In Between Dives: When a Brain Injury Changes Everything

🎙️ In this powerful and heartfelt episode, Chastity opens up about her personal journey following a traumatic brain injury sustained in a recent car accident. She shares the emotional impact of her injury, the complexities of recovery, and how it has affected her identity—especially her love for scuba diving. Through candid conversation, we dive into the often misunderstood world of invisible injuries, discuss the importance of mental health, and highlight the resilience it takes to adapt to a new normal.

This episode is a testament to human strength, vulnerability, and the healing power of grace.

💡 Takeaways

• Chastity sustained a serious traumatic head injury in a car accident.
• Post-accident, she struggles with cognitive and emotional challenges.
• Communication and processing information have become difficult.
• Invisible injuries are often misunderstood—people assume you're fine.
• She feels guilt over being unable to dive or work.
• Chastity is actively working with medical professionals on her recovery.
• Scuba diving remains a key part of her identity, even if she can't currently participate.
• She advocates for self-compassion and acceptance through the healing process.
• Acknowledging a “new baseline” is crucial for moving forward.
• Brain injury recovery is non-linear and filled with uncertainty."

🕒 Chapters

00:00 – Introduction and Context of the Injury
02:23 – Details of the Accident and Initial Reactions
05:07 – Cognitive and Emotional Impact of the Injury
08:14 – Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury
11:15 – Navigating Daily Life Post-Injury
14:31 – The Challenge of Returning to Diving
16:59 – Maintaining Passion for Scuba Diving
19:44 – Finding a New Normal and Self-Compassion
23:52 – New Chapter
23:58 – Introduction to the Podcast and Legal Disclaimer

🧠 Keywords

Traumatic brain injury, scuba diving, emotional impact, recovery, personal journey, medical emergency, brain health, resilience, coping strategies, mental health

Transcript

Joel Chernick (00:00)
Hey it's me Joel and welcome back to Just Go Diving. You're probably wondering why Chas hasn't released a new episode in a few weeks. Let's sit down with her and find out why.

Warning: This episode contains details of a motor vehicle accident. Listener discretion is advised.

Joel Chernick (00:11)
Chas, how you doing? 

Chastity Stern
I'm okay, Joel. How are you? Pretty good.

Joel Chernick
We haven't done an episode in a couple weeks. I'm sure everybody's kind of curious about what's happened and why we haven't been able to complete anything. And I think we've had some unfortunate circumstances intervened, huh? Yeah, you could say that. So today's episode is going to be about what happens if you want to just go diving and you can't. Due to circumstances outside of your control, which in this case was a medical injury. Right. So I thought I would ask you some questions. You could probably tell us what's happened to you and what you've been experiencing and what's going through and how other people might relate to the same thing if they had a medical emergency or they had either a planned or unplanned thing that kept them from diving.


Chastity Stern (01:16)
I think that's a great idea. I will try my best to get through it. and I'll try to answer the questions as best I can. Well, I guess let's go back to the beginning and let's talk about what happened to you and why you can't go diving.

Yeah, so a month ago today on February 28th, I was headed home from work. And this happens every time I talk about this. I was headed home from work and it was in the afternoon and I was rear-ended at a high rate of speed and I suffered a traumatic head injury and since then I've just not been myself. I didn't realize initially that the impact to my head in the accident was as traumatic, I guess is the best way to put it, it was. I hit the... inside the roof of the inside of my car with the top of my head and my the back of my head hit my headrest really hard and the forward Momentum from the rear end crash made my brain hit the front of my skull So I had impact to three parts of my brain In this crash and I didn't you know, and initially I was probably in a lot of shock. So I didn't think anything of it. But as time went on, I was checked on the scene by EMS and I was fine, quote unquote fine. My blood pressure was elevated, but that's expected in the car accident. And I had some pain like on my right side, my right shoulder and my right hip but that seemed appropriate for being rear-ended.
I went to the emergency room and I had a cat scan to rule out a brain bleed. And that was totally fine. And then as you know, like this was on a Friday, Saturday, I wasn't even really sore. Like you would think that you would be sore from being hit from behind. when I was hit from behind, it hit me so hard. I was on the interstate and it hit me so hard that I hit the car, it was a van, I hit the van that was in front of me. It was a couple car links ahead of me and I, I ran into it too. So I had front and rear impact to my vehicle. but I, I quote unquote, felt okay. Right. And then I decided not to go to work on Monday and Tuesday because I was like, there's something not quite right with my head. Like I'm just not processing. Did you suffer any other physical damage from the wreck? I don't think so. I'm having a hard time remembering certain things. So I normally have a really great memory. Which is very frustrating for a lot of people that my memory is so good but now I don't really have that same capacity for like recalling information. you took those two days off of work and then you started realizing that you were things were not as clear and your head was a little foggy. Yeah, and then my doctor's office actually called me on Tuesday and they said, know, we're following up from you being in the emergency room and we want to see you in the clinic. We want to like we want to see you like in person.

