avatarJarrett Wilson

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Abstract

naming an object. For our purposes, let’s use a roll of toilet paper — a hot commodity in these uncertain times.</figcaption></figure><figure id="f869"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*_wNTQ_1qcLHTx0Wx"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@introspectivedsgn?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral">Erik Mclean</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><figure id="03e4"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*36Vxyp2CUxbjDlDhYtMraQ.jpeg"><figcaption>Your parietal lobe is going to tell you that the toilet paper is soft and will feel like a gentle breeze blowing across your anal orifice. Also, the parietal lobe recognizes that the object is indeed a roll of toilet paper owing to the fact that you have seen it before, and that it looks nothing like a couch, a bicycle, or an espresso machine, and so on. Then, the thought heads over to…</figcaption></figure><figure id="8225"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*Gw-2RzHyW8QoED20dyW5zw.jpeg"><figcaption>…your frontal lobe, where you will decide what you will do with that toilet paper. Will you clean your brown eye? Will you TP a friend's house? Will you sell it on eBay? If you decide to do all of these things, what order will you do them in? Will you TP friend’s house with used toilet paper? Will you attempt to sell used toilet paper on eBay? Either way, it is now up to…</figcaption></figure><figure id="94d0"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*KRqjfvzyzaGGPgutlQrsmg.jpeg"><figcaption>… Your temporal lobe to perceive the reality that your brain has set before you up to this point. It will be the lobe that gets all of the feedback concerning the actions you have taken — in effect, the temporal lobe is the customer service call center of the brain</figcaption></figure><figure id="f05b"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*PcMtXPd61ErEo4nF8z_Wag.jpeg"><figcaption>Now I go into greater detail about life with a brain injury and espouse my philosophy about the irony of choice and the duality of pretty much everything around us.</figcaption></figure><figure id="0aea"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*g6lAXO35ll-Qjk1ku64NWA.jpeg"><figcaption>teenagers love poop humor…</figcaption></figure><figure id="7cbe"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*l5gX5a3JP-YT9wgJOU3tBg.jpeg"><figcaption>I believe that “quizzical” was a vocabulary word the students had been using, and I have put the term “dialectical” to good use in my renowned series called “Dialectical Menialisms” ( found <a href="https://readmedium.com/dialectical-menialism-1-left-vs-right-f4c9e0d07cd0?source=friends_link&amp;sk=7bf27439e54663130fa3487521ff2c5e">HERE</a>, <a href="https://readmedium.com/choices-keanu-reeves-via-neo-asserted-that-choice-can-be-a-form-of-oppression-when-the-choices-fe14aac99cb9?source=friends_link&amp;sk=ad9815f4b004edf94cd34708be3689fc">HERE </a>and <a href="https://readmedium.com/when-your-butt-turns-into-an-ass-46c2719ba6bf?source=friends_link&amp;sk=52a8bd97e2f4d7bf07bf9ad73f7606e2">HERE</a>)</figcaption></figure><figure id="9899"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*vLr3hK6Rw-7zExsy0cc2yw.jpeg"><figcaption>In the course of my recovery, I’ve gone from a wheelchair to a walker to a gigantic hand that matches a gigantic cartoon head (a very handsome head, if I may say so).</figcaption></figure><figure id="36f7"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*T0qN7ZcZt1zmajKmz1Zang.jpeg"><figcaption>This is a few years prior to the hemorrhage — notice that my left arm is outstretched and making itself useful.</figcaption></figure><figure id="3dcf"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*EefHL4aNKqw-Wua3BLITEQ.jpeg"><figcaption>I didn’t have to have surgery. I chose to because the doctor was unflinching in saying that he could resect the lesion and because I didn’t want to experience another hemorrhage.</figcaption></figure><figure id="2f9a"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*kH9Azcz_1YPb9VTto4tj6w.jpeg"><figcaption>I was 28 years old when this happened, my daughter (pictured above) had not even turned two. Until that time, I was happily married, a devoted middle school teacher, and a committed techie. I’ve since had to reassess where I fit as a husband (to my everlasting shame, my marriage dissolved), a professional, a dad, and a dude named Jarrett</figcaption></figure><figure id="12ab"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*CqYMkKhHagandRWOq2kJEA.jpeg"><figcaption>Se

