Will Booth 3/26/26 Will Booth 3/26/26

Blog Post 9 - What am I grateful for now, afterwards?

What am I grateful for now, afterwards?

I don’t think you, or any of the medical professionals around you, will be able to declare when you’ve finally crossed the finish line. Is there one?

With the way things have gone, there has to be some more bullshit on its way soon, right?

One of the most important things that I always prioritized and paid attention to during my recovery was my attention to safety. That nagging reminder was with me with every step and stand that I took. Along the way, I had met multiple individuals that had made rash decisions and suffered another brain injury, effectively resetting their progress, and sometimes even setting themselves back even further.

So, what am I grateful for now? My life? I hadn’t given that much thought before, or after the injury. Teams of skilled doctors saved my life on many occasions, and I luckily hadn’t died or broken my neck during the actual accident. So, yeah, I guess I’m grateful to still be alive, have a brand new opportunity to reshape myself, abilities and the people I keep around me. Some/most of that will be out of my control, but I’ve somehow learned to accept that that’s how things will go now, and I hope that you can too, if you’re also brain injured and reading this. Life isn’t fair, but hopefully this new one that you’re reshaping for yourself will be.

As you go along, you may discover how much more of it is within your control than the last time around.

I’m definitely grateful for that, as I emerged on the other side with an altered personality, formed by a different sense of humor, empathy and approachability. Was I consciously developing those personal attributes, or was my impacted brain forming them? Who knows! Either way, consider what you may have not loved or appreciated about the past version of yourself, prior to your injury. Is there anything that you’ll change now, or would like to? I’m not suggesting that you’ll actively need to focus on evolving these new and improved traits about yourself, but what’s the harm in doing so? After all, you’ll likely never get an opportunity like this again, to reclaim and establish a life for yourself, as unfortunate as that is.

Will Booth 3/19/26 Will Booth 3/19/26

Blog Post 7 - Guilt vs. remorse that comes with your brain injury

Guilt vs. remorse that comes with your brain injury

Just what exactly happened here? Is/was there anything that I could’ve done differently to avoid all of this?

The questions and guilt will continue to relentlessly pour in, and are, in my opinion, best left unanswered and unattended.

Any answers that you may have for them are unreliable, at times dishonest, and mostly wishful. These are the kinds of topics that are best discussed and dealt with by a psychologist therapist, not the fractured remains of your recovering brain.

Always remember, your capacity to process and understand incoming information and emotions has likely been impacted by your brain injury. The close relationship between your heart and brain may have been severed, or at best, lightly damaged. Which one can you trust now? Can you go with the bruised heart that no longer gets what it wants, and is likely heartbroken from the staggering amount of loss and devastation in your life now?

Or, should you trust the organ in your head that was tossed to and fro, damaged beyond belief, and operated upon by a team of medical staff? Based on this, as it recovers for however long after your injury, your brain will have distrustful thoughts and reach conclusions that are best left alone.

What do you do if you start to feel remorse towards yourself about the brain injury? Well, I guess that depends if the injury was self-inflicted or was your fault, both of which are likely not true, and are dangerous beliefs to have.

Will Booth 3/19/26 Will Booth 3/19/26

Blog Post 8 - Lingering Pain: Just how long will it, or does it last?

As much as I always wished that I had the answer for this question, I don’t have an answer or magic formula to calculate it.

Probably one of the most important things that I taught myself was that so much of my recovery time and progress was within my control.

So, what pain do brain injury survivors deal with?

For me, I’d say that most of it was mental and emotional pain. I wouldn’t call any of the physical duress or struggles that I faced pain, as, by then, I was used to the fact that strengthening your body requires heavy usage of muscles, which can sometimes be confused as “pain” by those that either aren’t used to it or don’t want it bad enough.

That’s one main thing that I didn’t question often.

I felt like nobody, including other brain injury survivors, wanted it more than me.

That was a mindset that I had to dust off and return from my school days, back when I competed against many others just as, or even more talented than I at sports that I competed in, which was a necessary way of thinking in order to survive and win in a crowd of like-minded athletes.

This is especially crucial when you zoom out and remember that you’re brain injured now and will be for the rest of your life. That unfortunately includes any lingering disabilities and symptoms that plague your daily efforts to aid and overcome them.

