Ongoing Problems: June 2005
Status June 2006
As of June 2005, 30 months after my accident I still experience some problems
Fatigue
I still feel fatigued after consecutive days of concentration and work. This is just a mental fatigue not a physical one, these are very different something that I had not realised before.
It might seem strange that I complain of feeling tired then can go out for a 10 mile run, but I am sure that the 10 miles of running in the fresh air with the increased blood flow that this involves does clear the head and invigorate me.
I feel more tired after spending days working than I do if I run a marathon, whereas in the past I could work for weeks without feeling any tiredness and
a weekend mountain biking, climbing or doing some physical activity would restore my energy for the following week.
I am not suggesting that this would apply for anyone who is trying to deal with a brain injury but my lunchtime runs at work have enabled me to go back in the afternoon feeling
refreshed
Wrist
After I had realised that physiotherapy was the way to go and that I could exercise my wrist, I started doing some mild work at the gym with free weights to restore the flexibility.
I still feel some 'tightness' and my wrist does click now but not anything I am concerned about. Arthritis is likely in future years as the break was at the end of the radius
and has increased the chance of arthritis in my wrist. I am still carrying out physio exercises when I remember to try to delay any onset of arthritis.
Spleenectomy
As I have no spleen I have been advised that I should take daily low dose penicillin for the rest of my life. Initially the advice was to take it for 2 years then the liver would have taken over some of the functions of the spleen
but there have been some cases of people with no spleen suffering severe infections that could be avoided by taking penicillin.
'Overwhelming infection, particularly pneumococcal' is what can affect me now.
Minor Problems
Tingling arms/fingers and leg/feet -
I have some tingling in my fingers, arms legs and feet are OK now. The tingling is not there all the time and I expect that it will reduce further over the next couple of years.
Numb face/jaw -
The 'dentist anaesthetic' feeling is wearing off and I only feel this in my lips now, not the whole mouth/jaw area. Although it does still get affected by the cold more so than before,
to the extent that I cannot speak very clearly if I am out in the cold for over an hour
