I am one of those idiots who used to think that helmets were over hyped, uncomfortable, and too hot to wear. That all changed one fateful day when I was in a motorcycle accident. I was in a coma for 5 days. The doctor nearly drilled a hole on my skull to relieve the pressure inside my skull from fluid buildup and swelling.
It changed me, big time. For the first year I had great difficulty carrying on a conversation. I could not remember how to sound out words, even though I had spoken them a few minutes before. I would forget what the conversation was about while speaking in mid sentence.
I read memory improving books and played table games that relied on memory skills.
I did what I could to get back to what I used to be like.
I used to have photogenic memory. I could read a book and months later someone could ask me a page number and I could recite it darned near word for word. I could take apart a blender, sewing machine, ect., walk away from it for a few weeks, and remember exactly how it came apart and how it went back together.
My memory is nowhere like that now.
Now, if I am working on particularly complicated things, I have to write notes to myself, draw sketches or take pictures of components before and during disassembly to ensure I reassemble things correctly.
I lost friends. They told me I am not the same person now that I was before.
To myself, my personality has not changed, but that's just my interpretation I guess.
I remember how it was, and I know why it changed.
Please wear a DOT approved helmet.
Not wearing one may not kill you, but I know for darned sure that it can change you in ways you never thought of until it happens to you.