Options

e below for an explanation of the doorway. The Heisman picture is from a physical therapy session where I sought to find the synchrony between left and right that I had once taken for granted</figcaption></figure><figure id="0c46"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*HiBAz0qvwfhCvLE2qNT3ug.jpeg"><figcaption>One of the more illuminating passages of a memoir that I can’t seem to finish</figcaption></figure><figure id="219c"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*17-fwZVwWo0hoE4WsN3pLQ.jpeg"><figcaption>When I say techie, I’m talking about building computers and playing with phones and tablets and whatnot. The issue here is how to judiciously divide my time — I still need to and do maintain a regimen of physical activity, but I got to feed the monkey too!</figcaption></figure><figure id="768c"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*BkMSX8qIjIo8Dlv3bbsxsA.jpeg"><figcaption>The musculature in my left extremities constantly contracts (a delightfully inconvenient condition known as “spasticity” — I have a beef with that word, people with spasticity do not have adequate control to speak that word without first bringing the conversation to a complete halt and enunciating every syllable.) There are two ways to treat spasticity — ugh! I’m dictating this, so every time you see that confounded word typed is an instance where I had to stop talking and really concentrate to say the word properly. I digress, dear reader, humblest apologies — 1. Botox injections in the spastic muscles, including the muscles in the bottom of the foot, and 2. A machine that delivers a powerful liquid muscle relaxer directly to the spine, with a reservoir implanted in the abdomen</figcaption></figure><figure id="429d"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*OWnqW4oLlOWHwZ0yBz48Nw.jpeg"><figcaption>I find myself torn between the 9 to 5 rigmarole and devoting time to my passion of writing — I’ve been traditionally published four times in short story anthologies published by Z Publishing House (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Emerging-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/1092934952/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&amp;keywords=emerging+fiction+plains+states&amp;qid=1588612769&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-16">SCIENCE FICTION</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Texass-Emerging-Writers-Anthology-Nonfiction/dp/1726452859/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Texas+emerging+writers+nonfiction&amp;qid=1588613011&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1">NONFICTION</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Texass-Emerging-Writers-Anthology-Fiction/dp/1726450058/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Texas+emerging+authors&amp;qid=1588612951&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1">SHORT FICTION: TEXAS</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Emerging-Literary-Fiction-Writers/dp/1092926976/ref=sr_1_49?dchild=1&amp;keywords=emerging+writers+literary+fiction+z+publishing&amp;qid=1588613162&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-49&amp;swrs=2490388DA093FDDC4948209FBC3F8661">LITERARY FICTION</a>).</figcaption></figure><figure id="b162"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*7YVxeip0j6cVEdFXNASXzw.jpeg"><figcaption>I feel a tinge of frustration when I have a “LOB” (that’s loss of balance to you). Do I allow this to sour my mood? Or do I curse the phantom gale of wind that avoided everybody in the room but me?</figcaption></figure><h1 id="d2e9">SELECTED EXCERPTS</h1><p id="a566">Here are a few more passages from the memoir that I can’t seem to finish…</p><figure id="d709"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*vjbJ_Ay4ucKWQjPXF1V6qg.jpeg"><figcaption>Concerning needles in my foot</figcaption></figure><figure id="4e08"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*NVYRI9vLsJFOJMp5uWxDzg.jpeg"><figcaption>Concerning spending time with my daughter</figcaption></figure><figure id="a796"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*eQV4p8ieyBDycJ9uTILIvg.jpeg"><figcaption>Concerning the use of dictation software to be more productive — the above is what the dictation software recorded when I forgot to turn the microphone off to talk to a coworker about mounting a dry erase board in my office.</figcaption></figure><figure id="44b6"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*AkpQox5zg7v3s2OTGXx79g.jpeg"><figcaption>Concerning fear</figcaption></figure><figure id="e83a"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*8OZdFSq3y41LbrNPfakwHA.jpeg"><figcaption>Concerning balance</figcaption></figure><figure id="466b"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*qRertxtRee9628VGLLrY_A.jpeg"><figcaption>Concerning physical therapy.</figcaption></figure><p id="1473">FIN</p></article></body>

Brain Injourney v3.0

Come along and read about a fantastic injourney. Well, maybe not so “fantastic”, but…

I prepared this Prezi about six years ago to present to a middle school. In short, I was the library aide. I had, at one time about four years prior, been a teacher and coach at that very school, so the teachers and I got along well. I wanted an opportunity to explain my condition, and they wanted their students to hear my story. So, as a supplement to my introduction HERE, I give you “Brain Injourney v3.0”

