Something I've noticed...
I’ve written before about the accident I was in back in September of 1990. I’ve discussed everything from how it happened and some of the problems it caused, to how I’m doing now.
In the months directly after the coma and throughout my first year of life as a closed head injury survivor, it seemed like everyday I discovered some new deficit I was going to be forced to live with. Most were minor at best, but deficits all the same.
As weeks became months, and months became years the frequency of new deficit discoveries became smaller and smaller. Eventually I got to the point that I rarely if ever think of it anymore.
That is until last Friday.
The teachers on my grade level, Intermediate we’re called, put an afternoon of bowling, pizza and fun up for bid at the school’s auction this year. This kind of thing usually goes for about $150.00 to $200.00 per teacher and we have six teachers. If you do the math, you can see our auction item brings in a pretty nice little chunk of change for our school. Plus, it’s really fun for the kids...and us too!
I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but after being in a coma for a month back in 1990 my right side was paralyzed. I only had limited use of my right side for several weeks. The doctor told me that, with use, I should get most of my use back in time. However, he also said that some of the fine motor skills would possibly be gone forever. At that time there was just no way to know what or how much of the use would or would not come back.
To date the only lasting problem I’ve ever been aware of is the loss of my throwing arm.
While I was never the starting pitcher, of first-string quarterback I did have a pretty good arm. I could throw a baseball with power and accuracy and I could get a football to the right receiver, most of the time with a spiral.
Not so anymore.
The best I can tell, the problem lies primarily with my release. I can get the arm movement, but I can’t seem to release the ball at the right point to get it to project in the desired direction. This skill, which used to happen so automatically, now works about as well as trying to shuffle cards with my toes. I know what’s supposed to happen, I just can’t seem to make it work.
And while I haven’t tried a lot, I’ve tried enough with both baseballs and footballs to know that my throwing arm, it ain’t coming back. At least not without a good deal more practice than I’m willing to commit at this point in my life. I mean I’ve lived 18 years without it being an issue, so it’s not that big of a deal.
However, at last Friday’s pizza-bowl, I discovered a similar release issue with bowling. Now, I’m not a big bowler and I can count the number of times I’ve been bowling since the accident on one hand. However, in the few times I have bowled I didn’t make the connection to the throwing arm/head injury thing. I just assumed that it me being a bad bowler.
While I’m the first to admit that I am a bad bowler, this time my inability to control the release of the ball was more that a wee bit noticeable.
So now, at least in my mind, I am living with two head injury related, sports deficits. (Really three, if you count throwing baseballs and throwing footballs as two different deficits)
I wonder what I’ll notice tomorrow?
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Now for something cool I’ve seen...
My father-in-law, Melissa, Macy and I went to see Rain, The Beatles Experience at the Fair Park Music Hall last Sunday.
I knew it was about the Beatles, but that’s all I knew. Melissa told me it was going to be like going to a Beatles concert. I was intrigued, but still not overly enthusiastic about going.
All I can say is the show was great! It wasn’t only like going to a Beatles concert, it was like going to several decades of Beatles concerts all rolled into one.
These four guys, who only kind of look like the Beatles, but really sounded like them started with the Beatles from the 1960’s and then transitioned to Sgt. Pepper era and then into Abby Road years. It was quite amazing.
Take a look here to check them out... http://www.rainthebeatlesexperience.com/ and if you have the chance to check them out in person, I highly recommend it.
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