So I went to see my provider and she just said, there's no way that you can go to work this way. I couldn't really, I cried the entire time I was there and I couldn't really communicate. I could tell her what happened in the accident, but my cognitive skills are... they're impacted. They have been impacted and my emotional state has been, it's also impacted. I get very overwhelmed by too much stuff. always used to like say to you all the time, like too much is too much, but now too much is really too much. It's, I can't do a lot of, I can't look at my telephone a lot.

I can't really look at the television. I just can't do... 

Joel Chernick
Does it just overload you? 

Chastity Stern:

It really just... Even like talking like this is... I can do it for a little while, but when I'm questioned, when I'm asked a question, to bring forth the information is really hard. Like to pull it from wherever it's coming from, it gets really hard. And then I get overwhelmed by...

The answer that I know is supposed to be there and it isn't. And when I'm pausing, there's nothing there. It's like I have a blank slate in my brain. And normally there's a lot of stuff written on that. Normally there's a lot of information written there. And I can draw from that information when I'm having conversation, but that's how I am looking at my brain, it's like a slate and it's like, it literally feels like

It doesn't even feel dysfunctional. 

Joel Chernick:

This must be really a tough kind of injury to deal with because you don't feel normal and you know in your head that you don't feel right. But probably the toughest part is the fact that everyone looks at you and they think, she's just fine. They don't see the injury and they don't see it. So your family and your friends and people, they think if they talk to you that they think, well, everything looks fine. They don't, they can't see that damage.

Chastity Stern:

Right. Physically, I look just like I did. But mentally, I'm not there. Will I get back there? Yeah. I see a nurse practitioner who's super great and she's like, you will get there. I have a referral to see neurologists and go to a concussion clinic.

I think that people, there's a misunderstanding about that too, because you don't have to have a super hard impact to your brain to get a traumatic brain injury. It doesn't have to be this like penetrating, horrifying wound. It can be something really, you know, car accident, fall, someone hitting you.

Unfortunately, I have had other impacts to my head, you know, like over my life and every one that you have, the next one is just worse. So this is a really bad because this is multiple times. I also have a brain abnormality, that I've had two brain surgeries for, which a lot of people don't know that. I'm really fortunate to be able to do all the stuff that I have always been able to do, but my cerebellum is not protected in the same way that other people's is protected. So this injury, it's more profound in someone who doesn't have protection over their cerebellum because cerebellum controls your gate, like your motor function. So like my balance is off. I can be standing and kind of, I might fall to the side a little bit and have to catch myself.

So that's off, have a lot of... frustration and I feel anxious about things and I'm, you know, I'm, I came over here today so that we could do this, but I, I have a lot of guilt about leaving home and my provider told me you need to get out and do, do things so that you can interact. Yeah. Interact with other people and just go outside and I'm have a lot of guilt about that but like driving today was it's been a month today in my accident and I've driven a couple other times like to go to my doctor's appointments and things like that but there was a lot of traffic out today and that was that caused me a lot of anxiety especially on the freeway.

Joel Chernick:

Probably brings up yeah bad memories 

Chastity Stern:

It caused me a lot of anxiety driving here because I'm like there are so many cars.
And I'm not a fearful person. I always tell everyone else that fear is irrational. I'm not, there's, I don't think that I have fear, but the anxiety is coming from somewhere. And I think that this injury to my brain, it's really hard for other people to understand because I'm super high functioning, but right now I'm not. 

