Email

 

Palm Pre 3

Last night I went through my email history from the first year after my brain injury which happened on November 1, 2012. My last email was October 31, to my son Evan. For more than five months I could not use my smartphone to read or send messages, or do anything else with it. After I awoke from the coma in late December when I was at Zale Lipshy, I wanted to be able to call Jean. She wrote down her telephone number for me, but that did not help much. I tried to use the desk phone in my hospital room but did not know that I also needed to dial “nine” first before dialing the number that Jean had given me. In this post you will see how bad my grammar and spelling were at that time, and a little bit about how it started to improve over the first few months.

The first email from my smartphone was from Jean to a friend of mine in Iowa dated April 8, 2013, titled “Out of touch,” because it had been more than six months since I had written to her. I am including this one because it gives readers of this blog some background:

“Kayoko, I am Jean, Patrick Spreng’s wife. He asked me to send you a message to ask how you & your family are. He always shows me the pictures of your family on your Christmas card! The reason you haven’t heard from Patrick lately is that on Nov. 1st as he was walking to his office, he was hit by a car & had a traumatic brain injury. He was hospitalized for 2 months & now is in a residential treatment center about a half hour drive from his home. He is doing well but is frequently frustrated because he must re-learn how to read & that is going slowly so he asked me to write this to you. Hope you & your family are doing well. God bless you! Jean”

The first email that I sent was to my son Evan on April 11, 2013, titled “Pretty bad,” asking for help with using my phone: “I need more help sometime.”

Jean had come by my apartment on the 10th and used my shower to clean up. I could not find what she had done with the soap, so I sent her this email: “What tide you do with me path soap for my mode? I can’t find it.”

On the 13th I wrote a message to Matthew Goodman, the music leader of our church in Tulsa, titled “Me, again.” “I was will by a car last year end ave spent six months attempting at CNS. I am trying relearn to read and right. I cont know it I’ll ever be able to work again. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play again.”

Again that same day I wrote this to Tom Leonardis, President of Whoopi Goldberg’s company, Whoop, Inc. and Executive Producer of One Ho Productions, her production company, titled “Recovering acain:” “I was git be  a car last last October, recovering from being hit  by a car on the street. I cannot writ or read or are a computer. I am moderating new Dallas.” And on April 28 I again wrote Tom, titled “Happened again!” “I have been in treatment for nearly six months after getting hit by a car while calling across the street. I can’t read or right or eat (damaged swallowing), but  I can still walk. I am not wishing for sum  support and should be out of re-hab by the end of this year.”

For my websites I had used the URL acmewebpages.com since 1998 or so. But the GoDaddy account for that expired near the end of January 2013, so none of my websites existed after that. But I was still getting billed each month from my web host, EZ Web Hosting. So my next email was sent to them on May 2, 2013, titled “Please call me at 972-333-4508” and it just said “Please call me.” I cancelled my account and they were willing to cancel the billing since January.

On June 8 Matthew replied to my email from April 13th, titled “Following up” “Diann in the front office forwarded your phone message to me, so I wanted to follow up and see how things are going. John Tyson had seen on facebook that you had an injury late last year, so I’m hopeful that you are recovering. I wonder how you, Jean and Evan are doing these days. Things here seem much the same, though probably vastly different than when you were here, as we tend not to notice incremental change. Our 3 boys (yes, we now have 3!) are 12, 8 and 3 years old, so Kelly and I stay pretty busy, but it’s all good.      “Anyhow, I’ll hope to hear back from you when you have a moment to respond.

So I sent a reply on the 23rd, titled “Following up” “Thinks  aren’t actually going to well for me. While walking across Inwood Road to work, I was hit by a  car. I have been in the hospital and in recovery  since last November 1st with brain damage. I am unable to read or write or even eat  normal food. Recovery is painfully slow-I may not be able to read for months or even years! Life ahs become a struggle, but I may go home next month, mainly because I have little money laft. Machines are helping me wright this, but I cannot re-read it.”

I don’t know why but on June 25 I wrote a third email to Tom Leonardis: “Another dire straight…On November 1st, while walking to work across the street in Dallas, I was hit by a car. A couple of days later I needed  brain surgery and was in the hospital for over a month. I have now been in two area rehab facilities. I cannot read or wright, nor can I rat regular food. It could be months before I can learn to read. I am doing okay and will soon get  to go home. I don’t need any help, I just wanted to keep y’all updated.”

I wrote this on July 2 to my UTD Callier coworker Dave Simcoe: “It looks like I may get to go home next week or so. My English teacher says I may now be reading at a 2nd grade level! I may be at a 6th grade level by the end of this year. I will still be going to school each day at CNS every day. I don’t know when I’ll be able to  drive again – I haven’t driven since last October. It’s good to hear from you.”

By June I had begun making a list of the people I was getting to know and work with at the Centre for Neuro Skills (CNS). Then on July 17 I sent a copy of the list I was making to myself, probably because I did not know how to store that list in my phone:

CNS People, clinic & apartments:
Debby Peters – Eating
Kimberley Webb – Education
Brandy Chancellor-Reid, Conroe
Brian White – conference
—–
NRS PM – Nicole Louglas-Barclay
(Jamaica)
NRS PM – Kem – Bo
NRS PM – Shantell – John
NRS PM – Adriana (Mexico)
NRS AM – Lupe (Irving) John
NRS AM – Sandra (Corpus) John
NRS AM – Ashleh – next door
NRS AM – LaResha – next door
NRS AM – Sheree (Japan)
NRS AM – Wybell (Philippines)
NRS AM – Amanda (Texas BClar)
NRS AM – Bernadette (Vegas)
—–
Tiffany – housing
Catherine – PM Supervisor
Ashley – receptionist
April – transportation
Carl – transportation
Veronica – transportation

Nursing:
Dr Johnson
Dr Karen Kowalski
Selam – Nurse
Sharon – new Nurse (7/15)
Cindy – office meds
Juliuse – Nursing receptionist
—–
Ashley – housing meds

Students:
Me, Garland, OuPa, 7/19
Ryan, Austin, California
Bo, Texas
Charlie, Wisconsin
Bill Wilson, Rockwall, OuPa, 5/??
John Sims, South Texas
Ashton Cerka, OuPa, 6/28
Ken Frisbie, Dallas
David E Deason, Jill; 4353 W Lawther, OuPa, 7/12

PT: Health and exervise
Whitney
Vanessa
Melina (Venezuela)

By this time I was pretty well functional with my cellphone and was able to clearly communicate with most everyone, so most of my emails from this point sound quite mundane and ordinary. Thanks for reading.