A Serious Wakeup Call

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...

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...

  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 ...