The Full Court Press

Basketball players will be familiar with this strategy: The Full Court Press! It's a variant of the double team strategy and involves man-on-man defence across the length of the court. And, just like the double team, it too can be successfully used in TBI recovery.

As I've repeatedly said, there's a massive variety of problems a TBI can cause. For TBI recovery, a Full Court Press means finding the right help from whoever is most able with any particular problem. Whenever I came across a problem, I think about how it might best be handled. Who should I talk to about it?

In the post, Stamina, I described the amount of help I'd received: I've seen eight different specialists, two general practitioners and twelve others (therapists, nurses or technicians and the like). When you include me as captain, that's almost enough for five basketball teams! And, of course, it's without any of the massive number of others who have helped me with support, ideas or even just by hearing me out.

A great way of recovering well from a TBI is to use a good team approach: The Full Court Press!

Cheers,
Mike

Having Lists of Questions

While discussing one strategy to use when seeing medical specialists, Double Team 'Em, I alluded to another: Have a list of questions for what you want to find out. An appointment with a specialist might well be a long affair covering numerous, complicated points. Obviously, it'll be easier if people have a clear idea of what needs to be discussed.

Even for a healthy person, relying on memory when finding out answers to a series of questions is an arduous task! That's particularly so when something as important as one's health is on the line. Add to that, the memory problems that often come with brain injury and you've got a recipe for suddenly remembering what you meant to ask about ... after the appointment!

Why not take ten minutes beforehand to think through what it is that needs to be covered! Doing that can save a lot of hassle and worry about forgetting things.

Cheers,
Mike

Double Team 'Em

After recently helping me see yet another medical specialist, a family friend remarked on a good strategy to use for specialists: Double team 'em! Make sure there are two people there: one to follow a line of thought, while the other thinks over what gets said.

Each answer a specialist gives may well cause a recoverer to have further questions. With a two person team, one can listen carefully and think about those answers while the other follows up a different point. This strategy will make a two person team much more effective when seeing medical specialists and working through the ramifications of what they have to say.

A two-person approach can also make up for cognitive problems bought on by a TBI recoverer's brain injury - problems like forgetfulness and lack of concentration, particularly.

The friend who suggested it is a former New Zealand diplomat, someone used to hairy negotiations. I like to think how a strategy commonly used in dignified halls of government can aid me in my recovery.

Cheers,
Mike

Talking to the Right People

In this post, I wrote about how difficult TBI recovery is. That concept implies one important thing: It's difficult to recovery well without professional, compassionate help. Medical staff might not understand everything, but they'll still understand a massive amount more than what the untrained will! Talking to them first can save endless frustration when coping with some difficult TBI recovery problem.

Since they can be of so much help, how best to use them? Simple, talk! Find the right person, talk to them and try to ask them the right questions! Have a think before you go to them: what would you like to know, what don't you understand, how best could they help?

Didn't get the answers you wanted or, just as importantly, didn't get them in the way you wanted? Remember to think, hang on, I'm the Boss! Remember how complicated TBI recovery is. That'll mean there's a massive amount of people that might be able to help you. Don't stop trying different people until you find answers you're happy with.

That's probably the most important thing to take from my process of relearning how to run. Someone as serious as a physician or even a neurologist was unlikely to help me with it. After all, I knew how to move the right muscles. The problem was moving them in the right order!

I tried two different exercise trainers who normally help healthy people with running, but neither were at all familiar with problems related to brain injury. In the end, after some encouragement from a friend, I tried talking to a physiotherapist who recommended another physiotherapist who specialised in the relevant area. Only with that, did I feel I was in competent hands that would help me with my running trouble.

Cheers,
Mike

TBI Recovery: No Walk in the Park!

Hopefully, I'm making one thing clear on this blog: Recovery from TBI is no walk in the park! It's a complicated, difficult thing to go through. As well as that, each individual case might be very different from other cases! So one person's experiences might have only so much relevance to someone else.