“slow and steady wins the race,”
Notice the red circles getting increasingly larger as they ascend the brainstem and the white blob in the middle. The blob is blood that spewed out of a lesion called variously “cerebral cavernous malformation”, “cavernous angioma”, and, most recognizably, “cavernoma”
I have used many themes for this presentation over the years. For this one, the theme was “choice”. As in, I could choose to allow this setback to sink my battleship and I would put up my white flag or I could choose to rally the remaining ships and carry on
The presentation also rhymes
I believe the class that I was presenting to was doing a unit over hyperbole. So I tried to incorporate vocabulary that was a little over the top.
more hyperbole…
Let me tell you about my first experience with the word “Pons”. After being admitted to the ER and getting a CT scan, I was in a state of “what the…” , so I don’t remember much of what the doctor said. He just wandered around the room staring at the scan, muttering; the only word I caught was ‘ponds’. It seemed more like he was having a conversation with the scan. As if he could figure out the problem by talking to the ‘ponds’ on the scan.
Encephalon= Greek for “brain”
Like I said, this presentation rhymes. So I had to dig deep to find verbiage
This is the part where I get to explain that the brainstem, the part of my brain that hemorrhaged, is responsible for the automatic things a body does to go on living
This is the part where I explain why I am so clumsy. You see, “Pons” is the Latin word for “bridge” due to its position between the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex. Thoughts that traverse the bridge in my head are beset by bad connections and misfiring neurons; often resulting in a serious lack of dexterity.
This is the part where we play a little game. With the help of my trusty assistant Wilson (that’s right, the volleyball) pretending to be a thought. The thought is given form when I pass it to a student who represents…
… The occipital lobe, whose only function is to process what you see. I find it a design flaw in humans that the optic nerve has to stretch the length of the brain, pretty much guaranteeing that the eyesight will be affected if the brain experiences trauma. The student, pretending to be the occipital lobe, is tasked with naming an object. For our purposes, let’s use a roll of toilet paper — a hot commodity in these uncertain times.
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
Your parietal lobe is going to tell you that the toilet paper is soft and will feel like a gentle breeze blowing across your anal orifice. Also, the parietal lobe recognizes that the object is indeed a roll of toilet paper owing to the fact that you have seen it before, and that it looks nothing like a couch, a bicycle, or an espresso machine, and so on. Then, the thought heads over to…
…your frontal lobe, where you will decide what you will do with that toilet paper. Will you clean your brown eye? Will you TP a friend's house? Will you sell it on eBay? If you decide to do all of these things, what order will you do them in? Will you TP friend’s house with used toilet paper? Will you attempt to sell used toilet paper on eBay? Either way, it is now up to…
… Your temporal lobe to perceive the reality that your brain has set before you up to this point. It will be the lobe that gets all of the feedback concerning the actions you have taken — in effect, the temporal lobe is the customer service call center of the brain
Now I go into greater detail about life with a brain injury and espouse my philosophy about the irony of choice and the duality of pretty much everything around us.
teenagers love poop humor…
I believe that “quizzical” was a vocabulary word the students had been using, and I have put the term “dialectical” to good use in my renowned series called “Dialectical Menialisms” ( found HERE, HERE and HERE)
In the course of my recovery, I’ve gone from a wheelchair to a walker to a gigantic hand that matches a gigantic cartoon head (a very handsome head, if I may say so).
This is a few years prior to the hemorrhage — notice that my left arm is outstretched and making itself useful.
I didn’t have to have surgery. I chose to because the doctor was unflinching in saying that he could resect the lesion and because I didn’t want to experience another hemorrhage.
I was 28 years old when this happened, my daughter (pictured above) had not even turned two. Until that time, I was happily married, a devoted middle school teacher, and a committed techie. I’ve since had to reassess where I fit as a husband (to my everlasting shame, my marriage dissolved), a professional, a dad, and a dude named Jarrett
See below for an explanation of the doorway. The Heisman picture is from a physical therapy session where I sought to find the synchrony between left and right that I had once taken for granted
One of the more illuminating passages of a memoir that I can’t seem to finish
When I say techie, I’m talking about building computers and playing with phones and tablets and whatnot. The issue here is how to judiciously divide my time — I still need to and do maintain a regimen of physical activity, but I got to feed the monkey too!
The musculature in my left extremities constantly contracts (a delightfully inconvenient condition known as “spasticity” — I have a beef with that word, people with spasticity do not have adequate control to speak that word without first bringing the conversation to a complete halt and enunciating every syllable.) There are two ways to treat spasticity — ugh! I’m dictating this, so every time you see that confounded word typed is an instance where I had to stop talking and really concentrate to say the word properly. I digress, dear reader, humblest apologies — 1. Botox injections in the spastic muscles, including the muscles in the bottom of the foot, and 2. A machine that delivers a powerful liquid muscle relaxer directly to the spine, with a reservoir implanted in the abdomen
I find myself torn between the 9 to 5 rigmarole and devoting time to my passion of writing — I’ve been traditionally published four times in short story anthologies published by Z Publishing House (SCIENCE FICTION, NONFICTION, SHORT FICTION: TEXAS, LITERARY FICTION).
I feel a tinge of frustration when I have a “LOB” (that’s loss of balance to you). Do I allow this to sour my mood? Or do I curse the phantom gale of wind that avoided everybody in the room but me?

SELECTED EXCERPTS

Here are a few more passages from the memoir that I can’t seem to finish…

Concerning needles in my foot
Concerning spending time with my daughter
Concerning the use of dictation software to be more productive — the above is what the dictation software recorded when I forgot to turn the microphone off to talk to a coworker about mounting a dry erase board in my office.
Concerning fear
Concerning balance
Concerning physical therapy.

FIN

Brain
Disability
Surgery
Recovery
Life
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