Driving

Have any of you been told that you can’t drive a car because of your left temporal craniotomy? Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been driving and I have NO PROBLEM, driving. The elderly in my neighborhood drive worse than me! I’m going to make an appt. with my Neuro Optamologist, who turned me in to the state of MA. I know that when I first had my craniotomy, I wouldn’t be able to even think, never mind drive. Put I so much better and my AVM is now gone, so I won’t have another brain bleed.

I’m hoping that the Neuro Op Doc. tells the State of Massachusetts that I’m ok to drive!

Sounds familiar, but I guess I lucked out. My craniotomy was also left temporal lobe and I was having a very hard time functioning for a few months. The surgeon never officially put me on any type of hold as far as driving is concerned, but I was also in no hurry, especially since I was now missing half of my vision and my short term memory was a joke, so I was afraid to go anywhere on my own. After a few months and I was getting unsed to my reduced field of vision, I started driving short distances. Then, when I had a grand mal seizure about 5 months following my craniotomy, the emergency room doctor told me that I would be on hold with the DMV for 3 months… No driving. As soona s the 3 months were up, I went to the DMV to check and make sure I was clear to drive. Turns out that the hospital never even reported my seizure to the DMV, so I could have been driving all along. Nevertheless, I was not in a huge hurry to get out and start driving again. That was the better part of 4 years ago now and I have been driving ever since. I have found that due to my reduced vision, I am usually quite aware of my surroundings… Maybe even moreso than the drivers around me. I find that I have to not only pay a lot more attention, but I also have to predict what other drivers are going to do. I have avoided many collisions that would have been caused by other drivers, simply because I make educated guesses at what they are going to do before they do it. My personal favorite is people making lane changing on my blind side without leaving enough space or even signaling that they are going to change lanes. But that’s Southern California for you!

You are so funny! I drive the same way you do…I watch out for everyone because of my vision problem. I’m on anti-seizure med and haven’t had one yet! But because I had my surgery at Massachusetts General, the eye neuro guy, said he turned me into the State of MA and in if I get in an accident in MA, I will be suied and lose my house…scary of him, huh? I called his office today to make an appt. (of course they haven’t called me back yet), so hopefully, he will submit something to the State of MA, saying I can drive. I have my drivers licence, but he scared me thinking if I’m in a car accident, whether I cause or not, a lawyer will contact me.

I was the same way you were, I didn’t even think about driving for the first year after my brain bleed…But I do now!

Thanks for emailing me!

Jake,

Now this is funny! I just heard from my neuro eye doc’s secretary. I told her the doctor had during me into the State of MA. She said, “we don’t turn you in to the State of MA!” I have a feeling that my family told him to tell me that so I wouldn’t drive.

SO NOW I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT! Darn family people!

You’re so funny Louisa! I was told not to drive when I left the hospital, and like you and Jake I wouldn’t have even considered it back then. Beside the fact that I lost most of my vision in one eye, I just don’t process visual information correctly. I also have major panic attacks while even riding in a car, so the thought of driving scares the living hell out of me. Of course, my bleed/AVM was in an entirely different place than yours, so your deficits are much different than mine, I’m sure. Good for you if you are able to drive, I miss it so much!

Its amazing how many bad drivers there are out there without a reason, eh?

I guess the 1st thing that popped in my head (there’s a lot of empty space in there) was the lawsuit thing. God forbid you did have an accident, even if it wasn’t related to the brain surgery, you could be open to a major lawsuit. Can you be patient and get a clean report? Wait just a little while longer? (Maybe because I live up in NH and am in Boston alot!) LOL

the think is that we are the first candidates of having a seizure so think the poss of havinga seizure while driving and passing in front of your car a dozen of children going to school think the disaster

I went last week to my nerologist, and he told me that be cause I had a few muscle spasms on my left side (seizures) although none were that serous and I have never lost consiousness, and I haven’t had my bleed (yet, still waiting), that he had to report me to the state and it was a mandatorey suspension and I had to be seizure free for 1 year to get my liscence back, I don’t think he realizes how that affects my career. So, from now on seizure or not I can’t tell the dr.s. its like they become the enemy

That’s crazy, Louisa! What’s up with these doctors and their bogus information? Like I said with mine, it wasn’t even my neurosurgeon or neurologist that said anything about a block on my license… it was one of the doctors in the ER. He was so insistant: “We are required by law to report this seizure to the DMV. No driving for 3 months!” Then they never even bothered reporting anything to the DMV. Makes no sense at all. I suppose it is possible that your family had put in a request to have the doctor tell you a story about the law and whatnot, but I doubt it. My guess is that, while it is state policy, many hospitals probably don’t actually report things unless it happens more than once. Hard to say…