Introduction The optimist sees the opportunities in every difficulty and the pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. Winston Churchill It may be hard for some to imagine that there was a point in my life when I had no idea what a TBI meant. The diagnosis is Traumatic Brain Injury. This devastating diagnosis […]
Archives for February 2016
Chapter 1 – My Life Before
Chapter 1 My Life before the That Accident “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” – Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird I would never have understood my story had I not been walking in […]
Chapter 2 – Diagnoses
Footprints in the Sand One night I dreamed a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, One belonging to me and one to my Lord. After the last scene of […]
Chapter 3 – What My Brother Saw
“Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When it is ignored or invalidated the silent screams continue internally heard only by one held captive. When someone enters the pain and hears the screams healing can begin.” -Danielle Bemnock “There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper […]
Chapter 4 – What My father’s Saw
To resonate is to show empathy in some faculty with the feelings of others. When we meet someone who is joyful, we smile. When we witness someone in pain, we suffer in resonance with his or her suffering -Matthieu Ricard Chapter 4 has been written from my father’s perspective. I want the reader to have […]
Chapter 5 – A New Normal, Disability?
Chapter 5 A New Normal, Disability? “Disabilities Can Teach Us How to Live” -Richard C. Senelick- “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi My focus this chapter is on disability. I will address three types of disabilities. I shift to one form of impairment […]
Chapter 6 – Aftermath
Chapter 6 The Aftermath of A TBI “No one told me it was impossible, so I did it,” Jean Cocteau The plausible aftereffect traumatic brain injury has on individuals. I talk about my left side paralysis (e.g., arms and legs) and how some muscle tone is transferred to right side. I also address inability to communicate […]
Chapter 7 – The Outsider
Chapter 7 The Outsider “Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When it is ignored or invalidated the silent screams continue internally heard only by one held captive. When someone enters the pain and hears the screams healing can begin.” -Danielle Bemnock “There are wounds that never show on the […]
Chapter 8 – Resiliency
Chapter 8 Resiliency “Why fit in when you can stand out?” -Dr. Seuss How Does a person handle a difficult event in his or her life? The death of a loved one, loss of a job, serious illness or injury, terrorist attacks, war, and other traumatic events that can change a person’s experience in life. […]
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