People
ask why I haven't been reclassified as conscious yet. I have my
suspicions but I don't want to feed into any conspiracy theory. There
was a very public battle over removing the feeding tube of a woman in a
vegetative state. Her tube was removed and she died.
I
was originally in a Persistent Vegetative State. A hospital changed my
diagnosis to Semi-vegetative as I started making sound and had a few
words. I feel this was an error, and it should have been changed to
Minimally Conscious State (MCS). This usually doesn't happen. (This has recently happened and those cases may be private pay. I receive Medicare, public insurance.) Once vegetative, a person usually remains vegetative. This isn't to be confused with MCS, Minimally Conscious State. This state can progress to full consciousness. Throughout all of this removing of tube I keep my
feeding tube. The state I live in doesn't agree with the action taken by the other state that person lived in.
Traditionally,
a person does not go from PVS to MCS. Remember being told that there
were a certain amount of brain cells, and if you did something like
drink, you would kill them and they would be gone forever? Well, I had a
stroke that killed my brain cells and they would be gone forever. Me writing this is a complete mystery.
I'm given the vegetative diagnosis. Like that woman I mentioned at the beginning, I am a candidate for feeding tube removal. I'm purposely not using her name or any articles or videos. Although some years have passed, it is still emotionally charged.
I was either misdiagnosed, or I have returned to full consciousness. Either way, the government has not changed it's diagnosis. I will have been in a coma for 15 years very soon.
I was either misdiagnosed, or I have returned to full consciousness. Either way, the government has not changed it's diagnosis. I will have been in a coma for 15 years very soon.
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I
think an old Dr Seuss cartoon explains what happened and is happening.
The intent is not to trivialize but to explain simply. Dr Seuss was a
trained psychologist. He made up characters and stories to reflect real
situations. He might have geared this for a strife in his life. The story is general, and I apply it to brain injury. In the following, stars on the belly represent people who
have their whole brain. Characters with no stars had a brain injury.
Along
comes the machine to make stars- That's rewiring! We don't use a
machine. Usually, we rewire through programming and exercise. It takes time.
This is hilarious to me. At the end is a character with stars on his butt. That is me. I think differently.
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