Last week the man of few words, Dr. C, said that I could take my brace off. Just like that! I asked if I should do it gradually, a few hours a day, and he said "No, just take it off. And you can do some physio if you want. Next!"
So the next day I took off the brace. The day after that I was so sore I put it back on. I did think that common sense would recognize that my muscles might be a little atrophied after 10 weeks in my glorified corset, but assumed that Dr. C., the great neurologist, might know what he was talking about. Oh well, I think he lost whatever interest he might have had in my case once it was clear that I was going to get better.
That's not to say I haven't been noticing some of the more subtle effects of the accident. My memory, for instance, has turned into a colander. I don't know if I can blame the medications, the bump on my head, or a possible case of early onset dementia! I know that stress and pain can affect memory as well, so I hope that it's just a matter of waiting a while longer.
Here's how bad it is: The other day I was dialing a phone number and, just for a second, I looked at the key pad to find the "-" that come after the area code. Arghhh! I laughed so much - what a blonde! But really, I can't remember names, words, why I walked into a room. I can do the New York Times crossword easily enough, so my long term memory is still there.
What I think is happening is that there's a threshold of information plus pain that I can handle. When one or the other gets to be too much, my brain shorts out. I'm still experiencing pain after walking or sitting for too long, or doing the vacuuming. It's not in my spine, like you might think, but on my right side. Interesting how pain works.