Will Booth 3/12/26 Will Booth 3/12/26

Blog Post 6 - symptoms, aftermath and What It takes next

symptoms, aftermath and What It takes next

What has happened, and what’s to come? That can definitely feel uncertain and overwhelming without medical input and guidance, and without having experienced it yet.

For me, I came across so many new barriers and challenges that I hadn’t first experienced in my weeks in the hospital, or months prior in therapy.

This included increases in medication, whether it was type, quantity or dosage, as well as the breakthrough phenomenon of experiencing what are called acquired seizures and are pretty common amongst brain injury survivors. No, averaging one seizure per month like I eventually did doesn’t make you an epileptic. So, please do yourself a favor and seek out the services of a reputable neurologist, get a proper diagnosis and the necessary medication as needed. The last thing that you would want to do is end up in the hospital for a seizure! (like I did, but that was after having three in one day!) I’m lucky enough that most of mine have occurred while I was lying in bed or sitting in my wheelchair, so no harm done. I’ve only ever had one while standing, and while it put me on the ground, I luckily had two people with me that helped me back to my feet. I’ve also only had two seizures around people that were unfamiliar with the fact that I had them, and never in a crowd or group of people.

So, what else is coming? How about difficult questions without reliable or comforting answers?

Here’s one that I struggled with for years: can I leave behind the aching desire to return to my old life and abilities, and finally accept that this was my new life now, would be for years to come, and that I was now “hampered with these physical disabilities that always felt horrifyingly irreversible, no matter how much hard work I put into my therapy and frustration I felt over the years of waking up early, looking over to my left first thing and seeing my wheelchair there, waiting for my battered soul and body to enter it for another day of mental and emotional defeat.

Try this one on for size: How about, on top of everything else, you throw a communication disability on the top of everything else? Yes, my brain injury did just that! For some of you, this will likely mean aphasia. For me, I was dealt the dysarthria card.

According to Google, dysarthria is a motor-speech disorder resulting from muscle weakness or poor coordination affecting the muscles of the mouth, face, and throat, leading to slurred, slow, or muffled speech. It can manifest in various ways, such as speaking too softly, in a monotone, or with a breathy or harsh voice, and can also affect breathing, chewing, and swallowing.

Essentially, this means that, after my brain injury and initial surgery to remove a piece of my skull and reduce the brain swelling (craniectomy), I had intensive speech therapy to focus on speech articulation, relearning how to swallow solids and liquids, an ongoing form of therapy that I continued for years after to improve my speech articulation and impacted cognition.

Will Booth 3/5/26 Will Booth 3/5/26

Blog Post 5 - What’s this going to take, and do I have what it takes?

You awake in a stupor. Just what are you doing? Laying in a hospital bed, vision clouded by fluorescent lights overhead, and your head wrapped tightly in bandages like a mummy?

Hopefully, you have or had loved ones nearby that immediately noticed and rejoiced you coming to. Where are you, and what happened? You have one hell of a story coming your way, and then a flood of memories may, or may not come rushing back with it.

For me, it didn’t all magically return to me like that. I can’t say how it’s supposed to go, but it took a while for me to put the pieces back together again.

The moments leading up to the actual accident drifted through my mind. “Oh! That’s what I could’ve done differently!” Pangs of regret and sorrow for my foolishness then overwhelmed me as I overanalyzed how I could’ve avoided my current predicament, which is very easy to do when you have the ability to look back and formulate how you could’ve avoided “ruining” and rewriting the course of your life.

If that was possible, think of all the moments in your life that you would’ve put that ability to use.

No, it’s only when you’ve done almost irreparable damage to your life that you long so hard to rewind and do it over again, except differently this time.

Well, if your accident/injury was your fault, where was this judgment and wisdom at the time?

You can’t blame yourself for a split-second incident that may have been very much out of your control.

Will Booth 2/26/26 Will Booth 2/26/26

Blog Post 4 - Are you in love with this me, or am I?

Welcome to the new, redefined you. Are they any better than the previous, uninjured version of you? Probably not yet, unfortunately. Of course, that depends on how long it has been! Who determines if this new version of you is any better?

After all, do you have an intact cognition that remembers that far back, or can even process the critical thinking and self-awareness involved in such an introspective determination such as this?

For me, I often longed to have my old life and body back. How could I not? While lying there most nights, feeling defeated, I couldn’t imagine why I was sentenced to, or deserved this cruel fate pr existence.

