"The brain is only capable of what it could conceive, and it could not conceive what it hasn't experienced." - Graham Greene
Hi Eileen,
Yes, I have had a group of experiences over the last decade that go along with this partivular quote. I find that people who have not had brain surgery (or other types of brain trauma) cannot fully grasp what it is like to have cranial angiograms and feel the hot rush as the dye runs through your head, or have a Wada test where half of your brain is numbed for 10-15 minutes while the neurologist asks you to read basic words, identify pictures, or answer simple questions. Or to wake up from surgery a month after getting married, to look at your wife and not be able to remember her name. Or use a TV remote, or remember what you were doing or saying two seconds ago.
Over the years I have had people tell me that they have had a migrane and it was the worst pain imaginable. While I am sure it is just a figurative description of the pain, I can also guarantee that it is not as bad as having an AVM ready to rupture in your brain and deal with that headache 24 hours a day for months on end.
It goes right along with people not understanding why, even 7 years after having surgery to remove the AVM from my brain, I am still not "over it." One can suffer from a broken arm and closely relate with a friend or family member who has broken their foot. One cannot compare a sinus infection or brain freeze to having 10-12 hours of surgery to the brain.
So when I came across this quote, I felt it was a quick way of summing things up.
Rock on Jake! Love it. But yea really, why can't we just get over it?!
This statement helps me not to feel so mad at people who don't understand AVMs.
Take care,
Debbie