My daughter has a serious brain injury. The neurologist said on a scale of 0-10, it was a 5. I think almost half her brain is damaged. The doctors said they are surprised that she is not severely disabled and in a wheel-chair.
My daughter is doing okay, despite her brain injury. She does have a seizure disorder, but that is getting better. It’s controlled with medication.
She’s has speech problems, but she’s speaking okay now. She has some short term memory problem and she is not very coordinated.
However, she is in a regular private Christian school getting A’s & B’s. She can walk, run, swim, and ride a bike.
Most people wouldn’t know there is a problem.
The brain is very amazing.
I’ve heard that it re-wires itself around the damage.
Your Daughter is remarkable, and you are fortunate to have her.
You didn’t mention how old your daughter is, but even the coordination needed to ride a bicycle is nothing to be taken for granted. I was unable to achieve that until I was 12 years old. My brother used to taunt me about how klutzy I was. Now that I have been playing piano for almost four decades, he doesn’t think I’m so klutzy!
“She has some short term memory problem and she is not very coordinated”
Sounds like what my gawky preteens were like...especially the “selective” short term memory problems...ie” I didn’t know I was supposed to do the catbox...”
It would be interesting to see what sorts of these problems disappear for your daughter as she comes into full maturity and her brain nerve endings achieve final phase growth.
The brain is amazing. The head of Pediatric Neurosurgery at John Hopkins University, Dr. Ben Carson noticed what he called the “plasticity” of the brain. He had amazing success removing half of the brain (hemispherectomies) of children with severe epilepsy and siezures. With children, the brain can flourish with just half intact. He also was responsible for separating conjoined twins where they were joined at the brain.
I highly recommend his book “Gifted Hands, the Ben Carson Story”. He grew up black, in the ghetto, and became a devout Christian and one of the pre-eminent pediatric neurosurgeons in the world. His study of the brain has only bolstered his strong faith as he knows what any amazing God it takes to create something so intricate and incredible as our brains, that most of us take for granted. His personal story is incredibly moving and reminds us of what a great country we live in. Unfortunately, the current crop in the White House and Congress would like to keep people like Ben Carson in the ghetto, dependent upon the “generosity” of the government and democratic party.