Traumatic brain injuries have a lot of different potential outcomes, and they’re very hard to predict. Even in very similar accidents, very different sections of the brain could suffer injury, and that location — along with the severity — determines what outcome the patient is going to see.
It is possible for a brain injury to take away your sense of smell. This may be temporary and heal with time, or it may be permanent and last long after you feel healthy otherwise. Some people never regain their sense to the extent that they had it before the injury.
This fact really underscores how TBIs can impact your life. Many other injuries have a drastic impact at the moment. If you break both legs and wind up spending months in a wheelchair, for instance, it feels like nothing will ever be the same. If healing goes well, though, the truth is that things can go back to normal fairly quickly. You may tell the story of your accident in 10 years, barely able to believe you spent so long in the wheelchair.
If you have a TBI, though, you have to understand that complete healing isn’t always possible. The brain is fragile, cells do not always regenerate, and doctors are not able to make projections about healing times the way that they can with other injuries. There is still a lot that we don’t know. These unseen injuries can be the most serious of all, even if they’re not as clear to outsiders.
Have you suffered a serious brain injury due to someone else’s negligence? If you have, you may be able to seek compensation for those life-long changes.