Joel Chernick:

Right. And they don't understand why and they look at you and expect you that you're going to be the same normal person that you are and you're going to be able to handle all this stuff that they don't understand. But I think that people that know you, if they just talk to you a little bit, like your family and stuff,

They would understand that you're really close to normal, but not quite there. And that they need to, you probably need a lot more space and time just to relax and heal. 

Chastity Stern:

Yeah. And I'm just now getting to where I can have short conversations on the phone. I couldn't talk on the phone to people at all because I would just cry the entire time, which is super frustrating to me because I'm, I try to really keep my emotions in check a lot. But my older son, he could tell immediately. The first conversation I had with him on the phone, he immediately picked up on something's not right. Well, the brain injury could affect different parts of your brain and probably the emotional part of your brain is one of the parts that have been affected. And I had a conversation with him yesterday too and he

He said, I can totally hear it. And when you're talking, I can totally hear that your your thought process is there. But the information isn't coming in the same way that it was before. And that's really hard for me. And what's interesting is I. I can talk about scuba because I think that's just way deep wired in my brain. It's this really comfort zone too. It's a happy place. Yeah. It's a very strange, like I can talk about scuba things. Like I can ask questions about scuba, but then when I'm asked a question, it's, it's very like that. My brain just doesn't, it's there, but you just can't retrieve the information as quick. Yeah. And I'm, I've always been

like really quick, like quick-witted, quick just... I'm kind of, I don't want to admit but I kind of enjoy it because now I feel so far behind. I can keep up with you a little better. And it's, I know that it's frustrating for a lot of other people because I really... Well, it shouldn't be for them. They should be quick to understand and have some empathy and realize that this could happen to anyone and that

And I, yeah, I think that that's probably one of the most frustrating things for me is I didn't ask for this. Yeah, if you had a cast on or you have bandages on your head, it's like, then they understand it. But when they don't see any visible thing So that's really kind of the gist of what I've been dealing with for, you know, the past month. And I do have a lot of guilt because I'm not allowed. can't dive either. Yeah. And I can't go to work.

I'm not able to work. There's no possible way I could work and function. I don't want to be in an environment where it's really important to give accurate critical medical information. Yeah. And I just can't, I don't, yeah, I just can't do it. Yeah. And, I have a lot of guilt in that kind of way because I can't.

I can't be myself and the diving part is really, it's probably, I know I'm gonna be able to go back to work at some point, but I'm really afraid that all of the things that I really love to do, because right now I can barely even remember like what I'm supposed to be doing at this moment. You know, I'm like, is that stuff?

Am I going to be able to do those things? 

Joel Chernick:

It'll come, it'll come. But it's difficult because with a lot of physical injuries, your medical providers could say, oh, this will take six, eight weeks. They can give you a specific thing. But in a TBI like this, it's probably very, very hard to tell how long things will happen. And they just are going to happen at their own pace. And you, you probably yourself will know when you're ready, even more so than your medical providers. 

Yeah, I hope so. You know, I want to go diving right now. Like I literally want to go diving right now, but I know that I can't and I won't because being safe is really important to me. It's not only just about me. It's about my dive buddy or my dive buddies. So yeah, like I don't want to put them in jeopardy and...  this is funny, I think that every one that I dive with just knows that I'm going to be super solid all the time. 

Joel Chernick:

We come to depend on you. Maybe too much sometimes because we think that, you've always got it together. So sometimes maybe we're a little bit sloppier in our safety stuff because we think that, and that's unfortunate, but this is good because it makes us all have to reassess our own procedures and things in our own techniques. Well, this could happen to other people too. mean, imagine someone has got to go have some surgery or, you know, this happens all the time. People have to do some other medical thing, either planned or unplanned. then, and then how do you keep your love of scuba?

Chastity Stern:

Yeah, that's a good question. Like, I don't know that other people can. Like, do they love it in the same way that I do? So I don't know. Like, do you have a shoulder surgery or a knee surgery? It could put you out for six months. And then do you go... What do you do? 

