A Serious Wakeup Call

You can learn so much from the Golden Girls. There is a lot to learning about a brain injury.  From my time at the Center, I have learned much about my fellow patients in many new ways that help me know them more intimately. Every day that I go to the center I meet a patients who teach me something important about myself and brain injury. The person who taught me the most was Mike Greg.  Mike Greg who taught me patience and kindness.   Mike taught me a lot about stroke patients.  He taught me about filters and patients who lose the ability to filter the things they say.   There were many times I understood better but it was not until my mandatory four week vacation that I began to watch or rather binge the Golden Girls, and I noticed that Sophia, (played by Estelle Getty,) the oldest golden girl, mentioned in the pilot had a stroke.   It was only mentioned occasionally at first and only in the pilot. Now, I watched the series for many years, but...

There are many things I have learned while at the clinic.  Just talking to my driver is an education in itself. Of the many things I learned--therapy can do many things for you--but you have to want it. Because if you are not willing to fight--if you do not want it--if you give only the minimal effort--or if you phone it in--there is nothing the clinic will change for you. And I mean it--you can come every day but without the drive to do what needs to be done you are wasting the precious insurance money that allows you to be here. There are many people I have met here--one such person is Skip. And he is a shining example of this amazing place. My driver told my about Skip who I learned was a lawyer.  He had previously told me that he wanted to walk out of here using a cane. We often shared a belief that we will walk out of here together--no cane--at least that is what I believe. Skip is truly the x-factor here at the clinic.  He works hard in a that makes of proud to know...

A Brief Survival Guide is dedicated to the patients of CNS A Brief Survival Guide as dictated to me by the patients of CNS. During my time at CNS I learned a few of the many idiosyncratic terms of going here.  Many of these terms are both humorous and enlightening as one of the newbies to the Center.   What follows are the many terms I learned and the patients who taught them to me. The ARM -- The Auditory Rehab ilitation Module.  Many times the Arm is brought up to give a break to the many patients who a struggling to regain and struggling to renew their cognitive faculties on a daily basis here at the Center. Arm Bike --the bane of the OT gym and workroom. The dreaded bike which at first was difficult to use.  But after a while you get to know the bike intimately and your ability to pedal gets longer. The Perfect Excuse --The excuse we all have that we easily laugh at when times are hard.  We often refer to our brain injury or stroke any time we need to....

When truth finally sinks in. For many patients there comes that time when there is a element of denial. For some think they will only be here at best three weeks. One of my my brothers, Skip told me that he lived in denial for a long time.   Being at the center was a real wake up call.   Much like Skip I had to adjust to the concept I would be working on many things, most importantly I would have to understand that my life would change, but I would get better.   It would take longer that I expected. I used to think that I would only spend about four months at the center, and I would only be here "just over the summer." The first truth bomb hit me when I was Occupational Therapy.   What I had referred to as my 79 percent side had become painfully obvious whenever I tried to write, or type of use as part of my testing.  Each time I used my right hand I tended to use my left hand to compensate--and the problem was I was right handed,  ...

On the second day of being at the clinic I was told to go into PT where I met several of the most abrasive and wonderful people around. After years of being very lax with my health--I say lax because I was not unfit, but the amount of fitness that I was capable of was unclear. I had had a brain injury and I had basically been unable to walk for a month--now I was beginning a long and arduous project of rebuilding those neural pathways and to be honest just rebuilding the will to walk again. So the first day of physical therapy I began each day with a PT therapist who started talking to me about what I had not done, really--work out. My therapists name was K--- and I began by doing bridges. They were not hard but by the end of the week I done so many bridges, and I was already stronger. While I was doing bridges (which to be honest were not very hard) I began to notice there were a lot of people who were improving and working on their own problems--and  every patient around me was d...

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----'...

When I think back to the day I had my stroke I remember how my life was. Being at the clinic has been a serious wake up call considering the fact when I woke up I realize there  were several things I used to be very lax about.  The first was my health.   When I got up from the couch I used to groan.   The truth is my mother-in-law thought I was frail. It took a stroke for me to realize that I cared what she thought about me. I was very badly out of shape, and I ignored my blood sugar and my blood pressure which were both very high. It took a serious brain injury for me to realize I was killing myself--slowly and steadily.  To start with I had high blood pressure--I want to say I had hypertension but since my blood pressure was high enough to cause my stroke--as much as I want to call my blood pressure hypertension-- this is what caused my stroke.   I was also negligent with my medication.   Add all of this together--this is what cau...

  We All Have a New Excuse  Sometimes I hear some of us casually speak about our brain injury--whether nonchalantly or with humor but each of us knows what we went through.  Recovery has been difficult and even at times joyful--almost humorous.  Our future is tedious but it is a brotherhood or sisterhood of men and women all linked by one common goal--we have suffered a brain injury and as I only half-heartedly speak of us in my opening sentence--we all have a new excuse.   Let me explain further--I started this blog writing about visiting a place in Edmonds, Washington called The Center.  I was depressed about the death of my father. My time at the Center changed me--cut to 2021, where after work with my wife, I had a stroke. After four weeks in both the ICU and Encompass Health I returned home, and I started attending a new center.  The Center for Neuroskills--where as my wife tells me, I got a wakeup call, a second chance and a new excuse. The ...