Along the way, some of my therapists and loved ones stressed that this was it now! What abilities I now possessed, they would likely remain that way or worse for the rest of my life.

I’ll always remember being sat down at the one-year mark post-injury to have a meeting/discussion about this with my team of therapists, who had all been working with me for months.

They broke it to me lightly, but this news still shackled itself to my ankles and traumatized brain for the years that followed. Still, I kept coming back to this devastating news when I needed a fresh dose of motivation to improve, recover, or further strengthen myself, all of which were crucial in working towards my ultimate goal of standing up from my wheelchair and walking away from it for the final time. I had always been the active, on-the-move guy while growing up! I couldn’t imagine or accept that this highly experienced and knowledgeable group of therapists could tell my fortune just like that, so conclusive and with complete disregard for my goals and dreams of achieving the impossible. I would walk again! My feet belonged on the ground walking or running, not propelling my wheelchair while my one strong arm pushed a wheel forward, a dynamic trio of hopeful limbs pushing me to my next destination.

So, how can you respect and love what you’ve become, even for as unrecognizable as that may be? It’s necessary to quickly find an answer to this troubling question, which unfortunately wasn’t stressed to me until three years after my injury. By that point, I had broken my body, mind and spirit in a desperate struggle to recover and regain a glimpse of my old life. Just a peek!

It felt important to form a semblance of love and respect for my new self, the broken and battered version of what I had once hailed as a thriving and successful young man who was rapidly approaching his peak. Now that I was here,, how could I ever regain any chance at that again? Every day after was incredibly defeating, as I woke up to familiar faces dressing my limp body, and the all-too-familiar wheelchair parked a few feet from my bed, ready for me to plop my body into it for the remainder of the day.

My daily schedule was now out of my control and had transformed into a packed agenda of therapy sessions, including speech, (since my body had lost the ability to speak clearly and swallow without choking) and physical therapy (a desperate attempt to get myself out of my hospital bed and restore function to a disappointing group of limp limbs), and occupational therapy (the hospital’s dire attempt to teach a traumatized brain and maligned body how to do normal, everyday tasks that I couldn’t imagine myself needing again anytime soon.

For now, I was resigned to laying in a hospital bed, breathing through a tube, and being fed through another tube jammed into my neck and above my bellybutton.

Experiencing all of this at once started to make me wonder, is this my life now, and what will I get back, if anything? Years later, it was stressed to me that I should just accept what happened, and also that my old life was never coming back. How could I love the blank slate laid before me? I hadn’t been ready or even desired for a new life before my injury! So, it was now my responsibility to rebuild everything that I had achieved, wanted and gained for this new life of mine, which would start in the middle of year 28, not at day one like my previous one. I now had to rely on the care, focus and encouragement of my therapists to develop new and crucial abilities, including speaking, swallowing, walking, moving the paralyzed left half of my body, and also loving and motivating this second version of me back into existence and society.

What will that journey, including the first year after, look like for you? That all depends on how you decide to take care of yourself, mentally, physically and emotionally.

This means that you need the fortitude to take whatever comes your way, embrace and accept it, and quickly adjust your life on the fly as needed to continue surviving.

For me, this started with my sudden seizures, which came on quickly into my life, and added more medication, anticipation, and worries of having one while standing and falling. That has only happened once, but I survived it, as I have everything else during this long detour that life threw my way.

Can I call it a detour? Just where is all of this leading me? How much of that is within, or outside of my control? Who will I be on the other side, and how in the hell will I know once I get there?

Will Booth 2/19/26 Will Booth 2/19/26

Blog Post 3 - Where have you gone, and where are you going?

Where have you gone, and where are you going?

During frequent moments of frustration and exhaustion with the daily grind of trying to regain your abilities, you may keep finding yourself wondering, what’s next? The next shoe has to fall at some point, right?

What’s it going to be this time? Another diagnosis, setback, perhaps more medication?

Well, of course, because the new you is a doped up, suffering and incurable wreck. At least, that’s what you’ve convinced yourself by now, right? Yes, because hope’s for those who have better abilities and prospects, right?

Well, if you feel that you’ve backed yourself this far into a corner, rejoice, as there’s still a chance to rekindle the missing glow that you’ll need to move forward in this new and joyous life of yours.

What can we do with each new obstacle that you must overcome to progress forward?

