Dear Mrs. Rivard and the Committee on Traumatic Brain Injuries of Delaware,

Please forgive my delay in getting back to you regarding the procedure done by the Amen Clinic on me and the results of the SPECT Scan.

First, Thank you immensely for supporting me through my traumatic brain injury both emotionally and financially. Emotionally, Mrs. Rivard was very encouraging and responsive. This was a great comfort and help to me initially when everything was unknown and especially stressful. To the committee, I am so thankful for the funds to be able to get the SPECT scan done.

The SPECT scan proved to be very useful to me in terms of the knowledge it provided me about my injury, which you can see from the results of the scan I sent earlier. Beyond validating the injury as significant, it enabled my doctors to understand better the symptoms I am experiencing based upon the portion of my brain that was injured. I am currently using Nurtec to support those ocular migraines that resulted in the accident and are creating the burning sensation, the pressure in my head, my lack of memory issues, motivation concerns and direction problems. As well, I have had vision problems that I am still dealing with as well as pain in my ears. I currently sleep with an ice pack due to the burning. I am taking gabapentin to deal with the nerves that are damaged (which were pictured in the SPECT scan) to enable me to sleep better to calm the nerves in the hopes that they will heal. I have made progress in some respects, but it does appear as though the damage done to my brain is permanent. The area of my brain that was damage is responsible for motivation, how emotions are processed and memory among other things. This has enabled me to cope better with the symptoms because it makes sense given where the SPECT scan shows my brain was damaged.

As well, the Amen Clinic staff has been very helpful to me during times of great distress reassuring me that although these things are permanent there are things I can do to cope.

So, the information gave my doctors helpful information to better treat me and me reassurance on how to move forward.

Thank you again for your assistance and if there is anything else you need from me, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely,
Lisa