Tools

The Power of Reflection before welcoming in the New Year

aforrest Leave a comment

I usually end the year by exercising my reflection skills.  I find it very powerful to reflect about how my life has gotten better during the last year and to write these down.

I find reflecting on how things have gotten better makes me be more appreciative of my accomplishments.

Many of my accomplishments happen at a very slow rate.   In fact, at a much, much slower than I would like.

By practicing things I want to accomplish over and over, I do see progress.  My brain does eventually reorganize around a habit after I have practiced it over and over.

I find that sometimes that forward progress is easy to miss or sometimes its easy for me to take the end result for granted when it finally happens because I can finally do it and its just suddenly there.

So remembering where I was at the beginning of the year and how my life and my functionality has gotten better provides useful perspective and good feelings about my persistence and my hard work.   I am still getting better.

Here are a few of the accomplishments in developing new brain patterns (or what I refer to as continued rehab) that I have had this year:

–I am driving my own car now which means more freedom for me.    I also no longer need to schedule sharing a car with my husband which has made my life as a mom to our son much easier.    I have the car when I need it and I know that what I put in the car for our activities will be there.

–Being comfortable on some of Austin’s  bridges and expanding my range are now two of the new challenges I am working on with my driving.

–I am finding time several days a week to work on my eye exercises.  I am seeing progress from that.    I am finding that there is a shift in my eye-brain connection on my right side.  This is the area where my headaches can originate (when I am not able to rest from a cognitively-intense activity before I get a headache).   I cannot quite translate the shift  into increased function yet, but I can feel that something is changing for the better.   My hope is that this shift will eventually lead to new pathways on that side and eventually no headaches.

–I am walking twenty minutes  a day and using my arms to exaggerate the motion of going from one side of my brain to the other.   I meditate for 20 minutes a day (4 or 5 times a week).    The meditation mat “draws me to it” when I am not able to make the time to meditate.     Both the exercise and the meditation help me get through the day and make my life better.

Those are some of my reflections on ways my life has improved this year.    I do this same reflection in all parts of my life.

What are the new brain patterns you have accomplished in 2013?

Where were you when the year started and where are you now?

How do you feel when you reflect on the changes that are improving?

 

 

 

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I did not know how damaging concussion/mild traumatic brain injury could be

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You would hardly think that I would be the person telling you that getting the best treatment for concussion is important and that not everyone gets appropriate treatment for concussion in the U.S. (or Canada and other countries for that matter).   When I had my concussion, I had the life that I loved to live.   I didn’t have time for a concussion and I really did not have time for persistent symptoms.

Frankly, I didn’t know how damaging a concussion/mild Traumatic Brain Injury could be when I first had my concussion, and neither did those around me.   I was in a car accident by the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.   I was driving and trying to merge onto Rock Creek Parkway when I was hit from behind.

I was coming off a ramp from the Memorial Bridge across the Potomac River and the road I was merging into runs very close to the path of the ramp.    To merge, I had to move my head as far to the left as possible to look over my left shoulder at the light on the road I was merging into to see the cars.   When my car was hit by the jeep behind me, my head went from side-to-side and then back to forth (called a coup-contre-coup).

My brain was shaken inside my skull.  Neural pathways were either stretched or broken.    I may have  lost consciousness briefly.

I did NOT hit my head on the steering wheel or the windshield.  I did NOT have a coma.   There was NO blood.

I did have headaches when I went to work on Monday, so my colleagues suggested that I do to the doctor after I told them I had been in a car accident.   I was not making that connection myself.   When my symptoms worsened, my doctor sent me to a neurologist who diagnosed me with mild traumatic brain injury.   I did not understand what “traumatic brain injury” meant or could mean to me.   I felt comforted by the word “mild”.   At least I knew what mild meant–short lasting and not very bad.  Or so I thought.

When I first saw the primary care doctor and then later the neurologist, I was fully expecting to continue my life as I knew it.   I loved my work and had exciting research to do.   I had my sports that I loved (coaching kids soccer and playing volleyball) and I had an active social life.

