Traumatic Brain Injury 1983

Hello everyone. My name is Jim. I am a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor.

All survivors are unique. Each of us has at least one special quality about their injury. No two brain injuries are alike. No two recoveries are alike. Simply stated, no two people are truly alike. Not even twins. Just similar.

This blog is created to tell about my injury and my recovery, as best I can tell it. Right away, I must state that my brain injury has affected my mental capacity, my aptitude, and my critical thinking skills very much. So, I will tell you what I may remember, what others have told me, what I have learned from reading articles and documented information about myself, and what I can remember about growing up. Stories, such as where I came from and what I did. It will be as true as I can make it.

This is how it all began; how I suffered a severe brain injury in 1983. Near Deis Hill Road in Dover, Ohio. More tales will follow.

Christmas of 1982 was over. Don and I were both back to our engineering classes at the local campus of Kent State University, in New Philadelphia, Ohio. It is near the Trumpet in the Land outdoor amphitheater. We called our Tuscarawas County campus the branch, or the twig since it is much smaller than the main campus, or any of a number of other godawful names. The university was located near the New Philadelphia Timken Bearings plant, just north of the East High Avenue intersection with State Route 250. That is the route we took to college from Uhrichsville - our home town.

Going back to college after Christmas break meant working less hours at our part-time jobs for a local K-Mart department store. Don and I both worked there part-time, ever since we each had exited the US Air Force in December of 1981, thirteen months earlier. We usually had the maturity and abilities to be relied on for more complex and demanding tasks at our K-Mart department store job. I think our boss relied on us for our more responsible attitudes and our work ethic, just as he relied on the other older employees.

K-Mart is where I met Jill. We enjoyed each other's company and developed a possibly deep relationship with each other. I spent much of my free time with Jill. Such a lovely girl with a great family.

Another work friend, Tim, was a couple of years younger than me. After all, I had spent four-years as a US Airman, working on B-52 bomber avionics. Tim and I worked in the same departments for the same manager.

That Friday night, Tim and I worked together. We each closed our separate areas of the same department. I worked in the Automotive  department and Tim was in the Sporting Goods department. After work, we had plans to visit a local pub and watch some friends play for a newer-style band at a local club. Tim met me at Jill's home and we left together in his Pinto. Jill did not want to go. She may have worked in the morning. I can't remember now. Since I was a part time employee attending college, my hours were usually later in the day. Don and I got many of the odd-hours that the regular employees avoided.

That evening, after nine o'clock, led us to a lounge called The Windchasers, in downtown New Philadelphia. It is a local hub for dating and for meeting friends. Everyone there was around the same age; late teens up through the late twenties.. Tim was younger than me - just out of high school.

Since I did not reenlist in the Air Force, my goals were to pursue and complete my full Engineering degree. The local Kent State campus did not offer the full degree. I knew I would complete my BS in Engineering at another college. Other friends had similar plans. Or, I might transfer to the Kent State main campus, in Kent Ohio, and finish my degree in Technology there.

I did not realize how strongly my previous experience as a technician in the Air Force could have played in my future. Many Air Force friends had ended their enlistment, and walked directly into a good paying job with only their Air Force experience. It is that good! The skills set I had acquired wold certainly shine in that vein, if only it could have ever happened. It did not and I am still here struggling just to survive.  All because we decided to watch the band play at the Windchasers that Friday night, and Saturday morning.