Comments on: When War Comes Home http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2008/07/when_war_comes_home/ the alumni magazine of Vanderbilt University Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:22:51 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Geoffrey Pfister http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2008/07/when_war_comes_home/comment-page-1/#comment-249 Geoffrey Pfister Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:46:12 +0000 http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2008/07/when-war-comes-home/#comment-249 Excellent article, and it has me looking for someone locally who can screen me for PTVS. I was deployed in Ar Ramadi, Iraq in 05-06, and have since been diagnosed with mTBI, Severe PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression. I am hypersensative to just about all meds and are therefore very limited in treatment options. I have been experiencing both visual and audio overloads, and have been referred to a behavioral optometrist by another excellent facility,DVBIC-Defense & Veterans Brain Injury Center, located in Johnstown, Pa. But the VA in White River Junction, Vt does not have the services available, and will not refer me for community available services. This is a very serious problem up here and myself, along with a handful of others, are taking to the fight to them. We have over 400 veterans in Vt that have screened positive for TBI,many of which are being sent back out to afghanistan either untreated or mis-diagnosed with PTSD, but none have been referred to facilities such as DVBIC Johnstown, that can properly diagnose and treat TBI, and the accompanying PTSD, as well as o other neuropsycological and physical deficits. Excellent article, and it has me looking for someone locally who can screen me for PTVS. I was deployed in Ar Ramadi, Iraq in 05-06, and have since been diagnosed with mTBI, Severe PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression. I am hypersensative to just about all meds and are therefore very limited in treatment options. I have been experiencing both visual and audio overloads, and have been referred to a behavioral optometrist by another excellent facility,DVBIC-Defense & Veterans Brain Injury Center, located in Johnstown, Pa. But the VA in White River Junction, Vt does not have the services available, and will not refer me for community available services. This is a very serious problem up here and myself, along with a handful of others, are taking to the fight to them. We have over 400 veterans in Vt that have screened positive for TBI,many of which are being sent back out to afghanistan either untreated or mis-diagnosed with PTSD, but none have been referred to facilities such as DVBIC Johnstown, that can properly diagnose and treat TBI, and the accompanying PTSD, as well as o other neuropsycological and physical deficits.

]]> By: Marilyn Cerrato http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2008/07/when_war_comes_home/comment-page-1/#comment-23 Marilyn Cerrato Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:18:52 +0000 http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2008/07/when-war-comes-home/#comment-23 Well what can I say my husband and I are currently in the process of a divorse after 17 years. He was in Afganistan for 18 month. He came back extremely different very judgemental and critical of my character. He secluded and withdrawn. We lost each other in the process. I believe that therapy should be mandatory for a soldier to go to when he comes back from Active Duty. If that would have been the case my husband and I would have not been where we are right now. Well what can I say my husband and I are currently in the process of a divorse after 17 years. He was in Afganistan for 18 month. He came back extremely different very judgemental and critical of my character. He secluded and withdrawn. We lost each other in the process. I believe that therapy should be mandatory for a soldier to go to when he comes back from Active Duty. If that would have been the case my husband and I would have not been where we are right now.