I remember being bummed at the thought of waiting for a couple of weeks to return to sports.   When I first saw the primary care doctor, he said he wanted to keep me under observation.   He said not want me to play volleyball until he cleared me for it because he was concerned I might jostle my head further.  I was bummed because sand volleyball season had started on the Washington Mall and I had already been waiting until the kids soccer team’s season ended before I started it.   The previous year, our sand volleyball team won the trophy for the league and I was looking forward to playing again.

But my life did not continue as I expected.  In fact,  far from it.

And so here I am telling you, about 15 years later, about my experiences with trying to recover from concussion/mild traumatic brain injury.

My experiences have led me to know first-hand that:

–there can be persistent symptoms from concussion/mild traumatic brain injury,

–that it’s really important to get the best treatment possible to minimize the possibility of long term symptoms, and

–that it can be quite difficult to get appropriate treatment for concussion/mild traumatic brain injury around the world.

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Why guidelines for treatment after concussion/mild traumatic brain injury are so important to me

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Back to guidelines for concussion/mild traumatic brain injury this morning.

I have been thinking about what is the most important thing to me personally as a survivor about the updated Guidelines for Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Persistent Symptoms developed by the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (ONF).   I introduced the guidelines in my blog a couple of weeks ago.    They are the first guidelines for the treatment of civilian adults with persistent symptoms in the world.

They have been updated recently to include the latest research and clinical knowledge.   I worked with a group of other experts on these, including several experts from the U.S. and Australia as well as experts from Canada.

I know that the ONF guidelines may be difficult to read and understand since they are written for Health Professionals.   So I want to talk about what they mean to me and explain them in a way that can be understood for people with concussion and mild traumatic brain injury and those who love them.   Here’s the link to the guidelines posted on the ONF website: www.onf.org/documents/guidelines-for-concussion-mtbi-persistent-symptoms-second-edition

Before I go further, I have to say alittle about my ability to prioritize what the most important thing about the guidelines is to me.   Prioritizing is definitely not my strong -suit post-injury.   In fact, what I have come to learn is that prioritization requires some higher level executive functioning skills that I am still consciously working on to improve.

I will say though that my ability to prioritize has gotten better with practice.   In fact, I remember that people would ask me what’s the most important thing  about this or that for you?   And it would stump me.   I couldn’t answer, especially in the time that they expected me to answer it.    I learned to compensate by learning to ask — “Could you give me a yes or no question?”

Later, I learned to try to say it with a little humor — “Could you give me an easier question for less money?”

Practice in awareness has also helped me recognize that even without my challenges in prioritizing, it might be difficult figuring out the most important thing about the concussion/mild traumatic brain injury guidelines.  I say that because there are many important parts of the ONF guidelines that affect me as a survivor very personally.    And,  I know that many of the parts are important to other survivors because I have had many conversations with survivors and their loved ones who have had big difficulties finding the help they need after concussion/mild traumatic brain injury.  And the guidelines address many of the questions that I and others have taken weeks, months or years trying to resolve  for ourselves.

As I sat down to write this blog this morning, I realize that  the first thing I really need to explain is why I think Guidelines for Doctors and Health Professionals for treating patients with concussion/mild traumatic brain injury are helpful to survivors and their families and why I would like to see them for every country.   Then I will talk about specifics in the ONF guidelines.   I think they could be used as a basis (or jumping off point) for the development of guidelines in other countries.

Guidelines are important because, quite simply, many people with concussion are (still) not getting the best advice on appropriate treatment after concussion/mild traumatic brain injury.   So, again quite simply, better information to Health Professionals will lead to better outcomes for people with concussions/mild traumatic brain injuries.

 

 

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Thankful for Thanksgiving and the cognitive challenges it requires

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I am torn between blogging about what’s going on in the moment with the Thanksgiving Day holiday and saying more about the Guidelines for concussion/mild traumatic brain injury from the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation that I started introducing last week.

This week, Thanksgiving wins.

