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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Staying Active in the Summer

 Summer in Seattle provides a great opportunity to enjoy the sunny weather while we have it.  It’s not easy for me to engage in every outdoor activity due to my disability, but this summer, I’m  challenging myself to engage in sports that are keeping me active and pushing me to develop new skills and muscles: rock climbing and kayaking Both activities are offered by a nonprofit organization called Outdoors for All.  https://outdoorsforall.org/ Though I never climbed or kayaked before my accident, I’m finding it very rewarding to challenge myself in these new physical ways despite my disability.  My participation requires not only physical exertion but also concentration to ensure I’m safe. When I’m rock climbing, I need to listen carefully to the instructor about how to safely ascend and the same goes for the descent down. I’ve found that after each activity, I’m (a) sore, (b) starving, (c) exhausted.  In both of these activities, the hardest part can ...
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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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Graduation and Milestones

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  It’s graduation season, and this one is extra special for me because there is a graduate in my family. My daughter is graduating from high school. It’s so exciting to see my oldest child end one chapter and move on to a new one. You might be wondering what this has to do with brain injury. In my mind, events like graduations are like markers in my recovery. Every step, whether it is physical, or cognitive, takes effort and time. Like a graduation, it doesn’t happen in the blink of an eye or without a long-term commitment to the goal. On the physical side, I went from a wheelchair to a crutch and now walk only with a hiking pole. On the cognitive front, I am working to compensate for the losses to my short-term memory and other challenges that resulted from my traumatic brain injury. Instead of focusing on what I’ve lost, I focus on the hard work I need to invest to advance my recovery. I’m willing to put in the hard work, but the progress comes incrementally and not without fru...
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