]]> By: Marilyn B. Cieszykowski http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2008/07/when_war_comes_home/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Marilyn B. Cieszykowski Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:23:19 +0000 http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2008/07/when-war-comes-home/#comment-6 Thank you for your article in the alumni publication on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). I am an alumni from Vanderbilt, with both a BA and MSN, currently in practice at a rural health clinic in Colorado. This was the first time I received this publication from the post office and rushed home, curious to read this article and the role that Vanderbilt has had in in treating an incredibly random and common and life-changing disaster, the TBI. Back in the early 1990s, I was among the first to declare an "independent" neuroscience major, as the faculty, many new to Vanderbilt had come from Brown,and was developing this major in the "decade of the brain". After receiving a Master's degree from VUSN 9 years ago, I have been active in treating and supporting a large multitude of individuals who rely on Social Security disability income, many from having had TBI but unable to work post-injury. They struggle with choosing whether to buy food or medications to treat their medical condition. When I arrived home from the local PO and immediately read the TBI article, I was proud of the PBPRI and their dedication and support of TBI. I was a bit disappointed in the reference to "traditional" brain injury- as it seemed as though the article was downplaying the horrific trauma of this injury to anyone, whether that person is self-enlisted to take part in a controversial war, or a Vanderbilt alumni, who while on Vacation in Ecuador, was using the hotel bicycle to travel downhill 2 miles into town, and the shoddy brakes literally fell off the bicycle and the VU alumni was thrown from the bike, not wearing a helmet because the hotel did not have any, and was evacuated at the cost of almost $100 grand back to the states to receive treatment for a broken neck and bruised up head. Or how about the professional photographer who was a passenger in a car when some kids threw a boulder off the overpass, striking him in the head and making him unable to take beautiful photographs due to his TBI. Or the woman who slipped on ice and struck her head, disabling her. On and on I could go. Random acts if horrific trauma to people who do had no idea that their day to day activities could turn so ugly do fast. And post-traumaticc stress disorder abounds in all TBI sufferers. I know this first-hand because I am the Vanderbilt Alumni whose brakes came off while riding downhill while on vacation. I spent 5 months at Craig Rehab hospital in Denver, the therapists there were quite good at dealing with TBI. My medical bills, even as a healthcare provider with good health insurance, are astronomical. Vanderbilt Alumni Association has been very consistent in requesting alumni money from me, though they were informed of the accident. I will be paying for my college education and student loans for the rest of my "almost dead" life. And articles about huge sums of money donated from alumni to VU, or VU's expensive upkeep of vegetation on campus can only make me smile at the turn of life's events, and how mine turned into this so randomly. Happy homecoming, class of 1993, I won't make it this year for the above reasons - I was the girl who played hacky-sack in the quad before it gained its popularity, Cheers to all, Marilyn B. Cieszykowski, NP 93 &`98. Thank you for your article in the alumni publication on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). I am an alumni from Vanderbilt, with both a BA and MSN, currently in practice at a rural health clinic in Colorado. This was the first time I received this publication from the post office and rushed home, curious to read this article and the role that Vanderbilt has had in in treating an incredibly random and common and life-changing disaster, the TBI. Back in the early 1990s, I was among the first to declare an “independent” neuroscience major, as the faculty, many new to Vanderbilt had come from Brown,and was developing this major in the “decade of the brain”. After receiving a Master’s degree from VUSN 9 years ago, I have been active in treating and supporting a large multitude of individuals who rely on Social Security disability income, many from having had TBI but unable to work post-injury. They struggle with choosing whether to buy food or medications to treat their medical condition. When I arrived home from the local PO and immediately read the TBI article, I was proud of the PBPRI and their dedication and support of TBI. I was a bit disappointed in the reference to “traditional” brain injury- as it seemed as though the article was downplaying the horrific trauma of this injury to anyone, whether that person is self-enlisted to take part in a controversial war, or a Vanderbilt alumni, who while on Vacation in Ecuador, was using the hotel bicycle to travel downhill 2 miles into town, and the shoddy brakes literally fell off the bicycle and the VU alumni was thrown from the bike, not wearing a helmet because the hotel did not have any, and was evacuated at the cost of almost $100 grand back to the states to receive treatment for a broken neck and bruised up head. Or how about the professional photographer who was a passenger in a car when some kids threw a boulder off the overpass, striking him in the head and making him unable to take beautiful photographs due to his TBI. Or the woman who slipped on ice and struck her head, disabling her. On and on I could go. Random acts if horrific trauma to people who do had no idea that their day to day activities could turn so ugly do fast. And post-traumaticc stress disorder abounds in all TBI sufferers. I know this first-hand because I am the Vanderbilt Alumni whose brakes came off while riding downhill while on vacation. I spent 5 months at Craig Rehab hospital in Denver, the therapists there were quite good at dealing with TBI. My medical bills, even as a healthcare provider with good health insurance, are astronomical. Vanderbilt Alumni Association has been very consistent in requesting alumni money from me, though they were informed of the accident. I will be paying for my college education and student loans for the rest of my “almost dead” life. And articles about huge sums of money donated from alumni to VU, or VU’s expensive upkeep of vegetation on campus can only make me smile at the turn of life’s events, and how mine turned into this so randomly. Happy homecoming, class of 1993, I won’t make it this year for the above reasons – I was the girl who played hacky-sack in the quad before it gained its popularity,

Cheers to all,
Marilyn B. Cieszykowski, NP 93 &`98.

]]>