Its my favorite holiday from way back because I love food and its a time to share good company and appreciate what’s good and what I am thankful for.   I am thankful for my family, for good food and for a roof over my head.   And I am thankful for continuing down my path to finding my voice through my blog and the self-expression that its giving me.

Thanksgiving can be a very challenging holiday for anyone.   I find I have to work much harder to manage my persistent symptoms during the holiday, so its more challenging than it was before my injury.

There are many reasons why the holiday is so challenging for me and why I have to work harder.

Here are a few examples:

— Routine helps me manage my daily life and so any holiday takes me out of routine.    When I am out of my routine, I forget to do things that I would be more likely to naturally remember or have cues to remind me, if I were more in routine.   This means that going into holidays I have to increase my planning in order to compensate.  And when I forget to increase my planning, my life can be very chaotic.

–I have to manage my energy on a daily basis so that I don’t get too tired and overwhelmed.   Thanksgiving can be a tiring holiday for anyone.   When I don’t manage my energy well, I get irritated and snappy and that makes things harder for me and for my family.   So I need to get cognitive rest to build up my short term energy reserves going into Thanksgiving and take more rest and downtime afterwards.   I also need to limit my activities that take energy and make sure I engage in activities that are uplifting and give me energy.

–In my rehab, I am practicing hard to get things lined up in sequence so that I can do them easier and better.   I work on this on a daily basis.   Getting things in sequence is pretty natural to many adults and certainly was for me before my injury.    But post-injury, I have to learn to consciously think about sequence until it becomes automatic again.    Getting things in sequence is a component of what’s called “executive functioning” skills.   Preparing for and living through Thanksgiving is the Olympics of sequencing in my mind.

What do I mean by the Olympics of sequencing?   Well, first, I only practice at Thanksgiving once a year, so its hard for me to access what I learned from last year to do this year better.   And typically its easier for me to learn tasks that require doing things in sequence when I can practice the task over and over.   If I am practicing the task often then I am more successful at using  information about where or how I misstep in order get closer to getting the sequence right.

Here’s a very small and practical example.  Pumpkin pie is the dish that is always mine to make and I love trying to make it.   I have been taught many steps to simplify making it — one is by using a store bought pie crust.  Another is to re-write the recipe instructions so that I can follow it as best I can and to make parts ahead of time.    Several years ago, my husband found an easier recipe that has a crushed ginger snap crust and that made it even easier.    But this year I forgot about the new recipe and it was not until I was trying to cook the store bought pie crust that I realized that I did not have the new easier recipe (and the ingredients for it).    This may seem like a very small thing.  But what I have learned is that a small thing can make a huge difference with managing  my persistent symptoms.   And this example, of forgetting what I did to improve things in a previous year will happen in about ten or maybe 20 times during the holiday week.   Rather than letting it get to me, I have to practice letting it go and being okay with it so that I can continue on.

 

Second, Thanksgiving is the Olympics of sequencing because in order to buy groceries (that I am not used to buying on a routine basis) I need to plan out what groceries we need to buy or that we are taking to someone else’s house.   Then I have to work backwards and get it all on the shopping list.   And I need to remember to adjust the list for how many people our family is cooking for.  So those are three or four discrete steps that I need to be conscious of and try to keep straight:  plan what we need to make or take, make a list, adjust list for how many people will be eating what we make or take, then update list at least once when people are added or subtracted.    Keeping the steps separate and keeping them in order takes me alot of time and energy. And I have to set low expectations for the results.   All these steps may be unconsciously done by most adults, but I have to remind myself to do them as they aren’t automatic for me.

And those are examples of only a few of the reasons why Thanksgiving is the Olympics of sequencing.   Thank goodness, I love the holiday so much that its worth taking on the challenges!

 

 

 

 

 

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Helping others has led to my participation in developing guidelines for symptoms from concussion/mTBI

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Starting last October,  I participated with other experts on concussion/mild traumatic brain injury on a consensus panel to update guidelines for Health Professionals about how to treat adult patients with short-term symptoms and persistent symptoms after concussion/mild traumatic brain injury.