You may find yourself asking, what did I do?

Most importantly, I always tried to zoom out and reflect on everything that I’d already done, would do, and what others just like me had overcome to shatter the shackles of their diagnoses and disabilities.

What’s that for you? There has to be something groundbreaking that you can reflect on, even if that just means the first few steps that you took out of your hospital bed, or a therapist cheering or encouraging you on as you defeated your next milestone alongside them.

Besides this, I spent countless hours writing (typing) my thoughts and emotions down. I encourage each of you to do the same, even if you don’t consider yourself a good writer. We’re looking for consistency, not quality here. For some, this may mean journaling, which can be done on a small notepad or app on a device that you keep by your bed to remind yourself to jot down your feelings, achievements or new goals from that day. The best part of journaling is revisiting these personal notes, as they’re quick and easy to read/digest. It always helps to remind yourself how you felt on certain days, what you’re working towards, and the future you’ve outlined for yourself.

Is it a dull or glimmering one? Have you found new ways to manifest hope and personal inspiration in your altered life? I just hope, for your sake, that your brain can function at a high enough level to form new plans, goals and commit itself to restoring what it can within this new path of life you’re on!

Will Booth 2/19/26 Will Booth 2/19/26

Blog Post 3 - Where have you gone, and where are you going?

Where have you gone, and where are you going?

What’s it going to be this time? Another diagnosis, setback, perhaps more medication?

What can we do with each new obstacle that you must overcome to progress forward?

You may find yourself asking, what did I do?

Will Booth 2/5/26 Will Booth 2/5/26

Blog Post 2 - And so it continues, on and on

When does this nightmare end? It starts to feel like everything is set on a never-ending loop.

Also, You’re your own source of therapy at some point. It’s terribly difficult to come to this conclusion, especially if you already meet with a therapist. How can someone so inexperienced (you) become the soothsayer to their own troubled mind and damaged brain lobes? Well, what did you do in the past when you were troubled? Did someone you trusted, respected or loved talk you down, or did you handle your mess of emotions yourself?

When everything inevitably starts to feel overwhelming, you realistically only have yourself to turn to, as you’re the one living and functioning in this shell of what you once were.

So, what’s the best next step forward, and who should you trust to instruct you on that? A therapist, the fractured remains of your brain, or the sentiments of a brain you once knew well as as the big, pink organ living upstairs that you somehow battered, bashed and spun into a battered mess of what it once was. Or, should you now default to the confused and biased heart thumping in your chest? I consider it biased now because it always wants to instill false hope within you that everything will be alright, which is a disconnect between what your brain and the experts around you are all saying. After all, it’s not like you can just pick up the pieces around you and restore the glorified image of what your life and abilities once were. Just how much have you lost, or will you lose? It’s now time to hold on tight to this evolving life of yours and find out over the next however many years it’ll take for you to consider the hellish nightmare over. Can you decide that yourself, or do you need an expert’s decision? I guess that depends on how disabled you are.

Each disability has a name and unfortunately begins to define how you function, whether that’s physically, cognitively, mentally, or emotionally. It’s hard to imagine that all of that could be taken from you in the blink of an eye.

One second, you’re living and thriving in whatever version of life you’ve created for yourself up until that point. Was it everything that you ever dreamed of, or is this now an unrealistic opportunity to reset everything and have a second chance at life? You haven’t gotten younger, or went back in time, but how many people get this rare chance to redefine themselves as a new, “improved” adaptation of who they were and now will be?

Is this a blessing or a curse when you look at it that way? Well, I guess that depends on whether you believe that you have what it takes to restore all of the maligned primary functions that you’ll need to rebuild what was and restore yourself into a new and improved you.

So, how do you assess what needs to recover and return? For some, it’ll be as easy as it was for me to determine this. Can you speak clear enough so that every new person clearly understands you? How about chewing and swallowing everything that enters your mouth? Walk, or equally move both sides of your body?

How about doing everything at home that you once did without any doubt in your now troubled mind? Unfortunately, going to the bathroom and toileting may look different now, depending upon the extent of your disabilities. Heck, you might be a brain injury survivor without any!

Still, are the memories of what happened in the aftermath of your injury, and the label that comes with it, a disability? No, you’re a survivor!

In many cases, brain injury survivors literally avoided death, whether that’s during the incident itself, or in the hospital afterwards.

