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Art break/slowdown to recover from traumatic brain Injury
a year ago
TL;DR: Had an accident last week, suffered traumatic brain injury, suffering from cognitive impairment, recovery way slower than expected & need to take mandatory art break to recover.
Unfortunately, I have to put art on the back burner for some time (or at least slowly get back into it as party of recovery) due to suffering a traumatic brain injury last Thursday from an accident.
It sounds ridiculous from how it happened, but after finishing work for that day after putting in more hours than usual due to working with an US team I felt very tired and went to crash on the couch in the living room. I don't really know what happened, if I tripped or something else, but I fell from standing position and hit the back of my head really hard against the edge of a wooden armrest with no padding. I don't even know if I passed out or not but I dismissed it as nothing and that I'm just gonna have a headache for a bit. After that I went out with friends and they noted that I acted odd, walked odd and even offered to drive me to the hospital after feeling dizzy and telling them what happened, but I refused saying I was just tired. Oops very bad decision.
Next morning I felt way worse, booked an emergency GP appointment and within an hour I was on my way to the hospital's A&E/ER after failing multiple cognitive tests, suspected brain bleed, soft tissue damage with my neck and needing a brain scan. Turns out I managed to bullseye the most weakest point on the skull right where the spine connects to the skull, and that is a very bad spot to hit. Pro tip I got from the hospital: If you are going going to hit your head with no way of avoiding it, do it from the front as your skull is way thicker there. Thankfully I was cleared from having a brain bleed and was discharged with someone having to monitor me for the next 24 hours and not leaving me alone.
Here comes the important part - Recovery. I need to do brain rest in order to recover, and it might take weeks or months. This last week has been hell from basically not being able to do anything other than sleep, eat, watch TV and play light games like Animal Crossing. Wearing sunglasses inside with blinds rolled down, brightness turned down and constantly popping painkillers like if I was auditioning for a role of Dr. House. Physical activities making me feel dizzy within minutes and any activity requiring concentration or lot of attention like reading, drawing, playing videogames or art in general causing physical pain and making the symptoms worse (Yes my head hurts like a mf writing this).
Unfortunately, 3D art is one of the activities that require concentration and lot of attention and is making my symptoms physically worse to the point I feel like I'm going to faint from the headaches (ask me how I know!). This means I have to break my years long streak of uploading art every week or two. Yes I tried, no I don't want to hit my head again from passing out at the computer or throw up all over my desk.
Due to this, I really have to put art on the back burner and trying to focus on recovery from the brain injury.
Unfortunately, I have to put art on the back burner for some time (or at least slowly get back into it as party of recovery) due to suffering a traumatic brain injury last Thursday from an accident.
It sounds ridiculous from how it happened, but after finishing work for that day after putting in more hours than usual due to working with an US team I felt very tired and went to crash on the couch in the living room. I don't really know what happened, if I tripped or something else, but I fell from standing position and hit the back of my head really hard against the edge of a wooden armrest with no padding. I don't even know if I passed out or not but I dismissed it as nothing and that I'm just gonna have a headache for a bit. After that I went out with friends and they noted that I acted odd, walked odd and even offered to drive me to the hospital after feeling dizzy and telling them what happened, but I refused saying I was just tired. Oops very bad decision.
Next morning I felt way worse, booked an emergency GP appointment and within an hour I was on my way to the hospital's A&E/ER after failing multiple cognitive tests, suspected brain bleed, soft tissue damage with my neck and needing a brain scan. Turns out I managed to bullseye the most weakest point on the skull right where the spine connects to the skull, and that is a very bad spot to hit. Pro tip I got from the hospital: If you are going going to hit your head with no way of avoiding it, do it from the front as your skull is way thicker there. Thankfully I was cleared from having a brain bleed and was discharged with someone having to monitor me for the next 24 hours and not leaving me alone.
Here comes the important part - Recovery. I need to do brain rest in order to recover, and it might take weeks or months. This last week has been hell from basically not being able to do anything other than sleep, eat, watch TV and play light games like Animal Crossing. Wearing sunglasses inside with blinds rolled down, brightness turned down and constantly popping painkillers like if I was auditioning for a role of Dr. House. Physical activities making me feel dizzy within minutes and any activity requiring concentration or lot of attention like reading, drawing, playing videogames or art in general causing physical pain and making the symptoms worse (Yes my head hurts like a mf writing this).
Unfortunately, 3D art is one of the activities that require concentration and lot of attention and is making my symptoms physically worse to the point I feel like I'm going to faint from the headaches (ask me how I know!). This means I have to break my years long streak of uploading art every week or two. Yes I tried, no I don't want to hit my head again from passing out at the computer or throw up all over my desk.
Due to this, I really have to put art on the back burner and trying to focus on recovery from the brain injury.
Good luck with your recovery!
Thanks for sharing your story. If I ever hit my head in the future, I take it seriously, and make it checked.
I hope you recover well, and be 100% again. :)
Every time doing art the next day I feel like I've been going through a horrible hangover, so I have to actually schedule when to do art and balance it on how work went that day (or that week)
I really hope you being at EF means that you are on the better ways to recover and don't have any long-lasting troubles with it.
Your accident is a good reminder to put health first, admit when one has to get checked by a doctor and put productive streaks behind physical health.
I hope you're doing good!