Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Today I unexpectedly received the Christmas gift I have been most wanting to receive. I received a call early this morning asking if I was interested in seeing a neuropsychologist I had originally scheduled an appointment with for next March. Due to a cancellation there suddenly appeared an opportunity to make my appointment today! I was so thrilled by the chance to get seen promptly that it infused my entire day with a feeling of enthusiasm and exuberance. Naturally I said yes and made my way over to Abbott Northwestern Hospital. I feel as if I have lived on the campus of that hospital system these last five months.
As I have noted in past posts I can imagine some people might think me to be a typical neurotic Virgo given how many different appointments I have made these last five months. But I feel so much better now because I have been such a warrior about my health. Today represented one of the last significant appointments I felt I needed to make before I could start to breathe a sigh of relief.
After speaking with me and reviewing my medical record my doctor stated his initial impression was that none of the incidents in which I hit my head seem likely to have caused a concussion and that even if they did so it did not appear there was such harm that it would have caused some significant or permanent damage to my brain function. To finally receive such a medical opinion was so encouraging; it had the equivalent effect of a week long vacation in Hawaii. I feel such gratitude for the confluence of circumstances that allowed me to be seen today.
This afternoon I underwent a battery of short tests to assess my motor function, reasoning skills and the like. I have a follow up appointment scheduled for next Tuesday in which I will be able to review the test results with my neuropsychologist. Assuming there is nothing remarkable in my test results I believe I will then be able to safely say that I have screened every relevant system within my body whose healthy function, or lack thereof, could impact my recovery from PTSD.
As I made my way home under a darkening sky on one of the last nights without a substantial snow cover I was so happy to be able to look back on the last five months of my life and see what immense progress I have made. I am by no means very close to done with my treatment for PTSD. Indeed, I am now really getting into the thick of the densest and darkest of my feelings and memories. But at least I have found my way that deep into my psyche and have found a competent and compassionate therapist to work with. I am making my way on my journey and am confident the endpoint of my healing process will appear in some future moment and that I will be able to recognize it as such.
Today I unexpectedly received the Christmas gift I have been most wanting to receive. I received a call early this morning asking if I was interested in seeing a neuropsychologist I had originally scheduled an appointment with for next March. Due to a cancellation there suddenly appeared an opportunity to make my appointment today! I was so thrilled by the chance to get seen promptly that it infused my entire day with a feeling of enthusiasm and exuberance. Naturally I said yes and made my way over to Abbott Northwestern Hospital. I feel as if I have lived on the campus of that hospital system these last five months.
As I have noted in past posts I can imagine some people might think me to be a typical neurotic Virgo given how many different appointments I have made these last five months. But I feel so much better now because I have been such a warrior about my health. Today represented one of the last significant appointments I felt I needed to make before I could start to breathe a sigh of relief.
After speaking with me and reviewing my medical record my doctor stated his initial impression was that none of the incidents in which I hit my head seem likely to have caused a concussion and that even if they did so it did not appear there was such harm that it would have caused some significant or permanent damage to my brain function. To finally receive such a medical opinion was so encouraging; it had the equivalent effect of a week long vacation in Hawaii. I feel such gratitude for the confluence of circumstances that allowed me to be seen today.
This afternoon I underwent a battery of short tests to assess my motor function, reasoning skills and the like. I have a follow up appointment scheduled for next Tuesday in which I will be able to review the test results with my neuropsychologist. Assuming there is nothing remarkable in my test results I believe I will then be able to safely say that I have screened every relevant system within my body whose healthy function, or lack thereof, could impact my recovery from PTSD.
As I made my way home under a darkening sky on one of the last nights without a substantial snow cover I was so happy to be able to look back on the last five months of my life and see what immense progress I have made. I am by no means very close to done with my treatment for PTSD. Indeed, I am now really getting into the thick of the densest and darkest of my feelings and memories. But at least I have found my way that deep into my psyche and have found a competent and compassionate therapist to work with. I am making my way on my journey and am confident the endpoint of my healing process will appear in some future moment and that I will be able to recognize it as such.
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