More news

It’s been a while since I last had the time (and energy) to write anything!

Treatment has been going very well and I’m making good progress. Ups and downs but even the downs are progress because it shows that things are working and changing and getting better.

I had an appointment with a psychiatrist as part of the regular treatment in the clinic here. Whiplashes and concussions can cause all kinds of psychological issues, in my case things like concentration issues, feeling disoriented, sleep disturbance, all that fun stuff. I thought a psychiatrist would be overkill but it’s part of the treatment so I had a chat with him.

He soon turned the conversation from the psychological side to the physical side and asked me several questions about physical experiences that I had had. So far no one had paid any attention to that so far – things like the feeling that I walk around like I’m drunk, uncoordinated and bumping into things, but also not being able to read for very long, feeling like my eyes are uncoordinated and having difficulty looking at screens.

He suggested that I might have chronic inflammation of the meninges, membranes around the central nervous system. Apparently this is quite common in the type of injury that I have. There is no other way to find out than to take anti-inflammatory injections. I didn’t like this at all! You take the injections and see what happens. He said things should feel slightly better within a few days if there was an inflammation.

I did not have high hopes but the next morning my head already felt different. I wasn’t sure if that was because that’s what I was hoping for, or if it was real but it DID feel lighter, less foggy and less tension in the back of my head.

I also had MRIs made of my head and neck. No scars or damage is visible and my spinal cord is OK. There are a few issues with vertebrae but it could have been much worse. Good news! This means that they can accelerate the treatment. And with the anti inflammatory injections, and now pills, I’m having less headaches and other symptoms should clear up faster.

The x-rays that were taken were not done correctly so they needed to be done again. The x-rays were needed was to see if the ligaments that are attached to the underside of the skull are damaged and how much. I had so many x-rays taken that I think I glow in the dark now. It would be a nice Halloween costume!

Luckily the ligaments are relatively OK. On one side it’s normal but the other one is stretched a bit. Not torn as they thought from my reaction to earlier tests. This means I have to keep training muscles to compensate for the stretched ligament for the rest of my life, or symptoms might come back.  But at least it’ not torn, that would have been much worse.

I’m still doing physio 3 times a week, doing exercises, mobilization, massages, muscle training, and learning new tricks to compensate for the stretched ligament. The last few times I might have over exercised a bit as my neck has been incredibly sore but my head feels a lot better apart from the increase in vertigo. Apparently it’s just like sore muscles after any exercise but it feels strange because it’s only in my neck just below my skull. Not a place where I’m used to having sore muscles from exercise.

My sister, my 3-year-old nephew and my Mum came to visit for a week and I had a great time with them. Especially our day on the beach was a blast. Feijo also had his first eye exam with my Dad (that’s normal procedure when Grandpa is an eye doctor). I miss our chats about monsters, dinosaurs and spiders! I promised to build him a new Lego monster next time I see him.

At the same time things got very tense with my Dad’s girlfriend and I had to leave the house. I could write long stories about what happened but for now I’ll just say that I’m staying somewhere else and I will have my own apartment in Moraira from next week onwards. The apartment is very close to the clinic so I can get there on my bike. Much better than all the driving around that my Dad has to do right now to get me there.

I’ve met some fabulous people here in the last 2 weeks and it’s incredible to see how many people jumped in to help when I had to leave my Dad’s house. I was very upset which didn’t help with my recovery, as I’m very sensitive to stress right now. On the other hand the generosity and kindness of the people who helped me get through the last few days has been absolutely amazing! 

Feijo wants to go snorkeling

On the beach

Feijo and Mum talking to baby Gijs and my sister on my iPad