Sunday, February 15, 2015

I am not a brain doctor. I simply have a sister that marvels me after her multiple surgeries to her brain. So, I studied up.

I don't ever believe in giving up. 

This is from Wikipedia and it says it well. Encephalopathy is degeneration of the brain tissue.

In some contexts it refers to permanent (or degenerative) brain injury, and in others it is reversible. It can be due to direct injury to the brain, or illness remote from the brain. In medical terms it can refer to a wide variety of brain disorders with very different etiologies, prognoses and implications. For example, prion diseases, all of which cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, are invariably fatal, but other encephalopathies are reversible and can be caused by nutritional deficiencies, toxins, and several other causes.

I think with such a new diagnosis the medical profession has a clear picture of the potential for reversing any brain damage associated with this disease.

The rule with ANY brain trauma is that no one knows exactly the extent of the injury until a full year after the insult. Why? Because we know for a fact nervous tissue where there is myelin (White Matter) will seek to regenerate within that myelin.

Now, this is a degenerative process, so once it starts it continues. But, I question whether there are ways of supporting the brain tissue that will minimize the deterioration. I think it is very important to completely understand this disease. We owe it to the men who brought excitement into the lives of Americans. They are important and the game they played was important.