It feels great to be contributing to guidelines that will improve care for patients with mTBI/concussion.   It gives me hope for the future.  And it makes my difficult experience with finding appropriate resources for recovery alittle easier knowing that I can use my knowledge and experince to help others.   I worked on the first edition of the guidelines, starting four years ago, and and now the update or second edition.

Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (ONF) in Canada has sponsored this work.   As far as I know, these are the only systematically developed guidelines (in the world) for general Health Professionals on how to treat persistent symptoms for adult civilians.  It also contains information about how to treat symptoms right after they occur that have been developed in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.

The second edition of the guidelines were published in September 2013 and can be found here:

http://onf.org/documents/guidelines-for-concussion-mtbi-persistent-symptoms-second-edition

The guidelines are written for Health Professionals, but you can read them too.

As a PhD, I am trained to understand the importance of high quality research versus other evidence and thus I am able to use some of my pre-injury skills for this work.   As a patient I am able to contribute from my experience and from the many mistakes and pitfalls that I have either experienced myself or heard about from other survivors and their families that I have met in my journey.

Guidelines

Here are five reasons why these guidelines are important for patients (consumers) and their families and friends.

1) The guidelines take concussion/mild TBI seriously.

2) They are a compilation of current knowledge about what to do in the short term after a concussion for civilians.  In other words, they educate and provide guidance to Doctors about how to take symptoms seriously.

3) The existence of guidelines about persistent symptoms from concussion/mTBI is acknowledgement that some patients (consumers) have persistent symptoms and that appropriate treatment can be helpful to these patients.  Not everyone gets better from concussion immediately and those who don’t get better need treatment.

4) They are a compilation of current knowledge about what to do for patients with persistent symptoms.

5) The guidelines can be used in any country although they are written for the Canadian Health Care System.  They can also serve as a model for the development of guidelines in every country.

The guidelines were just presented last week at the American College of Rehabilitation Medicine annual conference in Orlando, Florida.   Hopefully we will be hearing more about them.    I have alot more to say about them in the next posts.

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My “Ah Ha!” moment — What I wanted to know about how to recover and rewire after my injury

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I had an “Ah Ha!”  moment about my posts this past week.    With my brain the way it is now, I have to learn more by doing as opposed to thinking things out ahead of time.   Often,  I just have to get going on trying something new, like writing this blog.   Once I have have practiced at it abit, it comes to me where I am trying to go.

My “Ah Ha!” moment was that all my posts have been about trying to describe my “new normal” from the perspective of many years out after my injury.    You can go back and look at them.   Some are about some of the gains that I have made long after my injury–like driving and speaking to the media and how practice has helped me.

Others have been about some of the work I still have to do to stay on balance.

These have been descriptions of different aspects of my “new normal” !

So far, I have talked about how I have hope because I know how to rewire my brain and recover more functioning.  This is called neuroplasticity (and I will come back to it).    Overall, I know that neuroplasticity is working for me —  I am still getting better and the evidence that I am still getting better gives me hope that I will continue to do so.

I also know that I have persistent symptoms following concussion/mild TBI and that I am not “well” and that I need to work hard using my self-awareness, using the compensatory strategies I have learned from doctors and professionals  (in and out of outpatient rehabilitation (which it took years to get receive)).   I have also learned from self-care, from managing and respecting my limitations, and all my strategies to cope with my injury long after the initial “acute” injury–the actual swinging of my head from back to forward and from side to side (referred to as the coup-contre-coup).

And when I am on top of my game, I have to work at it very hard, but my life goes okay and is meaningful.  And my life is getting better at a slow, but overall, sure rate.  I have had long-term recovery and rewiring and it continues (although at a slower rate than I would like, but better than no rewiring at all)

And when external things come up (like they do in life) or I get sick  or I get out of balance for whatever reason, then I need to step up my work to get myself back in balance.    Sometimes I am unaware that there’s too much on my plate or I need “to be cued” to compensate for them and sometimes, it takes me awhile to recognize that I am off balance and I fall “off my game”.    This is part of life.

