(04-06-2012 06:07 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-06-2012 05:29 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  A couple of traumatic brain injuries tend to give you a different perspective...

Forgive me but that is a pespective I hope to avoid. I have stared down the business end of firearms on two occasions, had my life threatened twice, and learned some things I wish I'd never known, but I'm glad not to have had that kind of trauma.

Just curious, and you don't have to reply, but by your handle I take it you ride. Are the brain injuries associated with that passion?

JR, my handle came from a science fiction story called Dragon's Egg, about life on a neutron star by Robert L. Forward (bitcruncher was a minor scientist on the neutron star when their civilization collapsed during a starquake)...

I used to ride. But I had to sell my bike. I can't take all the vibration any longer. Between the transplant and the equilibrium difficulties, it's just too much for me to handle...

The brain traumas happened because every once in a while, my heart just stops. Each time it's happened in my life, I've either gotten a concussion or a traumatic brain injury. The last 3 times it happened when I was driving. I was lucky enough to live long enough for the doctors to figure out a pacemaker was all I needed to keep me conscious. But they tried medication first, and it took 10 years for them to figure out that wasn't working. It wasn't exactly Easy Street...