i went with John to his first meeting with the neuropsychology fellow and the neuropsychologist in the Rehab Medicine Dept of Mount Sinai Hospital. he was referred there by his new RehabMedicine doc, who was my Rehab Medicine docwhen i stroked 8 yrs ago.

the two neuropsychs interviewed John and i for about an hour and gave us both some questionnaires.they looked at his previous neuropsych testing and his MRIs. the neuropsych said that they wanted him to be retested and to take a lot of other tests that John did not have performed by his first neuropsych.

John has to be tested by the fellow for about 14 hours. after that, they go over the data, formulate a report, and recommend what type of cognitive rehab would be good for John. since i have to bring John from his job in New Jersey to the hospital in Manhattan for a three o'clock appointment, i will be driving on my two non-office days (Wed and Fri) from Bklyn to NJ to the upper east side of Manhattan to Bklyn. next wk, i have to do it three days (John has an insurance exam on Thurs), plus meet John in the upper west side of Manhattan Mon aft. to go to his neuropsychiatrist appointment with him. this is besides going to my office 3 days and going to Elmhurst Hosp to reevaluate a demented, depressed lady with my friend Israel (her attorney). i'm getting tired just thinking about next week.

i went through the same evaluation in the same department 8 years ago without any help or support from anyone. by the time i completed the testing, i kind of figured out what cognitive rehab to do and was doing it on my own. i didn't last too long in cognitive rehab (9 mos) because i was working and filing for divorce and i was doing the rehab myself anyway. however, i am glad that i went through the testing and the rehab, partly because i know what John needs to do.

the neuropsychologist said that people who had concussions before tend to be more susceptable to TBI and asked John if he was ever physycally abused by his parents. the neuropsych also said that people who were physically abused were more likely to become addicted to drugs and alcohol. John gave a complete history and told him that he was abused and that he is an addict that is sober for 8 years.

part of me feels really bad for John because he has a TBI that has affected him functioning far more than my stroke has affected me and because he has such a sad past history and was just doing well and getting wht he wanted out of life when we were in the car crash. part of me finds this subject extremely interesting and wants to do more research and try to put together a coherent hypothesis as to what happened to John as i have done (and am still doing) with myself. this is the conundrum that i have to deal with-my brain is heading in two directions simultaneously. it's sort of like being half-human and half-Vulcan, or half-human and half-Klingon. those characters in Star Trek were the most interesting ones, anyway.