When I was eleven years old, I suffered what I believe to be a pretty
severe head injury (had a blood clot removed from my brain, had a skull
fracture, in the hospital for 3 weeks...the whole thing.)

My question is one born out of anxiety.  At the time of the injury I
had no idea of any of its implications, I was just happy to be outside
playing again.  I am now 27 and independent.  Since the injury, I've
graduated high school, college, and graduate school with a masters
degree.  Despite a rough go of it because of the bad economy after
graduate school (I went directly from my undergrad), I have always
been employed, mostly in my field.  Currently I work for a major
financial services corporation as a computer programmer.  My boss has
referred to me as "extremely intelligent."  I'm proud of my
accomplishments, as anyone should be, but obviously this isn't the
point.

My head injury is in the back of my mind occaisonally, but other than
that I don't have any symptoms.  I'm no more forgetful than any other
person, in fact I have a pretty good memory.  I don't think I have a
problem with diminished IQ, even if it dropped as a result of the
injury.  Aside from a small bump on my head and a scar that is covered
by my hair, there aren't any physical indications.  I'm concerned
about how this will affect me later in life.  How will this affect my
mental health?  How concerned about this should I be, given that I've
gone on to accomplish what I have?  What about Alzheimers disease? 
What about life expectancy? Will my injury affect my ability to get
life insurance?  I have a little life insurance from my job, but it
didn't require a physical.  What about my children; when they be
affected by my injury?  I'm in great physical shape, if that is
related in any way.  I'm not looking
for medical specifics, just a medical opinion.  I know I should go to
a doctor, but the subject make me uneasy.  I had a physical at my grad
school, which is renowned for its medical school that was a bad
experience.  I told the doctor/med student about it and he said it was
"remarkable" that I was pursuing a masters degree at the school.  And a
girl I was dating once said I should have been at MIT, and I never
told her about the injury, so it just makes me a little uneasy.  I
figured I'd use the anonymity of the internet.

Thanks.

I can't diagnose you, of course, but I can give you a personal testimony.

I had a severe head injury when I was ten years old (a horseback accident).

I am now 56 years old, reasonably sane, with a fairly high-functioning
intellect. Of all the ailments that have befallen me over the years, I
don't think any are related to my old injury in any way. Every now and
then, the scar on my scalp gives me a twinge or two, but that seems to
be a surface matter, not a sign of any lingering effects of my
accident.

My mother has had 2 brain injuries in the past 10 years, both of which
were very very serious.  She's about to get her doctorate.  Many
people have said that only Boxers & Football players have that many
head injuries, and that they had never seen someone reach a highly
educated career field... I think that's false, and she's proved it.

I'm involved in psychology- and depending on what lobe of the brain
you may have injuried, you could have problems with object
recognition, form recognition, looking at things that have changing
visual information, problems with associations, problems with
language, memory problems, or movement problems-- if you have some of
these from time to time, you may want to see a neurologist.  If you
don't, you can consider yourself very lucky, and move on with your
life.

Good luck!

-Rebekah

The long term implications of a head injury should not affect your
ability to buy life insurance.  You indicated you were 11 years old,
that was sixteen years ago when you had your injury.  If you are not
taking any medication and have no symptoms for your injury, you should
qualify for life insurance.  You may be asked medical questions on the
application which you should be to able answer with no problem. 
However, the insurance company may request information from your
current doctor.  Generally, most questions ask about your medical
conditions of the past "five" years and if you have had no problems,
surgeries, hospitalizations, etc, you should have no problem
qualifying for $100,000 or more of life insurance.  As an insurance
agent I have helped many persons with much dire medical histories than
yours.   Good Luck.