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Do you really need a frontal lobe?
Free Republic ^ | 3/19 2005 | Salamander

Posted on 03/19/2005 6:36:26 PM PST by TASMANIANRED

I have the consent of Salamander to post this.

In the interest of clarity for those undecided about Terri's quality of life and her potential for recovery, I post Salamanders story. A fascinating take on the nature of brain injury and its effects on consciousness.

I have no frontal lobe. It was destroyed in an accident in 1981. All that's filling up the space is scar tissue and spinal fluid. Apparently I'm still functioning and "thinking" to some extent. I won't bore you with the details of the damage I also sustained in my temporal and parietal lobes and cerebellum.

Suffice it to say that I was declared "hopeless" by the doctors in the hospital and that *if* I ever awoke, I'd be a "vegetable" for life. They told my parents that injuries *much* less severe than my own usually killed people, outright.

After an 11 day hospital "death watch", I simply awoke and asked for a cheeseburger. There was no gradual "improvement" in health. I just woke up and that was it. [I had my cheeseburger and walked out of the hospital that same day and went out to dinner and dancing, that night] Miracle? Probably. With the exception of anosmia and a balance problem [inner ear bones damaged too], I was "fine". I have to work a little harder to recall things due to short-term memory problems and my fine motor control isn't as fine as it used to be, but and I *am* "functioning and thinking to some extent".

I hope you understand now why I am so disgusted by people who say that "this part or the other of her brain is missing and therefore there is no hope". I am lacking major parts which are supposedly "vital" to consciousness and "self" yet here am I, lucid and functioning superbly.

My point is, there is always -hope- and science doesn't even begin to understand how the brain can "reroute circuitry" to compensate for damaged areas.

Having nearly been like Terri, myself, I have a vested interest in her welfare.

She deserves an attempt at rehabilitation. She deserves physical and mental stimulation. The brain will "atrophy" when deprived of such things and my doctors have flat-out told me that my own efforts to "exercise" my mind, post-injury are responsible for the fact that I am "firing on [almost] all cylinders", today.

I ~could~ have "been her" and she could yet have a chance to "be me"....or at least greatly improved, if only her adoring spouse would allow her that chance.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: brain; frontallobe; pvs; schiavo; terri; terrischiavo; terrishiavo
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To: Nightshift

PING


21 posted on 03/19/2005 7:17:44 PM PST by tutstar ( <{{--->< Impeach Judge Greer http://www.petitiononline.com/ijg520/petition.html)
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To: TASMANIANRED; All
I see some have reached their limit with these Teri threads. For those tired of these threads all I can say is - Don't read them!

I never heard this story before thanks for posting.

22 posted on 03/19/2005 7:26:01 PM PST by Nightshift (judge greer: legally blind and blind legally)
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To: STARWISE

I don't know if I need a frontal lobe but THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IS ON ABC tonight. I wonder if Judge Greer is holed up in the hotel watching The Ten Commandments. Probably not since he doesn't let them affect his judgment. GEORGE GREER IS EXACT OPPOSITE OF JUDGE ROY MOORE.


23 posted on 03/19/2005 7:27:16 PM PST by floriduh voter ( www.theempirejournal.com BUSTING TERRI'S BAD JUDGE EVERY DAY.....)
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To: Salamander
Thank you for your permission and your post. You have performed a valuable service for this community. And perhaps for Terri Shaivo as well.

John / Billybob

24 posted on 03/19/2005 7:27:52 PM PST by Congressman Billybob (Proud to be a FORMER member of the Bar of the US Supreme Court since July, 2004.)
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To: TASMANIANRED

Awesome post. On a side note, if you wanna laugh or raise your blood pressure, depending on how you look at things, here's the DUmmies trying to make scientific arguments as to why Terri should be killed. Quite amusing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3300402&mesg_id=3300402


25 posted on 03/19/2005 7:38:20 PM PST by Free and Armed
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To: Congressman Billybob

You're welcome, sir.
I pray to God that some will read it and have a change of heart.
Even more prayers for her can only be a good thing.


26 posted on 03/19/2005 7:38:23 PM PST by Salamander
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To: socialismisinsidious
Nope.
Not a bit.
I'm same cynical, unpredictable, smart@ss that I've always....;))

And between me and thee...my IQ tests actually went *up* about 20 points and I have been able to learn things that I could not, before.
It's as though I awoke with a thirst for knowledge.

