"Gerry" Martin

Artist, Musician, Writer, Survivor of Acquired Brain Injury.

The reason for having a road crew in my hat rack on Feb. 10, 1998 is as follows;

Sometime during the night of 2/9 I got up to quell the roaring beast in my gut and as I was making a sandwich, the last thing I remember is thinking, "I better get closer to the ground or." When I got to the "or" I ate floor. This was probably about 1 or 2 am. Earlier I recall asking Lisa to check on me before she went to work the following day because I had a gut feeling something was going to happen. She had been home the last 2 days with the flu and she wasn't sure she'd be going in to work anyway but said she'd keep me in mind.

This story is now what was told to me by Lisa;

Some time around 7am, Lisa got up to call into work to tell them she still felt rotten with the flu. When she saw me lying on the kitchen floor she thought, "he must have had one too many beers last night." so she didn't do anything. Strange she should think this because in the 16 years we had been living with each other this had never happened before. Around 9:30-10am she saw that I still hadn't moved and tried to wake me. When she saw that I wasn't responsive it finally clicked that something was not right and she called 911 our local emergency number.

When the EMT's came they asked all kinds of questions, mostly about possible drug use etc. When she finally convinced them that " yes we do take a lot of herbal remedies, but no drugs" they finally got the message and brought me to the local hospital. Here they did a CT scan and saw that I had Hydrocephela but were unsure of the cause. I was then airlifted to Westchester Medical where they found out that a “Cavernous Angioma of the 3rd Ventricle” was causing the Hydrocephela.

They popped my cork to relieve the pressure and the next day went in and removed the Angioma. At this time they also put in the first of 2 temporary shunts. I still had not regained consciousness yet and it was after this operation that I awoke in an ICU room that had a bunch of machinery but no humans.

As I looked around the only thought that would come into my mind was " we aren't in Kansas anymore Toto". I have NO idea why this thought was the only thing my brain could come up with. As I tried to get some bearings on where I was it occurred to me that I didn't know who I was. This was VERY unnerving and I started to get a bit worried, when the nurse came in. I asked her where I was and she said "don't you know?" I said, "Would I ask if I knew?" She asked me what my name was and this is where the "fighting Martian" entered the fray. I got really upset that all my questions were being answered with more questions!!! She left in a huff and came back with 2 Doctors, who started asking the very same questions that the nurse had ticked me off with, sooooo… out comes the fighting Martian again. After many exchanges of unprintable words I finally got them to tell me what I was doing there and what they had done to me.

Their story;

"You were airlifted here after Putnam Hospital did a CT scan that showed you had Hydrocephela. When you got here we did an MRI and found the cause was an Angioma on the 3rd Ventricle, which was removed after we relieved the pressure in your brain. The operation took 14+ hours and went smoothly. We had to put a temporary shunt in until such time as your brain would take over handling your CSF {cerebral spinal fluid}. You are coming along just fine Mr. Martin". I expressed some doubts, as I had a most unbearable headache, didn’t know my name and didn't have any memory of anything they had just told me!

They then said, " We haven't done anything that would cause those headaches Mr.Martin." I asked if it was true that they had just done brain surgery on me? "Well yes we did, but that doesn't cause headaches!!!" The following day the colostomy bag for my CSF was a Day-Glo yellow when it supposed to be clear!!! They finally gave me two Tylenol 3's, what a JOKE!!!! After the second shunt caused another infection they decided to put a permanent one in.

I don't really know much about what the differences are between them, only that finally I didn't get another infection, but I still was getting the headaches on a daily basis.

After 3 months at that hospital they sent me to rehab, where the headaches continued to worsen and I was started out on the path of finding a pain management Dr. who had a clue about what I was fighting with. I went through 4 of those until I found my current pain management team.

We use Cognitive Therapy, Yoga, Meditation and Progressive Muscle Relaxation along with the meds. It's been the best thing to happen to me since this all hit. One step at a time.

It has been a long and very difficult journey to say the least. After getting out of rehab I spent a few months trying to get my life back on track and I found that there was a great deal more work ahead before I could re-open my business of jewelry repair and Lapidary, which is the art of cutting or carving gemstones. After many frustrating attempts I was finally directed to a Neuropsychologist who had me take a Neuropsyche Exam. This showed us that my problem solving abilities had taken a major hit and I would have to do a lot of work to try and regain those skills. I am currently working on those skills with cognitive therapy.

It’s very traumatic going back over those events.

It has been a long and very difficult journey to say the least.

"Gerry" Martin