When I am off my game, my life can become intolerable and I am irritable and cranky and I can get down and depressed and at some times, when it gets really bad, I simply don’t want to go on.  So I know I want to do everything I can to avoid getting in to that “trough” or valley or even getting near it.    At this point in my recovery, I have learned alot about how to manage this downward cycle that I would describe like an airplane in a tailspin.   I know I need to use all my strategies to keep me from getting in a tailspin and if I am unable to avoid getting in a tailspin or do not recognize the tailspin until fairly late, then I must use them to get out of tail spin as soon as I can.    I have a list of things to do to pull me out of a tail spin and reminders to be patient because it takes time.

I think everyone’s life has its ups and downs that may need to be managed abit.   With persistent symptoms following my concussion/mTBI,  I have learned that my issues may just be more extreme.  Some of the strategies that I use might have been helpful for me prior to my injury.  Now they are critical.

And that is a rough description of some of the things that come to mind in describing what my “new normal” is like.

 

 

 

 

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The importance of cognitive rest

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I have learned alot about cognitive rest and its importance in re-finding balance, and re-building after my injury.    I was reminded of it last week when I noticed that I was getting more and more out of balance in my life.  I realized I needed to change direction and get my life going towards re-finding balance.

There are many names for good rest — brain rest, cognitive rest, power naps, downtime, REM sleep.  My friend has coined the terms “aggressive rest therapy” and “emergency nap”.

The role of cognitive rest is so critical.

Several years after my accident, I benefited from the guidance of a neuropsychologist who taught me my compensatory strategies so I wouldn’t get too tired–or what my friend and I call, “too tired to sleep”.    The neuropsychologist  taught me to do daily life activities then rest, then do daily life activities then rest, and she thought I needed 3 rests a day.   She called this ” pulsing”.  I learned that I could actually get much more done in my day if I rested my brain frequently.

My vision therapy Doctor  taught me to stop doing or limit the things that were fatiguing to my eye-brain connection.   I had to learn what these activities that caused the fatigue were.  They were often things that I could have easily done before my injury like walking more than 20 minutes.   So, it took me years to learn when I was (unintentionally) over-tiring myself and to stop doing them.

Later, a speech therapist gave me rules like “no computer after 7 pm at night”.  ( This was helpful when I was finally able to be back on the computer with the help of assistive technology).   She also taught me to limit my time on the computer for only 20 minutes a time.

And my speech therapist taught me to stop all activities BEFORE my symptoms (irritability, intense fatigue, feeling overwhelmed and increased confusion) began.   It was more efficient to stop ahead of time then to wait til the onset or overdoing it came.  Because the onset was often delayed, this self-awareness about when to stop was really hard to  to master and took me years.

But I have gotten ahead of myself.

Last week, when I realized I was out of balance, I was able to use the cue to begin the process of putting into place my compensatory strategies to help me.   Thursday afternoon, I thought I would take one last look at my blog before I published it.    Turns out our cable service went down.    So I couldn’t publish the blog post from my computer.   Rather than being frustrated, I realized the best thing for me was to seize the moment and let myself take a “cognitive rest”  for the entire time that my sitter was here.

Boy, did that help me!   Sometimes, it feels like too much luxury to stop to get brain rest.  Or, like Thursday, that I don’t have time to get cognitive rest.

What I have learned through practice  is that when my internal voices are telling me that I don’t have time, is usually when I need downtime the most!    As an overachiever, learning to “hold back my inner over-achiever” has been one of the hardest things about my recovery.   I have learned for my own recovery, I  need to err on the side of more rest rather than erring on the side of less rest.

And, as it turned out, getting downtime Thursday was indeed the best thing I could have done for myself.   It  helped me to be alittle more calm and it helped me regain more balance.  I find cognitive rest helps me make my life tolerable and allows me to keep going.   My cognition is always better afterwards.

Do you use cognitive rest to help you regain balance and help in your recovery and rewiring?   How does it work for you?

