Very sorry to read about this. Brain injuries are horrible. I spend basically every waking hour that isn't spent taking care of my kid or playing/watching hockey thinking about brain injuries and stroke (well, minus Hubski time). We're developing a drug (that aids recovery) that I hope will be in early phase clinical trials by 2021. I know that's not very comforting for you, but hope is on the horizon. It's fascinating that your capacity for empathy increased after your injury. This is fairly abnormal for many people. I've known a number of people who have lost their ability to really interact emotionally after their injury in the same way they could before. Not to say you're one of the lucky ones--obviously nothing good about having a subdural hematoma, but I'm just commenting on how mysterious the brain is. One of the frustrating thins about TBI drug development is that recovery is so hard to quantify, due to the range of symptoms people who seemingly have similar injuries can present with, literally anything from face blindness to hearing phantom noises to headaches to increased empathy (I admit I've never come across that one!).
Maybe empathy is not the right word. Whatever it is is the result of heightened emotions. I try to not worry about it too much and remind myself constantly that I'm actually very lucky, because I live in a relatively stable environment and am surrounded by supportive people. The best advice I've gotten, that's helped, is that I just need to familiarize myself with myself and with that comes control. It's exciting to hear what you're working on though, in hopes that it will help people down the road. It's probably not the easiest job, but it's good to know there are people out there trying to tackle the problem. It's also good to see over the years the heightened public discourse on brain injuries and how they can affect people. Maybe it'll encourage some to make healthier decisions and take less risks.