The Vow

I received am email wondering about my thought on the movie "The Vow" and about TBIs in the media in general. I saw it, last night, because a my friend was going and she took me along. Who's going to pass up a free movie, especially when you never leave the house and you're really curious about the movie.



My review.

This movie was incredibly inaccurate, but who would think otherwise? I've seen enough movies to know that there is no way it would even have a hint of truth to it. You don't even have to be married to a film maker to know that. SO, I knew that going into it, but half way through I had to remind myself to stop comparing myself to it and thinking about how things were or would be, and then I found it much more "cute" and mildly entertaining, which is the most you could hope for really.

I know that when I'm telling people about my injury, usually one of the first things I say is that "Its not like the movies. You don't just wake up. At least I didn't." I then explain that I have heard of cases where it is more like the patient "wakes up" suddenly, but typically its a long, slow process. I say that its hard to know when I "woke up" because there were times when I apparently had my eyes open where I didn't remember and wasn't responsive to anything. There were times that I was medically awake that I didn't recall.

I wish people had a more accurate understanding of what I (and my kind) went through, but I think the best we can do is just kindly educate people on the reality. Katie (the wonderful girl who emailed me) said that a coma is not fun. IMHO, being in a coma is pretty much the best thing that happened to me. Well, if you are lucky enough to get kicked in the head, its best if you're in a coma. I think you should be in a coma if you get a paper cut. That is definitely a part of my life I am so thankful I didn't experience. But, Katie, I know thats not what you were say. Shes right: being hurt enough that you need to go into a coma isn't fun. Its not easy, waking up (or not waking up because you never had the relief of a coma) and relearning EVERYTHING.

Anyways, we're talking about Rachel McAdams here. Her character was based on a real person, Krickett Carpenter. Watch this YouTube video about her here. So it is possible that a head injury will make you lose memories, obviously. But Krickett lost the previous 18 months, not 5 years like the movie says. Whatever. We don't watch ckick flicks to learn about real life. If I was upset about their inaccurate portrayal of a coma than I'd have to be upset that my husband doesn't look like Channing Tatum.

I think if I had stronger opinions I'd probably be a more interesting person. I apologize if you feel like you read this whole post just to get to the end and realize "she doesn't care."

But this is what I was wondering about: Is there anyone out there who was in a coma who feels like they woke up and didn't have to relearn everything??