So, how do you break out of this monotonous cycle of therapy, work at home and work on yourself, whether that’s internal, or work on your weakened or disabled limbs?

There’s a lot that can be said about how much you’ll lose by laying in a hospital bed for however long you’re there. Muscle mass, hope, grasp on reality, abilities, and your past, whether that means a career, relationships, or prospects for a better life that you had once dreamed of.

What will you dream of now? How about getting back on your feet for the big reset of the new life that’s now waiting for you to lead it somewhere new and exciting?

New doesn’t sound so exciting anymore, right? This whole brain injury and the aftermath of it is new! What else is new and exciting out there?

Just think about this golden opportunity to meet others just like you, find out more about yourself, and possibly gain new hobbies and valuable insight along the way. How long is “the way?” Try not to get caught up on that!

It’s different for everyone, and all depends on how much work you’re willing to put in, the amounts of determination and motivation you have, and how you treat yourself during all of that.

Will you accept a down-in-the-dumps version of yourself that swaddles through life now, waiting for the big break that’ll never come without lifting your chin and putting your nose to the grindstone?

So much of your recovery from a brain injury comes down to how you treat yourself afterwards. Are you a friend or foe to yourself?

Imagine that you had just met you. In that situation, how would you treat yourself? Constantly aspire to be that friendly person to the bruised and beatdown you that could really use a kind inner dialogue, both from your brain and heart.

So, what worked best for me? I spent a lot of time with other brain injury survivors wherever I could. For you, that might mean seeking out brain injury support groups, volunteering or participating at organizations that specifically support them. I also highly recommend regularly meeting with a therapist (the psychologist kind) to tackle the barriers that your brain injury mounted in your head as a form of self-defense. They’re difficult to break down or penetrate so that you can move ahead with the necessary next step: acceptance. One of the most difficult things I dealt with during my recovery was learning about and conditioning myself for brain injury acceptance, since it’s now vital to accept that everything has changed, most of it will never return to what it once was, and that you’ll really have to dig deeper than you ever have to return to some semblance of what you once were. Welcome to the new you! Who will it be? Someone you and others around you can admire and hopefully respect!

Will Booth 1/22/26 Will Booth 1/22/26

Blog Post 1 - Introduction

So, here we are. We’re bound by a freak occurrence that you’d never have thought possible for yourself. After all, these kinds of things only happen to idiots, or those that are physically or mentally unhealthy! And that’s not us, right? So, how’d this life-changing catastrophe happen? Did I make a mistake along the way, or is this fate catching up to me? Penance of some sorts? I can’t possibly deserve this! Nobody does! The Internet tells me that worldwide, there are millions out there just like us, but I’m guessing that we are all different, depending on our injuries, backgrounds, beliefs and futures. What does the future hold for me now? Is it within, or outside of my control? Just how much work are you and I willing to put in to right this ship of life that now feels like it’s on the verge of sinking?

This is a blog written, edited and created by a man named Will, survivor of a traumatic brain injury sustained in June 2022. I’m writing this as an outlet for my own thoughts, emotions, and yearning to connect and hopefully help other brain injury survivors like me. I’ve been writing a book with a similar idea, but it’s on page 60+, and I wanted to share my writing with all of you well before I eventually finish and publish that. I also want this blog to be a space where you can read, relate and express how you’re feeling about your own brain injury, should you feel comfortable doing so. If you’re not brain injured, thanks for stopping by, reading, and I hope that you learned something insightful about all of us! You never really know what everyone around you is going through, but I hope that this blog teaches you more about what it’s like to suffer and survive a brain injury. I’m by no means seeking your empathy, but mostly hoping to create and spread awareness and discussion, as I had no idea what a brain injury was or meant until I was unlucky enough to have one of my own. Whoops!

