Welcome

 Welcome to my new blog!

I intend to use this space to share my own experiences with a traumatic brain injury.

More to follow soon. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving!

 

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Music and TBI recovery

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I love music, especially live music. Just in the last twelve months, I’ve seen nine concerts.   I love singing along to songs that I love alongside a crowd that loves them too.   One of the cognitive techniques I use to remember new things is association.   For example, if I’m looking at a picture of a bowl of ice cream with a cherry, it is easier to remember that than if it were an image of ice cream with peanut butter because no one associates ice cream with peanut butter, but many do associate an ice cream sundae with a cherry on top.   I associate music with certain periods of my life: high school; college; music I studied and listened to in law school, and even music I played for my kids at bedtime.   So it makes sense that I enjoy seeing music live that I associate with these happy memories. What is the relevance of music to brain injury? I engaged in music therapy after my brain injury. As it turns out, music has a strong an...
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Birthdays and Memories

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I celebrated my birthday on Thursday. Some people don’t like their birthdays because it is a reminder they are getting older. Kids always enjoy celebrating birthdays, but somewhere along the way, the switch seems to flip for many.  I’ve always loved celebrating my birthday and even more so now because it wasn’t clear that I would get to celebrate with my family and friends after I suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of an accident .So, having breakfast and dinner with my kids followed by cake and a movie made for a wonderful day. The celebration will spill over into the next two weeks with some friends and family. What do birthday celebrations have to do with a  brain injury ? Brain injuries don’t all present in the same way. I am fortunate that mine did not impact my long-term memory . Though my TBI left me with some occasional  short term memory deficits , my pre-accident memory is completely intact. I remember not only important dates (birthdays of family...
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Brain Injury Awareness Month

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 March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. This is relevant to me as someone living with a brain injury. Every year an estimated 2.8 million Americans sustain a brain injury. That number is far higher than most people would expect. 5 million people are living with a permanent brain injury disability. That's one in 65 Americans!   Each brain injury manifests differently.  Some people have no physical challenges but cognitive ones. Some present cognitive challenges but no physical ones (sometimes referred to as invisible brain injuries). Both my cognitive and physical abilities were impacted by my brain injury. I could publish 100 posts about my TBI or brain injury more broadly, but this graphic really captures it for me.  There will always be a gulf between pre- brain injury me and post -brain injury me, but I work to close that gulf every single day. I Never Give Up! #braininjuryawarenessmonth
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