 

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practice, practice, practice and finding and re-finding balance

aforrest Leave a comment

Last week, I talked about recognizing that something I was doing was creating sleep issues for me and trying to act quickly to nip that in the bud before it got worse.   I recognized that too much time on the computer was causing sleep difficulties and I scaled back work on the computer and resolved that.

Because I took these steps, I thought my life was moving toward better balance.

This weekend, I recognized (upon reflection) that I was getting another sign that my life was moving further out of balance.   Not because of sleep issues but for other reasons.

So I wanted to write about how hard I consciously have to work on finding and re-finding balance for my life to work as best it can.

Finding enough balance in one’s life is an issue for everyone.    What I realize now, is that my injury created a tremendous imbalance in my life.    My health and independence went out of balance, my career and my finances went out of balance. And the things that motivated and interested me and gave me joy in my life — my research, my work, my volleyball and my coaching kids soccer, as well as seeing my friends and family and having fun — went out of balance.    It took me years and years to reach some semblance of balance around this and recreate my life.    (More on this later …)

As I have recovered and re-wired, I have learned that one of the most important compensatory strategies that I have both practiced alot and still need to practice  is how to recognize the signs when my life is betting out of  balance before it gets too out of balance and falls apart.

In some ways, recognizing that my life is getting further out of balance is the hardest part.   Once I can recognize it, I can enlist help or follow steps I have learned to get it back closer to balance.   Often, things get out of balance and are headed further out of balance, long before I catch on.  Or, like this situation, I rectify one thing, and think I am getting things back in balance only to find out that there was more compensation I needed to make to get things in balance.

So here was the wake up call that I got this week.   I was asked to be the family member to pick my sister up at the airport since noone else could.    Since others have had to pick me up for so long, (and since I thought my life was getting back in balance), I was happy to oblige and practice being comfortable with driving to the airport.   Everything was going okay or so I thought.

Then, I parked in the cell phone lot to wait for my sister to get her baggage and be ready.   I must have forgotten to take the key out of the ignition.  So while I sat in the car waiting, I was unintentionally draining my battery.    When I tried to start my car again, it wouldn’t start.   So there I was at the airport unable to pick her up.

This whole process of draining one’s battery could happen to anyone.

Tire_Swing

I have learned from experience (draining my battery unintentionally has happened to me before)  that when it happens, it’s a sign.  Note to self!   It means that things are getting further out of balance.   When I have taken on too much unintentionally, I forget to take the key out of the ignition.   When I am forgetful about the things I know I need to be conscious of, its a sign my brain is overloaded by my life.

Let me explain further.   As part of my rehab on driving, I have had to re-learn all the procedures one needs to know how to drive.  These things are automatic to most people as adults such as putting the key in the ignition before I put the car in gear and the reverse, putting the car in gear before taking the key out when I am finished.  They are no longer automatic to me after my injury although with alot of rehab and alot of practice, many of these procedures are more automatic now.   Like I don’t have to consciously think to put the kay into the car before I put the car in gear–thats automatic again.    But I still have to consciously remember to put the car in gear when I am done, and to take the key out or the ignition.

Needing to get my life back in to balance happens alot.   So I get alot of practice doing it.    My life works better– I am more functional and my life is alittle easier to live and my mood is easier to manage–when I do.

Do you have a difficult time maintaining balance also?

Do you have experiences that you can recognize are signs that you need to pay attention to finding balance again?

 

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my blog is a work in progress

aforrest 1 Comment

I view this blog as a work in progress.   I wanted to let you know that.   I am practicing being patient with it.

I find practicing being patient to be one of the hardest skills.   I want to race ahead and to do so much more with the website and with the blog.   I have alot to say about what I have learned about the brain from developing my awareness about my own brain, from listening to media, from attending conferences, from my advocacy and from talking to professionals, survivors and their families.  And I want to talk about what I have learned here!

I have a lot of limitations to work around in writing the blog, however.   I have learned that my day goes best when I respect my limitations.    When I don’t respect my limitations, my life literally falls apart.  I have unintentionally tried that many times.   It doesn’t work.

