I survived a five story fall and am currently in a rehab hospital for traumatic brain injuries. AMA!

How the fuck are you still alive?

Hope your condition improves though

I have no idea. I know I shouldn't be, nor be doing as good as I am now. I'm like crazy fortunate.

That's 5 stories man. You're a hell of a lucky person

I figure apartment stories are thicker too to provide noise blocking. I'm way lucky

No idea. I am improving every day! I think that fence somehow cushioned (if that's the right word) my fall

What percentage of recovery are you expected to make? Are you going to be able to run, swim, ski and do you think cognitively you'll make a full recovery or will there be some mental difficulty with certain things?

Great question. From my understanding they want to make me 100% again. I'm already walking on a treadmill pretty briskly. Once my balance is back I should be fine. It'll take a long time to work through my toddler strength though.

Were you on your own when you fell or were you with others? If you were with others, do you know how they have come to terms with your accident?

You sound like you have done amazingly well since your accident, you should be so incredibly proud of yourself. Good luck for everything you do in the future.

Thank you for the kind words. I was with like 5-6 friends, They all freaked out and immediately ran downstairs. There was actually a doctor out walking his dog and he watched me and made sure no one touched me till the ambulance got their. I think someone was looking out for me. My friends weren't able to find that doctor again to thank him.

Same thing happened to me when I was ran over by a car. A nurse saw the accident and made sure that no one moved me till the ambulance arrived. I couldn't find her either...

These types of stories are so interesting. I guess someone was looking out

Doctors don't like to be involved in accidents like this/car wreaks. It's not uncommon for them to be sued if something goes wrong.

It's been nothing but positive so far. And thankfully I no longer requrie a doctor.

Assuming your heart was beating and you were breathing. There are some people who tell "Don't touch him" when a person needs CPR more than the risk of further spinal damage.

Ya I don't know what happened there. I got CRAZY lucky and fell when a doctor was out walking his dog. He watched me till the ambulance got there and made sure non of my friends touched me

What has been the hardest thing for you to relearn? Best wishes to you for a recovery.

Thank you. Nothing has been hard but walking, for instance, is a struggle. I guess the balance bones in my ear got all jumbled. That and swallowing water have been a task but it gets better everyday!

Did you have to be on any thickened liquids? EDIT: saw you answered this. What kind of thickened liquids? I.e nectar, honey.

Damn I'm impressed with your knowledge. I started honey thick but have since graduated to nectar. I have another swallow study scheduled for Tuesday and hopefully I get off that. It sucks having to thicken cereal

Pardon me for asking if its been answered elsewhere, but why are liquids thickened? That, to me, seems like it would be harder to down.

When I swallow my epiglottis doesn't close my airway well so this prevents choking I guess

Was anyone with you when you fell? Was alcohol involved? I live in Florida, and every year around spring break time falling off balcony incidents spike. Most were not as fortunate as you, and they fell fewer stories! You are one lucky duck!

Be well on your road to recovery, and I look forward to an update!

Ya I was in town for a friends birthday so there was like 5-6 people there. I don't know if alcohol was involved but it was the middle of the day. I know heavy drinking happened the night before but I think that day was just casual sips

was it a suicide attempt? or an accident?

Completely an accident. From what I understand I was just sitting on a ledge like an idiot and lost balance. No more height for me.

My palms are sweating just thinking about someone sitting on a ledge 5 stories up.

Ya I've always done crazy climbing things like that but this takes the cake

Kinda makes me rethink all these times I've sat on the side of the roof of my 5 story building with dates just drinking wine... fuck.

Oh i've done stupid things too. And a roof is safer than a ledge haha

How's the food?

Not bad. I'm on a ground diet with thickened liquid cause my swallowing is really weak. I can have pasta and cassserole and meatloaf for instance.

Do you have any uncontrollable emotions or outbursts of anger that come out of no where? How's your pelvis? Can we see any x-rays?

I don't have any xrays. But I was immobile for so long that all my fractures healed on their own. No screws needed in my spine thank god. Would've made security at airports a bitch. And I'm already a middle eastern man haha

Do you ever feel bad for yourself, or angry at your situation? If so, how do you get over that?

No thankfully. I'm just glad this is all on me cause I can forgive myself but I wouldn't be able to forgive someone if it was a push or something. But I was just stupid and have accepted that. I'm staying really positive, enough for all my therapists to notice. I've just accepted this is life now and things will come back eventually. I really miss my voice though. I had a really deep voice and now its all hoarse and raspy.

Aside from being thirsty what was going through your mind when you woke up in the hospital?

Did you assume something bad must have happened other than you falling five stories?

It feels like it would be a surreal situation, waking up not remembering anything in the past year and now you're laying in a hospital bed.

When someone told you how long you've been there was it a "holy shit what!?" situation?

