The Brotherhood of Brain Injury

The Brotherhood of Brain Injury

Everyday starts the same way.

My wife and I start each morning with a blood pressure check, and I check my blood sugar.

I choke down a large handful of pills and then I have breakfast--a yogurt and some milk.

Usually my wife and I make my lunch before she shuttles me off to the "Center" when the shuttle arrives.

I usually share some kind words with the driver who has warmed up to me and as I've told the wife--I unlocked her.  For a long time she didn't say much.

We usually go to Hurst where we pick up Mr. R-----.  I cannot stress the importance of being on time--even my fellow patients have come to expect the shuttle.

Mr. R---- is an older gentlemen who expects the shuttle to be on time.

His house is beautiful with a front yard complete with foliage and a whimsical looking oak tree which has a face on the front of it--I call that Old Man Oak.  

When we leave I watch as Old Man Oak disappears in the distance and topiary of Mr. R----'s yard.

Our next stop is Euless, specifically and the Euless Star Center where we pick up another patient whose husband works at the Star Center, and then we head down 121 before we arrive in Irving at the Center for Neuro Skills.

That's when we pick up Chelsea and start our trip down 121 until 635 where we head to Freeport parkway and rendezvous with our day-to-day--the Center for Neuroskills.

So, this is how our day begins.  We head up yo the second floor or the center where we are each asked the annoying Covid 19 questions, where we then wash our hands and wait for the schedule to appear.

Two things happen then.  I sign my name--this is good practice for me.  

The stroke left me unable to use my right hand at least not in the same way I used to use my right hand.

As a joke I gave my right hand the moniker "My 89 Percent Hand." That nickname has stayed.  At the center the therapists often say they discourage the use of referring to a patients side as their weaker side preferring the patient to refer to their dominant side or extremity.

Another patient refers to her left hand as her "crazy hand."

The therapists and counselors are right though--we should not think of our bodies as unusable as we might not try to use them--we should try hard to fight and repair our injuries.

 In truth I have almost learned to use my hand in the same way as before my brain injury.  

It has been a long, slow process but I am determined to use it as I used to use it--when I did not even think about it--when it never crossed my mind, and I am rebuilding those neuropathways to heal myself.

Every morning we wait in the lobby for about ten or twenty minutes until the schedule is printed which then outlines the day for us.

I usually see the regular people who are there for the same reasons--we have brain injuries, and we do literal things than help us fix our problems whether they are cognitive or physical.

Each of us have our own stories. I have learned their names and stories and we are a brotherhood or sisterhood that learns each day.

And so with each day I write this blog which stretches out the time I reach into my memory to find the words--to show that I can overcome my brain injury and somehow write my way to success.

The answer to all this starts with hard work and each of my brothers and sisters must hang on each day we come here--even though we know the hard work will begin the same way every day.  

So with each day we begin and start the same way with the knowledge of our brotherhood and the steps taken slowly toward success.