By Pepper Parr
July 6, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Councillor Marianne Meed Ward won’t bet at the Council table this afternoon when City Council meets as a Standing Committee – but she will be there in spirit.
The brain concussion she experienced early in June is going to need more time to heal that she expected. When the accident happened Meed Ward said she expected to be back at her desk within a week.
“I realize now” she said “that I should have gone to see a doctor right after the accident but I didn’t do that. I thought I just had a headache after a car rear ended my car”
“I know a lot more today than I knew a couple of months about brain concussion. I have been assured that this will heal but |I need to give my brain the rest it needs and that means quiet time – and less time at my computer.”
Meed Ward said she can handle a bit more than an hour and then needs to rest. “I’m able to do some housework but anything that calls for me to use my brain and it doesn’t take long for the message to get through – I can’t do this.”
Meed Ward explains that she can watch the web casts – but not for much more than an hour at a time; she can read the agendas and the staff reports but has to set aside the paper work after a bit more than an hour.
A three hour meeting is just not something she can handle yet – which she has learned is very normal for brain concussions.
Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward at an event with the Mayor
“My doctor tells me this will heal – but it is going to take time. If I push it I get a terrible headache and feel nauseous. It’s as if I had been on an all-night bender and was suffering from a wicked hang over” which we gather Meed Ward hasn’t done for some time.
“I can get to the Council meetings where we vote and that is where it counts”, she added.
The family is going to take a vacation in August after which Meed Ward expects to be back at full strength.
I wish Marianne a speedy and full recovery.