Well waking up was so gradual I don't even know what I was like then. My first memories are around the beginning of March and I had a hard time believing it was 2016. Waking up was a slow process so I kinda grew awake knowing what happened. I'm fully aware now thankfully.

Do you have a job or go to school? If so how do you manage?

I finished my masters last year and started work as en electrical engineer in June last year. I"m kinda nervous to go back but as long as my job understands it'll take time and to treat me like a new employee, I should be fine.

Wow, one luck guy indeed. Hope you get better.

The real question is... How tempting was it to post your first answer with a face roll on the keyboard?

I think It would be hard to get my point across haha

what has been the hardest part (mental, emotional, physical, etc) to overcome during the healing process so far?

here's to a speedy recovery!

Thank you. The thing that bothers me and I think will take the longest is my voice. I had a really deep voice before this and now it's all hoarse and raspy. Walking and physical things are improving

great to hear about the walking/physical aspects.

at least you'll have a cool story to go with the cool voice.

Hopefully my voice comes back soon. Its pretty annoying to have to repeat myself. And I have my parents order at restaurants cause I can't really speak over the noise

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No thankfully. Like I'm cognitively all here. I speak 2.5 languages and remember all of those. I'm reading and doing math at a college level and the peak is grade 18

My uncle went from a horse face first into a tree and lost some memories, when he realized what happened he thought "who beat the hell out of me?" What were your first thoughts when you realized what happened?

Learning was such a slow process I didn't really have time to think about other things. I just kinda accepted it

What do you "remember" from your coma?

Like 0. My memories start around the beginning of March at the rehab hospital.

What are you looking forward to doing after you leave the rehab facility?

Just getting back to my normal life. Going back to work and contributing to society. And time with women haha

I had a buddy who got into an accident and after getting out of a coma for a few days he mostly talked about vivid dreams that he had. Did you have any dreams or vision while you were out?

No in fact I just had my first dream, that I remember, about a week ago. I was at a Persian party and dancing with my family haha

You have a great attitude, man. Glad you seem to be on track for a great recovery for something that could've been so much worse. Looking at that photo of the railing you landed on, does it give you any kind of cringe feeling, or do you feel completely disconnected from the event because of the coma?

Anyway, glad you're good man. Wish you a fast, full recovery which you already seem to be heading toward.

I feel completely disconnected from it since I have no memory. I'm just glad it was there.

Are you Persian? I ask because I have a friend who is Persian, had an incident involving alcohol and and a bad fall. He was on life support , they told his mom it was hopeless and to take him off the machines, and in the end he made a full recovery too (took a year).

Just wondering if there is a special Persian survival gene--you look Persian to me!!

Damn good eye! Ya I'm 100% and was actually born there. There go my dreams of being president.

I'm so glad to see how well you are recovering from such a serious accident! What was the situation that night, who were you with and what did they do when you fell? Do you think that the fence breaking your fall (and hip) is what saved you from going splat on the sidewalk? And lastly, do you anything from the coma? I know sometimes people say they remember voices or crazy coma dreams, did you have any of those?

It was actually during the day. I was in town with friends helping to celebrate a birthday. I think the fence definitely did more good than harm. I don't remember anything from the coma. Like I said even most of 2015 is gone. I woke up cognitively around the beginning of March

Hi! Hope your recovery is going well. It's always great to hear the happier sides of survival with accidents like these. Thanks for doing an AMA!

I'm wondering what part of this experience you think would surprise people to hear -- or what is lesser known about comas, coma recovery and rehab?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer these questions!

Thank you! Honestly when I go out in public with my walker, people like dart out of the way. It's kinda funny but I'm normal guys. Other than that I have 6 hours of therapy a day so it's pretty extensive. It's like a full time job.

How did you land?

I hit a fence ground level. The picture is up

Awesome recovery! I am currently getting my doctorate in physical therapy, and I'm doing an internship working in a TBI rehabilitation hospital. Thank you for sharing your story and shedding some light on the common media fantasy that people get these injuries and wake up with a little amnesia, then leave the hospital a few days later. You appear to be making a better recovery than most; an injury like this can result in permanent brain damage and be completely life changing.

So my question for you is, I know you say that you see yourself returning to 100%, but do you anticipate that your day-to-day is going to be the same as it was before? I'd love to hear your insight on how you may live your life differently now.

Honestly my only fear right now is work. I'll need time to get back to things and I hope they understand that. Dday to day should be fine though. I already cook for myself, go to the grocery stroe, do laundry, and most activties

How long did the fall take? And how long did it seem like? If you remember.

I don't remember at all. Like I said in the description like all of 2015 is gone. The doctor said the year should come back slowly but the fall and two weeks prior never will. Which is totally fine, I don't want to be scared of heights

How's your sex life, mate?

Well I'm in rehab and surrounded by other accidents and stroke patients. So... it could be better