Penicillin
May 23, 2023: Penicillin
This newsletter has both nothing and everything to do with penicillin.
I went to see the doctor last Wednesday morning. One of the first questions the nurse asked was whether I was allergic to any medicine. I immediately told her: penicillin.
It seemed like the right answer when I said it. But then realized I wasn’t allergic to penicillin.
Earlier that morning, I'd been in the wreck. At first I didn't even realize it was a wreck.
There was stop and go traffic on the bridge. I knew something had happened. But I couldn't figure out quite what.
Then I looked in the rearview mirror. I saw that there was a car right behind me.
I still wasn't sure that I'd been hit. I started to pull off and was reassured when the car behind me also started to pull onto the shoulder.
I got out of the car and went back to talk to the other driver. I didn’t see any property damage and damage to either vehicle.
I took a picture of his drivers license and insurance card and then started thanking him profusely. That was strange and a little bit weird and embarrassing.
I got back in the car and had a hard time figuring out which icon to press in order to text my wife.
I knew something was wrong. Fortunately, I was able to get in to see my doctor. That's when I provided the information about the penicillin allergy.
My doctor examined me and then put me through a series of tests. Even though I gave the wrong information about allergies I was able to remember nine out of 10 words on one test and reverse the order of a series of six numbers.
But even though I was able to crush those memory tests I had a very, very difficult time writing out information on forms, and was very labored in terms of trying to describe how I felt.
I've always downplayed the connection between property damage and injury. Particularly brain injury. This experience really galvanized that view.
I got hit from behind at low speed. But it was like a punch that lands right on the chin.
I was thinking about that and decided to look up the speed at which punches travel. The hand isn't very fast. The average punch travels about 15 miles per hour. But a punch that catches you unprepared or in a vulnerable spot can knock you out.
And that's what can happen in low speed vehicle collisions. I know. It happened to me.
I feel pretty terrible right now. But not as terrible as I felt yesterday. Or the day before. My symptoms are receding. Not everyone is so lucky.
Concussions are kind of like blind dates. They all start the same. But that's where the similarities end. A lot of people are stuck with this never-ending hang-over of anxiety, confusion, slow processing, light and noise sensitivity, etc.
I’m at my screen time allotment. I think the takeaway from this is that mTBI can’t be diagnosed based on property damage. Doctors don’t look at football helmets to determine whether players are concussed.