Thursday, March 2, 2017

I'm The Chicken That Grew a Head



U can survive without a brain...with proper care.  
 


I looked into this. The chicken still had his brainstem. "Although most of his head was severed, most of his brain stem and one ear were left on his body. Since basic functions (breathing, heart rate, etc.) as well as most of a chicken's reflex actions are controlled by the brain stem, Mike was able to remain quite healthy." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken
 
The ventilator initially breathed for me until I could breathe on my own. When was that, August 2003? That was so long ago that recalling a date isn't easy. It's not a miracle I breathe on my own now. It's called neuroplasticity. My accident was 12/15/2002 and 8 months is already beyond the time medical rehab is offered. 

I noticed they said in the video that they had to suction the chicken with an eyedropper. While I was in the hospital, I was routinely suctioned until my trache was removed. I had to learn how to manage my secretions.
  
I'm now into years passed from an accident. I see skills added now as a combination of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. There definitely is no therapy for this. There should be.

Neurogenesis is the creation of a neuron and neuroplasticity is wiring it. Neuroplasticity is the one that has been more commonly heard. What was happening is that as people with brain injuries were being saved by medical science, the people already with other neurons available were rewiring. This was known as neuroplasticity. These people got better right away. The people who didn't get better right away were written off. Their brain injury was thought not to get better at all.

It was thought the brain did not make neurons until recently. It does, but only in small amounts has it been found. Those written-off people were reporting that they were getting better. They were probably experiencing this. That chicken would have had to grow its head back to compare with me. Large amounts are thought not to happen. I am exhibiting large amounts.

I write this. When did cognitive recovery happen? How about cognitive acceleration? More than basic competency is needed to draw comparisons to a decapitated chicken. Skills obtained are too shocking to be written off.

Large amounts of neurogenesis must occur. When? How? I can't answer those questions. Perhaps I should have been tracked. Maybe I'm still producing answers. My body still adds skills. Mainstream science continues with the belief that new neurons are not created. I'm a phenomenon. I'm the chicken that grew a head.




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