h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have a cousin who is one of those people so bright you gotta wear shades. Seriously, like, stereotypically smart. He's always been incredibly bright, and he actually did a PhD in String-Theory-related theoretical physics, and is currently in Los Angeles doing his postdoc in... umm, let me find it------ah, here we are: 'adiabatic quantum computing, entanglement in spin systems and field theory, quantum-classical dualities and the applications of ideas drawn from geometry to quantum information'. Sounds kinda mambo-jumbo-ish to me, but it's very impressive, innit?

Anyway, at the moment said cousin is not doing any theoretical physics, since right now he's in hospital. A little over a week ago he had a bicycle accident (apparently someone opened a car door in front of him, and he ran into it - or maybe tried to go around it and couldn't keep balance, I'm not sure - and flipped off the bike, landed on his head, then got hit by another vehicle). All things considered, he's relatively okay; no broken bones, or any major injuries to the body, and although he's still unconscious there are no signs of any serious brain damage, and his hematomas are slowly receding, which means there's no ongoing bleeding in his head, which is good. He's showing some reflexes and such. That's about all I know; since he's in LA, any news about his condition goes from his doctor to his parents (who of course flew over there as soon as they heard), and from them to my parents, and from them to me, so it usually ends up being pretty vague. But he does seem to be slowly improving, and there's some cause for optimism.
It could have been worse, basically. He's a young, healthy man, and as the title implies, kinda hardheaded. Also, he was wearing a helmet; that probably saved his life. Wear a helmet, people.

But it's still a very stressful situation. He's still unconscious, and could stay that way for weeks. With this type of injury, it's always pretty hard to tell with certainty what's going to happen. His parents are devastated (and being in a foreign city, not doing anything beside going to hospital to see him every day, doesn't help; it's kinda like a lens focusing all the worry into one ongoing struggle). My mother, who is worried as well, needs to be strong and supportive for her sister and her mother, in addition to having a load of work stuff to take care of, so she ends up under a lot of stress. My two other cousins over here act as a sort of local HQ, taking care of a whole lot of technical things (and one of them will be flying to LA tonight to join her parents and help them). Everyone's trying to help, even if there's not much we can do. It's hard to deal with something like that.

I don't think I have much of a point to this journal entry, other than sharing my news. But hey, that's what a journal is for, right?
But if there's one thing to take from this rambling jourmal entry, it's this: Wear a goddamn bike helmet.
Seriously. Be careful out there.

Best wishes for the cousin, m'dear. The body and mind can do amazing things.

Sorry to hear about your cousin, Yael, and hope he will have a speedy recovery.

Please keep us informed of his progress.




lil x

Oh pooh, I forgot the gentleness of using real first-names here ...

Thanks. I will update, as I knpw more. And we're all hoping for the best.

Nick - No worries, I think some people around here have always referred to me by my (real) first name; it's right on my PS, after all (and was actually what I went by before I changed to 'Lady Pennywhistle'). I never really mind which version is used.

Hi Lady P. Sorry t0 hear about your cousin, I hope there's no serious injury and that he'll be on the mend real soon.

*know

Thanks PC.

Dearest Lady P, I hope your cousin continues to improve and that your aunt, uncle, cousins and grandmother can get to relax soon. It is really difficult being away from a family member who is going through medical stuff. My thoughts are with you.

Thank you, as well.

Being away is difficult, but at least it allows you to go on with your regular routines a bit more. The cousin who's going there told me something around the lines of 'What worries me is that when I get there I will actually see him, and that will be hard, since at the moment I can sorta pretend that it didn't really happen'. Not that she's really oblivious, of course; she's been absolutely amazing with taking charge of everything over here. But I can imagine it's a lot harder when actually faced with the full reality of the situation.

Best wishes to your cousin and his family

Including you, in particular

hoping for a speedy and full recovery for him

I think that we develop all sorts of coping mechanisms when something dreadful happens. Some are better than others. Also people will often be brave while things are at a crisis and then need loads of support afterwards when they can let their feelings go a bit. The whole family will take this in different ways, and not always in the expected ways.

Best wishes for your cousin. Seit gesunt and a prayer from us.

So sorry to hear such sad news . Will keep positive thoughts and hope for the very best recovery .. .

Thank you all again. I am once again reminded of what a cool place h2g2 is.
To Prof specifically: I've been reading your journal about your son's injury, and have a lot of sympathy for what you folks are going through - and I certainly hope that my cousin will show the same powers of recovery as your young chap seems to.

I was going to say that perhaps prayer is not the best idea, since he's such a staunch atheist and probably wouldn't want people to do that, but as Niels Bohr is rumoured to say about the horseshoe in his office: 'I understand it works even if you don't believe in it'... and besides, who knows, maybe the anger that people dare to have religious notions about his recovery will jolt him awake, eh?
Anyway, _I_ definitely appreciate the sentiment. So again, thank you.

The latest news (as of last night, for us) are that things are still imroving slowly. He's steadily showing more reflexes. He's supposed to have the shunt taken out of his head today, since the intracranial pressure is normal; he's also getting a feeding tube, and some other technical stuff, which seem to indicate things are getting better.
He had a bit of a fever, but they quickly found out the source (which is not related to his injury) and are giving him antibiotics for it.
His sister should be getting there soon, and I hope things will keep getting better.

Let's hope you have some really good news soon

Just as an aside, a couple of days ago I was reading of a similar but much less serious case of a bike rider taking a spill and losing consciousness. He was recalling what he knew of the incident and how he had no idea what actually had happened. He remembered starting downhill and then he remembered waking up staring at the trees as the paramedics helped him. He later used his GPS data recorded during his ride to determine the cause of the accident. Here's the story if anyone is interested.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/science/06accident.html

I do hope everything works out. It sounds like he's getting proper care.

That is a very interesting article, CZ. Fascinating forensic task.