Biography... for NeuroscienceNews.com Plus Commentary

The stroke stands out the most, so I'll start there. In Dec 2002, I had an AVM bleed, also called an AVM Stroke. The  AVM did not burst, so it remained. Initial surgery only stopped the bleeding. I was in a full-coma for 5 weeks. Then I opened my eyes. I could not speak or move, at that time. I was made vegetative, an open-eye coma.

In 2004, Stanford University & Hospital removed the AVM and did neural repair. The procedure spanned a month. The AVM is all gone. What you see now appears to be brain growth.

I continue to have that vegetative diagnosis. I speak and obviously type, although I only use one finger. I currently use an electric wheel chair. I have a feeding tube for nutrition.

Now the prior, and this will get people. I was extremely intelligent PRIOR to a bleed. I started playing piano before I started school. Piano stopped in the 3rd grade, but in the 4th grade I took off academically. I left high school when 16. At 18 I had an AA in Business Administration. At 19, I had a BA in Psychology. Time off, then an MA at age 24 in  Special Education.

I had children and worked until 2002 when I had this bleed. The first four years after the bleed were spent in various hospitals and care homes. I think I got lost in the system and I am being "found" again. Neuroscience News found me first... trying to get fair healthcare services. (By the way, I still do not have a neurologist despite "being in a coma" and having multiple brain surgeries.)

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ANALYSIS

AVM stands for arteriovenous malformation. It's a rare condition that is usually believed to form during development before birth. Many do not know they have it. It is usually found after it bursts and causes death. A tangle of blood vessels form. An artery directly goes into a vein. There are no capillaries. Veins are not meant to take the blood pressure. Mine leaked and was found. A burst most likely would have killed me.

 

This is the best image I could find on Google.

I did go into a full coma after that first surgery to stop the bleeding. After 5 weeks of deep coma, I opened my eyes. I was made vegetative, which is still a coma, but the eyes are open. I was made the more disabled vegetative, PVS (Persistent Vegetative State). If the lesser MCS had been chosen, this progression would have been easier to note. MCS stands for Minimal Conscious State.

I have slowly progressed to consciousness, but I still keep the vegetative diagnosis. In 2004, my diagnosis was changed to "semi-vegetative" by one hospital as I was vocalizing, but "vegetative" was kept. I've since gone home. I speak much better and I manage the care of my feeding tube by verbally giving care givers directions.

Remember I explained I was a child prodigy? I was diagnosed in the 4th Grade as advanced. This may be all a school needs to know. That advancement would provide my body with the plasticity and other tools to survive a bleed. This take would assume I had undiagnosed Savant Syndrome, Congenital. Then there is a second disorder, Savant Syndrome, Acquired, that comes from a brain injury. If you put the two together, you have double Savant Syndromes. I don't want to go there, but what is this? Higher analysis isn't categorized, I think.

It can then be concluded that Savant Syndrome is needed to restore consciousness. This disorder is barely studied as it is so rare. More will have to be known about it. 

I could be totally wrong. In that case, I am in a coma and I am just confused.