine years and two months ago; therefore, it has been in my body for a long time. He is leaving in the left side of my fusion, which is from my skull to C-5 because my neck is not stable enough without it. After he removes the titanium hardware, he will be taking a cadaver bone as well as removing bone marrow from my hip to rebuild my skull. He has to cut down the

This week at clinical I was able to have two different patients. My first patient was a seven year old girl that was in for right lobe pneumonia. She was in droplet precautions and receiving azithromycin. Since she was on her last dose of azithromycin, once I give her it, me and the nurse discharged her and she went home. I only worked with the seven year old patient for about 3 hours so I had enough time to get another patient for the day to do an assessment on and take care of.

Hi! My is Ginger and I am 40 something (lol). I am married and have 4 children and 2 granddaughter & expecting another grand daughter in Oct. I am currently in grad school and I have just been diagnosed with ADD. How in the world can someone in their 4o's just find out they have adult ADD?

I don't know where to start. I'm 25, male, and I live in southern state. I suffer from epilepsy, depersonalization, depression, and hypothyroidism. I don't know what to do anymore...

Being a child with ADD I found school to be very challenging even at an early age. My first year of high school was a big leap from elementary and middle school. It was very hard for me to get use to the tests and work that were given to me. During that time I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and that made it very difficult for me to really want to do well in school. Once freshmen year past I went on a trip to Europe which changed everything for me after that I knew I wanted to do something with international travel. I heard about a family friend who was involved in international business and how he got to travel everywhere and at that moment he was living in Brazil. To me that was everything and I had found my goal. I started to do better

I woke up to the sound of sirens, getting louder and louder each second. A state of panic filled my neighborhood. My heart dropped to my stomach as I watched my neighbor get strapped onto a stretcher and rushed out of the neighborhood to the nearest hospital. As I sat there, holding my neighbor’s two young boys in my arms, I realized that those sirens had awakened me and opened my eyes to a world that a child could not understand. In this single moment, I was maturing and preparing myself for adult-like responsibilities.