I don't know enough to answer the internal injury angle, but retrograde amnesia(forgetting stuff that happened) that's more then forgetting a couple of days back, which is the stuff that's being "encoded", is usually psychological rather then neurological in nature, and when it has a neurological component it is a massive amount of damage AFAIK. Anterograde amnesia(i.e. the guy in "Memento", although he is a somewhat extreme example) is far more likely if neurological damage happens, this usually means that the hippocampus has been damaged. In addition, neurological damage of that kind does not get better, at least not with current-day medicine: apparently while some kinds of neural damages can be rerouted around by the brain, this is not one of them.
well he will have been under a LOT of stress during his undercover work (after all, if the terrorists find out who he really is, it won't be pretty! and he has his partner and crew to worry about as well.)....think it's workable to say this is the psychological element that contributes to it?
there is not any severe neuro damage--all the trauma combined, which does include a good smack to the head, is enough to knock him out til he's found (so 12 hours-ish) and does NOT cause a coma at all. he is, for the most part, unconscious during the 12 hours and then he is obviously sedated for surgery but will wake up from sedation on his own without complications.
if need be, i can adjust his memory recall over time but i want one major factor (revolving around one important person from his past, actually) to be a mystery until the dream that clarifies it all for him.
Any kind of crush injury will most likely cause a slow death rather than a quick one, and rescue doctors are particularly well-trained in recognising crush injuries. Any injury bad enough to kill by bleeding out will kill him too quickly for your story needs, but lacerations to organs are very likely in that kind of situation
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The doctor is under no obligation to tell anyone about the whereabouts of a competent adult unless the patient asks her to do so (or unless there's a compelling medical or legal reason) and if she has reason to suspect he might be in danger, you could argue that she has a duty NOT to tell.
you gave me a scene bunny with this comment. thanks very much for that input :D
If you want your character to be knocked unconscious for 12 hours, that's going to be major brain trauma and cause permanent brain damage. If he's unconscious for any length of time, he's going to be concussed and that will give all sorts of fun nasty side-effects - disorientation, dizziness, confusion, nausea
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Better to only have him unconscious from the blast for a couple of minutes, but then he can be very drowsy and fade in and out of sleep until he's found. I doubt he'd be terribly coherent when they find him, even if he is conscious.
i do have a very rough scene where they find him...in fact they aren't even sure he is alive at first. but since i don't want brain damage, i'll go your suggested route. (if i'm reading it right, he can still have a concussion, just not be unconscious the whole time, right?)
As for the amnesia, in his confusion after the concussion, perhaps the only thing he really remembers when he first wakes up is that he has to protect someone and that 'no one can know about him' - well, there you go,there's your psychological reason for him not to remember anything. His brain will wall off the memories because they're 'too dangerous' for him.i like that idea too. i do intend for him to never remember the bombing even when he fully recovers, as was suggested by others. when he gets told he was at ground zero of
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there is not any severe neuro damage--all the trauma combined, which does include a good smack to the head, is enough to knock him out til he's found (so 12 hours-ish) and does NOT cause a coma at all. he is, for the most part, unconscious during the 12 hours and then he is obviously sedated for surgery but will wake up from sedation on his own without complications.
if need be, i can adjust his memory recall over time but i want one major factor (revolving around one important person from his past, actually) to be a mystery until the dream that clarifies it all for him.
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you gave me a scene bunny with this comment. thanks very much for that input :D
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i do have a very rough scene where they find him...in fact they aren't even sure he is alive at first. but since i don't want brain damage, i'll go your suggested route. (if i'm reading it right, he can still have a concussion, just not be unconscious the whole time, right?)
As for the amnesia, in his confusion after the concussion, perhaps the only thing he really remembers when he first wakes up is that he has to protect someone and that 'no one can know about him' - well, there you go,there's your psychological reason for him not to remember anything. His brain will wall off the memories because they're 'too dangerous' for him.i like that idea too. i do intend for him to never remember the bombing even when he fully recovers, as was suggested by others. when he gets told he was at ground zero of ( ... )
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It wouldn't strain credulity at all if he could never remember the blast; that sort of thing has happened to lots of people.
Good luck with the story!
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