TBI info

Originally written July 2010

I am so happy to see more information about traumatic brain injuries (TBI) available to the public lately, there have been programs on TV making brain injury more of a reality to everyone.  I have seen brain injury covered on MTV's 'True Life',   'Army Wives', and its much more common in newspaper articles.  I am so grateful that TBI is becoming more common place and people don't look at me like I'm crazy when I have to tell them about my injury.  Its also so unfortunate that TBI has become so much more common because of the war and the dangers that our soldiers are up against.  I have an interest in working with TBI in the future, I am not trained as a therapist and I have no interest in going back to school but I feel like there has to be something I can do to help.  I'm thinking about something in the bigger picture, something I can do to actually make a living.  I feel like I could be more understanding than a "regular" person, I would be able to talk about my actual experiences which might in turn help someone else suffering from TBI....how does that get turned into a paying job?

I have been given the green light to return to therapy for a short time, and thankfully we have found that I am still getting better.  I am always so pleased to hear the outcomes of the testing from the therapists.  There is a part of me that believes things would be moving along quicker if my medical insurance wasn't evil and simply permitted me to have the therapy they say I need in order to get the most recovery possible.  Then there's the other part of me that believes that no matter what obstacles insurance throws in my way I will persevere.  I am awfully stubborn and I believe that being stubborn will work in my favor this time, it has to, there just aren't any other options.  Yes~ I get tired more quickly than I used to, yes ~ I beat myself up a little every time something is hard for me now when it didn't used to be, yes~ I get angry when I think about why I am in this position in the first place, there is nothing I can do about all of that.  All of that frustration is the fuel that will get me through to the next level of recovery.