The best "side-effect" was uncharacteristic empathy for the "underdog".

I became much more aware and compassionate towards others.

For that blessing, I am grateful.

27 posted on 03/19/2005 7:43:51 PM PST by Salamander
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To: TASMANIANRED

Case studies of normal people with virtually no brains at all, no pun intended:

http://www.alternativescience.com/no_brainer.htm


28 posted on 03/19/2005 7:55:01 PM PST by Solamente
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To: Solamente
Other medical miracles.

I have taken care of 2 patients that were quite alive and functioning very well with a 3 chambered heart.

It requires a ventricular septal defect to survive, Both were discovered quite by accident as adults.

One of them first came to medical attention as a result of a newly diagnosed seizure disorder.

He told the MD that he thought he was just getting old. Couldn't run a mile as fast as he used to.

Patients survive the prejudices of their physicians all the time.
29 posted on 03/19/2005 8:01:01 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Certified cause of Post Traumatic Redhead Syndrome)
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To: Free and Armed

"if you wanna laugh or raise your blood pressure, depending on how you look at things, here's the DUmmies trying to make scientific arguments as to why Terri should be killed."

Sadly enough, we don't need to venture over to DU for posters who are advocating Terri's death. Quite a few Freepers are as well. :-(


30 posted on 03/19/2005 8:10:31 PM PST by PatriotGirl827 (Member of the Vast Right Wing Pajama Party)
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To: PatriotGirl827

Yeah, it is a sad thing.


31 posted on 03/19/2005 8:33:02 PM PST by Free and Armed
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To: TASMANIANRED

"does Salamander have current high-res MRI and PET images we could take a look at?"

I do but I'd sooner post pix of myself first thing in the morning than publicly post -those-....LOL!

[I mean, good grief, how much more "personal" can you get than looking at the inside of a woman's cranium?]


32 posted on 03/19/2005 9:28:05 PM PST by Salamander
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To: TASMANIANRED; Salamander

I was declared "hopeless" by the doctors in the hospital and that *if* I ever awoke, I'd be a "vegetable" for life.


So how did it turn out? :-)


33 posted on 03/19/2005 9:30:44 PM PST by Valin (DARE to be average!)
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To: Salamander
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

(I can't believe noone else said it.)

L

34 posted on 03/19/2005 9:34:50 PM PST by Lurker (Remember the Beirut Bombing; 243 dead Marines. The House of Assad and Hezbollah did it..)
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To: STARWISE; 4Godsoloved..Hegave; 8mmMauser; a5478; Annie03; atruelady; Brad's Gramma; Cayenne; ...

Terri ping! If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know by FReepmail!


35 posted on 03/19/2005 9:41:07 PM PST by Ohioan from Florida (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.- Edmund Burke)
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To: TASMANIANRED; Salamander

Thanks....both of you. :)


36 posted on 03/19/2005 9:46:11 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (aitch tee tee pea colon 2 slashes dubya dubya dubya dot proud patriots dot org)
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To: Brad's Gramma

I just talked Salamander into it. Her story stand on it's own merits.

Never let the prejudice of a Physician dictate your outcome.


37 posted on 03/19/2005 9:50:12 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Certified cause of Post Traumatic Redhead Syndrome)
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To: Salamander

It's a lot better than photo's of a pelvic.
Eeeuuuuuwwwwa.

You have quite a sense of humor.


38 posted on 03/19/2005 9:52:19 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Certified cause of Post Traumatic Redhead Syndrome)
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To: TASMANIANRED
I simply awoke and asked for a cheeseburger.

My first thought was "through a feeding tube..." sorry, I have a few brain problems of my own.

Thanks for the post and ping

39 posted on 03/19/2005 9:57:20 PM PST by eccentric (a.k.a. baldwidow)
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To: TASMANIANRED
You come back from the edge of death and all you can think of is a cheeseburger?

I would have demanded steak and lobster, with a side of mandarin duck!

I should not have wrote that, now I am hungry.

40 posted on 03/19/2005 10:00:33 PM PST by LibKill (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.)
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