Experience of Charles Martell
I began my practice of Nichiren Buddhism in September 1981 in New Mexico. I was finishing up my Masters degree at the time and was preparing to move to Houston to begin my professional career as a Geologist.
When I arrived in Houston in March, 1982 I already had built up my practice and the determination to always practice this Buddhism and became active in all the young men’s division activities and in my district. In March, 1988 I was appointed as the Young Men’s Division leader of Houston on the basis of my sincerity, and dedication. Throughout our efforts, including countless home visitations, I was able to recommend and have appointed twenty young men to have responsibilities of district level and higher in the Houston SGI organization over the period of three years. Many new young men joined. Since then I have been a district leader and also served as coordinator of the Culture and Study Dept Committee of Houston multiple times. My faith in this Buddhism has deepened over the years.
I became married to a wonderful lady in 1991.We have challenged job, her sickness of Fibromyalgia, and all types of life challenges. It is an amazing benefit to be married to this lady and witness her tremendous spirit as we practice this faith together.
For today’s experience I will discuss the great fortune and life condition that allowed me to recover from a moderate brain injury. On February 28th, 2008 after waking up, I fell on the back of my head at home and made it back to bed. My wife was concerned when she found drops of blood in the kitchen and on my pillow. I did not wake up and eventually she called my primary doctor who advised her to call for an ambulance which brought me to Hermann Memorial Hospital downtown. I was admitted to the intensive care unit where I stayed for seven days and underwent many tests including many Catscans, and MRI’s of the brain. The results indicated that I had fractured my skull and suffered a moderate brain injury. Sometime after I was admitted, I was given a responstivity test which I scored at the upper end of being responsive. The irony is that I still have no memory of this. The memory gap was approximately two days long.
After two days I started to remember events in the hospital. It soon became apparent that I had great difficulty walking and had lost most of my balance. Also my speech appeared to have slowed down. Additionally, I experienced high degrees of fatigue. Throughout my hospital stay of eighteen days, amazingly I was very calm. It also became apparent that my cognitive functions of the brain appeared to be almost intact.
I began speech, balance, coordination, walking, and cognition therapies which continued after I was transferred to a regular hospital room. I have vivid memories of my speech therapist arriving in my room at 7:30 AM and challenging me to be ready. My regular speech came back very quickly within a few days. The other targeted therapies were more challenging for me, especially the balance and coordination activities. I would use a walker to get around. Eventually I used a cane to walk around the hospital which was very tough for me. By the time I left the hospital I was able to walk almost without a walker or cane but used the walker to take the precaution not to fall down. During the 18 days of my hospital stay I advanced on all fronts with my sense of humor, always joking with the excellent hospital staff.
At the time of my discharge it was apparent to me that I was not ready to return to work. I was still very tired, lost a considerable degree of my stamina / strength and my balance / coordination had a great way to return to normal. My doctors in the hospital recommended that I go to an outpatient facility to continue the therapy until I was well enough to return to work. After taking a ten day rest at home I began my 14 week program of therapy. I went to therapy at first four days a week. As always, undefeated I was able to stop using my walker and cane within four days.
My greatest victory at the TIRR outpatient clinic was being recognized as one of the most successful patients with regards to the physical therapy for walking, balance, and coordination. I attended many group sessions that focused on coping with all respects of the injury and learning more about the effects of a brain injury. From my experience in SGI, I naturally took the responsibility of encouraging other patients of the outpatient clinic. This helped me to never lose my spirit and gave me a sense of purpose for attending the many group sessions.
Near the end of my fourteen weeks of sessions I was given a neuro-psych exam which is the only empirical way of measuring effects of brain injuries. The results of my test indicated that my short term memory of repeating back information had degraded greatly. Of course the neurologist at the facility was very concerned. I was not shaken up too much by this. My job revolves around performing conceptual functions / tasks. I boldly told him that I would be all right. He seemed very skeptical of my spirit but then again I wondered how many Nichiren Buddhists he has treated.
I returned to work five months to the day that I experienced my injury on July 28th. The next chapter in my recovery began. Assurances were given to me by my manager that the work load was not that high. After I resumed my day to day functions, I immediately realized that this was not the case. I had never worked for him before. He arrived and become manager three days after my injury occurred. Not only did I have to challenge being away for five months; I had to also win over a new manager. I made great efforts and eventually made my point that I needed another person on my team and a person was made available. My job also evolved to include new responsibilities. I was successful on all fronts with the software project release of 2008. I gave a presentation this month at work and realized that I had recovered back to my pre-injury level. My presentation received positive recognition from my manager and others that I worked with. My wife tells me that I appear smarter since I experienced the concussion.
My balance has recovered. The stamina and strength are returning. I can now do work around the house. I still occasionally need a brief nap when I return from work. I have resumed my workouts. I am rebuilding my strength and hope to be back to where I was before the injury by the end of this year.
I plan to resume my education part-time at night pursuing my PhD in Geology at the University of Houston in August as I enter my twelve year as a Geologist with Schlumberger. The gap was twenty seven years between receiving my Masters degree in Geology and my doctorate studies. This is one incredible challenge for me. My wife and I live full lives and participate in diverse activities outside of SGI.
In conclusion, I had the fortune from this practice to quickly recover from a moderate brain injury and the life condition to stay calm and advance step by step to overcome my injury. Incredibly, I was able to return to work one week before my short-term disability had run out so I was on full salary during my absence from work.
When you work for the happiness of others and personally build up your state of life, you will always feel undefeated and decisively win through various struggles and change your destiny. I wish you all the best in pursuing your dreams and living life’s of great joy and deep fulfillment. Thank you.