I can honestly say, it's scary to think of the countless ways my TBI has affected me, the countless things I've wanted to improve at, the countless times I've thought, whoops, that could have gone better! Also the stream of problems sometimes seems endless. For instance, I need to relearn how to swallow. Done that? Time to relearn how to walk. Done that? Time to relearn how to run. Doing that? What about relearning how to work or how to fit in, socially? Even now, over three years on for me, it still feels like it never stops.

But I also hope I'm making one other thing clear: Although it's difficult, much can aid TBI recovery. Countless people are willing to help out, countless strategies can be used to cope, countless things can be relearnt. Although the problems sometimes seem never ending, the hope definitely never ends!

Cheers,
Mike

The Slow Walk to Freedom

It's been a little over three years since my accident: three years of not driving; of hanging around, waiting for late buses; of always leaving time to walk to reach a place. Finally, earlier this week, I had my first post-accident, independent drive!



My return to driving was much delayed by the eye problem I mentioned in this post. I could have restarted driving despite that problem if I'd been willing to wear an eye patch. Given the way I think my brain works when I drive, unfortunately I felt that too dangerous for me to contemplate. I do not know how I would live with myself if, by taking unnecessary risk, I caused an accident like my own to someone else. Safety is paramount!

So, instead of driving while wearing an eye patch, I waited three years for operations to correct my eye problem. Two years is regularly taken to see if the problem might improve without surgery. In my case, it didn't, but surgery was further delayed by an extended period of travel (which you can read more about here). I'll also add that my search for the right surgeon led me to write this post, I'm the Boss!

Fortunately, that search proved successful. The results of my first operation meant no further ops were needed. I'd been expecting to need two, three or even four operations to solve my problem well and I was hardly assured of a good outcome. I was absolutely amazed to have such an outcome after only one operation!

An additional bonus of needing to wait to sort out my eye problem was that I wasn't trying to drive while still learning to cope with a significant amount of fatigue.

I write this post not to crow about driving again; more to talk about how, with care and patience, abilities and the freedom they allow will often slowly return.

Cheers,
Mike

More Phrases for Mike to Avoid: I Should/Need To/Must Do This

Yep, here's another post about words and expressions that show my (lack of) acceptance of my TBI. Hopefully, I'm showing the massive link between how we feel about something and how we talk about it. For a long time, when I talked about how something hadn't worked out, I would say, "I should have done this", "I need to do this" or "in the future, I must do this". You're probably recognising a pattern here now. These are not phrases of acceptance.

My family became a little concerned with the intense way I was occasionally talking. They commented about it to me. I stopped and thought for a while before realising I was using them because I still felt like an adult who thinks he knows something of the world. I felt old enough not to be making such simple mistakes like that: "Come on, man. Sort it out! You're better than that!"

Of course, I was completely failing to accept I'd had a TBI. You can almost hear me adding, "Brain injury? What brain injury? You mean like what Uncle Ted had?" :-)

So I'd been thinking of myself as an adult. But, in many ways, I was starting my new life again. I was more like a baby or, at best, a toddler! It was as if everything that I'd done before was gone. I was starting over from scratch. It was as if I was experiencing every new situation for the first time. Everything was a learning opportunity. When I thought that, I no longer had cause to say, "I should have done that!" Instead, it became more fitting to say, "I've learnt from this and I won't do the same thing again."

It's all about perspective!

Cheers,
Mike

Neuro-Resting at Work

When I described The Neuro-Rest, I talked about how I can take one almost anywhere. One of the most useful places to use it is somewhere you wouldn't normally expect rest to happen - the work place.

My fatigue is mainly a mental thing. I can only concentrate for so long and then things start to go down hill. In the post, The Fatigue Bank Account, I described how I have to make sure I keep my rest up during the day. The extra concentration required at work means I need to be extra careful to stay on top of my fatigue.

A convenient way of doing so is neuro-resting at work. When I feel I'm getting tired, I just find somewhere around with no distractions, say a spare office or somewhere. I don't even have to be lying down; just somewhere with no noise I might focus on.

Given how much I enjoy my work, I think my recovering would be much more difficult if I hadn't realised I could neuro-rest at my work place.

Cheers,
Mike