What are some of my limitations?    Like anyone else, putting up a website and writing a blog would be a new project and there is alot of new learning that goes on with trying to master something new.

What’s different for me is that my new learning happens at a slowed rate — much slower than I was used to it happening.  I have learned alot of awareness and acceptance of my learning curve.   So when I take on things knowing that it will take   “awhile” to get the hang of it, it goes much better.

Since I remember that I used to learn things much more quickly, I have to work hard not to get frustrated in doing something new.   Whatever it would have taken before, it takes alot longer now.   I have to set my expectations realistically and allow myself more time.  I have to let my new slower learning curve be okay.  It is what it is.

And for me, the computer is no longer my friend.    Working on the computer and focusing my cognition while typing takes a great deal more energy for me than you would ever think.   So I have to limit the amount of time I can spend working on the computer.   And if I don’t, I won’t have sufficient energy for all the other tasks I need to do in the day to care for my son and contribute to keeping my family’ s life together.  I rely heavily on the support systems that my husband and I have built to help us but I also need to contribute what I can.

And, I only write content for the blog.    Its my dear husband, Michael, who understands how to add the picture to the blog and who understands how the blog does or doesn’t work.   He’s got alot on his plate with work and helping me out with household and day-to-day stuff.   He pitches in with the blog when he can.   He tells me that there are technical things that he still needs to fix about the blog.   Since I cannot do them myself, I need to find patience to be happy with them as they are until he can find time to get to them.

Construction

These are only some of the limitations I face in working on the blog.     But I wanted to put them out there.  I have found letting people know my limitations is useful for helping others learn and develop awareness and understanding about what my abilities actually are right now.   I am hoping to find more support around developing my blog as I go along.

So, my blog is a work in progress.

I hope you will be patient with it too!

An end note:  After I wrote my draft blog for this week a couple of days ago, I had difficulty getting to sleep.   Not being able to get to sleep is usually the sign that I have spent too much intense-cognitive time on the computer.    So today I am going to try to stay off the computer other than to proofread and post.    Yesterday I got my sleep patterns back to normal.   That’s crucial for me–I have to nip increased sleep issues in the bud.   Today, I want to keep them back  at the place that’s normal for me and enjoy my more restful sleep tonight.

 

Read More - my blog is a work in progress

practice, practice, practice and sharing my story

aforrest Leave a comment

It feels great to be reflecting on the life goals I have attained following my injury.    It reminds me how far I have come.

It feels great to finding my voice at a new and deeper level in writing this blog.

I can feel my voice coming from my core.    It feels great.

With our move to Austin, I have not yet been regularly giving speeches about my story as I was in the Washington DC area.   And writing my blog reminds me how good it felt to be helping others and raising awareness about persistent symptoms from concussion/mild traumatic brain injury (and brain injury) by sharing my story.

So what are the big steps that I have had in learning how to tell my story?     As with relearning to drive, I have experienced many twists and turns and much frustration.   To put it lightly.     But here are the big steps.

First, I had to get to appropriate rehabilitation.

Second, the speech therapist worked beside me to show me the level of my skills that I actually had and to develop my awareness about them.    For example, I had to relearn what the topic sentence was in a paragraph and how to write a topic sentence.   These were skills I first learned in the third grade.

Then, I had to learn to write my story as part of my rehabilitation and give it as a speech.

Fourth, I had to practice and practice and practice writing my story (using the template from that first speech) and practice my public speaking.

Fifth, I learned how to write different aspects of my story (without the template) and eventually learned to give my speech without having to read it.

These steps not only helped me learn to tell my story.  Telling my story helped me be able to talk with different media to tell my story to them and telling my story helped me with advocacy.

More on all these steps in the posts to come.   But, if you want to skip ahead and read my story as told  in The Washingtonian Magazine here is the link:

http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/health/i-wanted-my-brain-back/

 

 

Read More - practice, practice, practice and sharing my story