Joel Chernick:

Well, I think that we can brainstorm, but I think there's different things that, you know, if we love scuba, and you know, even we're not diving because in between trips and stuff, or in between even local dives,

We're still, I don't know about you, but I'm always thinking about diving. I'm planning diving. I'm thinking about trying to hone skills. So I think that there's different things that a person could still constructively do. They could be refreshing going through their manuals for their, when they took their courses, know, advanced open water, master dive, whatever you did. I mean, you can always go through and refresh yourself on that stuff. And even with your dive buddies, there's always, procedures and things we could work on together, even in out of the water that are always helpful. Like what? Well, like say hand signals, hand signals are something you can always practice easy. And some other safety techniques, know, the things that you might do in certain circumstances. 

Chastity Stern:

You do photography, you take pictures.

Joel Chernick

I'm always practicing. Yeah, I guess you could potentially practice that stuff, but not in the same way. It's not the same way because the camera doesn't work the same out of the water, but I still do a lot of practicing, you know, always trying to get more familiar with the controls. But of course, I suppose someone they'll get to a place where hopefully you can at least get into a pool and you can start getting comfortable in the water.

I mean, if you had a knee surgery or something, before I ever would go diving, I would be in a pool, you know, with my gear, trying to get comfortable and just making sure that everything still worked okay. Yeah, that's... And of course, there's always trip planning. Always trip planning. You can always be looking at new places you want to go and I think that's probably a therapeutic thing too, is just...

If you can't travel right now or you can't do stuff, think about the future and think about what you can do. And, you know, that can kind of help you get through some of the tougher parts. 

Chastity Stern;

Yeah. And it's really, um, this whole thing is I always used to make a joke at work about like, Hey, what if I got hit by a bus when I go home? Well, I didn't get hit by a bus, I don't like it. It definitely felt like I got hit by a bus, but there are things that you just don't expect are going to happen. And if you've never even thought about how do I keep my love for scuba alive or how do I navigate this thing when this scuba piece is such a big part of who I am. And like for me, diving is a big part of who I am. Like it just, it just is. It's just a part of you. I'm always like, you know, I'm trying to read articles, which is, I can't do a lot of that stuff right now, but I'm, I'm reading and then I will get super overwhelmed. And so I think that, yeah, knowing like every day, whatever your malady might be, whether it's a brain injury or you're having knee surgery or shoulder surgery or spine surgery or whatever it is, that you can only do so much every day. And you have to give yourself time to get to at least get back to a baseline. I don't know that I ever had a baseline.

I think I just had a jump, I had a giant stride. And that was it, it was all over. Yeah, and I need to find my baseline so I... I'm learning to give myself grace, as they say. that's probably one of the hardest things. Yeah, because I'm not good at that and I'm not good at failure period. So this is very humbling and I have to give myself time and other people need to give themselves time too.

Joel (22:51)
Well thanks Chas for giving us an update on your health issues. Really sorry to hear what you've been through and I know you're anxious to just go diving. I know you and Karen were working on some other episodes and I hope you'll be able to dive back into that stuff when you feel up to it. I'm also looking forward to having more discussions about how your recovery is coming.

Chastity Stern (23:11)
Yeah, thanks Joel. I appreciate you being patient with me as I navigate these very unfamiliar waters. And I look forward to talking about how well I've done or how well things are going or how not so great they're going.

Joel Chernick:

Let's hope it's the first one. Let's hope that things are going good. Hopefully next time I talk to you, you'll be telling me about how you're itching to go diving again. Well, you're already itching to go diving, but you'll be able to say the doctor said it's okay too. Yes. until then, I hope that everyone out there has the opportunity to just go diving. And be safe. 

Chastity Stern;

And be safe.

Chastity Stern (23:56)
And now for the legal stuff. The Just Go Diving podcast is intended for entertainment purposes only. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are not a substitute for professional scuba instruction. All scuba diving training and activities should be performed exclusively by certified scuba divers and strictly within the scope of their training and certification. Neither the host nor the guests assume any liability for injuries, damages, or other consequences arising from the use of any information provided in this podcast.

🧠 Keywords

Traumatic brain injury, scuba diving, emotional impact, recovery, personal journey, medical emergency, brain health, resilience, coping strategies, mental health