Only you know how much you’ve lost at this point. Is there anything left? It sure doesn’t feel like it, does it? Trust me, as sad as this is to type, there’s always a new bottom below the next one you last hit. One of the hardest parts I dealt with while recovering from a brain injury was the disconnect between my brain and heart. I experienced this most when I struggled to think about whether an emotion or belief that I was feeling originated from my brain or heart. Did my brain still know how to process information and feelings that were being sent to it from my heart? In that case, could I trust my heart? Or, had I also injured that vital relationship between my heart and brain? Nobody ever addressed that subject with me besides the psychologist therapist that I spoke with weekly, and I found his insight absolutely critical. Do you, or have you, sought out a therapist’s services? I can’t recommend it more, considering how traumatic and difficult everything was in the years that followed my injury. What’s the most difficult change facing you that you haven’t overcome yet? Try journaling about it and writing down every challenge that you come across and need to work on or improve. That way, you can return to these notes to inspire you, track your progress, and remind yourself why you’re doing all of this every day. Journaling can be done in a notebook, pad of paper, or a journaling app on your smartphone. The most important thing that you can do is place it somewhere that you won’t forget to do it every day, such as by your bed or on a table that you frequently use, or even better, set yourself a reminder or alarm that’ll remind you to do it. Making a simple note like this every day will help you to chart and track your ongoing difficulties, release any built-up emotions, and serve as a personal reminder of how far you’ve come, which is vital whenever motivation starts to fade, which isn’t your fault. Putting in this amount of effort, sticking to a back-breaking schedule and jumping around from place to place will be mentally and physically exhausting. So, don’t be surprised when you find yourself constantly checking your gas tank and finding that it’s nearly empty, even when you feel inspired, or that you’ve reached the next level in your recovery. So, what’s the best way to refuel, and is it different for everyone? Yes, of course it is! I always found that the best way of motivating and pushing myself even further was to communicate with others like me, brain injured individuals that had all been there and done that. This could be accomplished at therapy, or in brain injury support groups, of which I regularly participated in, as I found that listening to and speaking with others like me about a specific topic about brain injuries or the struggles associated with them with a group moderator present immensely helped my processing of what had, or still would happen to me, and how I could stay one step ahead of myself, as there seemed to always be something unexpected and unforgiving around the corner. Therefore, you’ll have to prepare yourself for how defeating and lethargic any kind of setback can be, especially as you feel like you’ve been through and accomplished so much already. So, find something that works best for you and run with it! What works for someone else in your situation might not work the same for you, as defeating as that can feel. I just hope that reading things like this and taking it to heart will help. Please take notes and try your best to remember and make note of the things that stand out most to you. This is best accomplished by reviewing your daily notes, which ideally should feature highlights of your recovery and notable insight that you have from reading things like this blog, or thinking about your own injury and ongoing recovery in new and different ways. This journey that you’re now on is long, tenuous and even treacherous, but you must remind yourself that you have what it takes, and that it’s worth living for, in order to summon the courage and will to tackle and overcome anything challenging that life throws your way during this part of it. It sure is quite the detour, isn’t it?

Are there any other lacking connections in your body that you now feel after your brain injury, similar to the brain and heart? Perhaps you feel a disconnect with your past self, which is normal and to be expected. Do you often find yourself missing them? Now, the best thing that you can start working on is accepting that you had a brain injury, and that you now must live with the side effects and trauma resulting from that. A major part of this is letting go of that past version of yourself, as they’re now likely gone forever. Accepting that cruel fact’s going to be the most difficult part of the tiresome journey ahead of you. Still, it’s crucial to find it within yourself to muster up the courage, patience and wisdom necessary to accept that whatever happened to you did happen, is irreversible, and changed the path of your life for good. Dreams and aspirations that you had before will need to be shifted, modified and forgotten, as your abilities and surroundings have likely changed.

Thinking of and planning new goals can be exciting though, even as bleak as that sounds! Will they be oriented around recovery or reshaping your future? After all, this brain injury can be considered as a second chance at life that most don’t get or even try to put upon themselves to pursue! Imagine that perspective on it! This is rebirth is a solid chance to do it all over again, even though you’re still the same age, with the same friends, family and possessions. What will, or can you, do better or different this time around? Depending on your cognition, you may be able to remember what you should and shouldn’t do. Life has a vast series of pitfalls, and this time, you can ensure that you don’t fall into the same ones!

So, what other advice, as a brain injury survivor myself, can I provide about what to expect? Well, this is only my first blog post about this, so please stay tuned and expect plenty more from me in the future about specific topics!

In a way, most of it depends on the extent of your limitations that you’re now facing as a result of your injury. Me? I have a laundry list of disabilities, including physical ones like the inability to walk, difficulty standing up, sitting without slumping over, swallowing food and drink, a communication disability, and visual neglect/deficit/inattention in my left eye, and hemiplegia/hemiparesis on the left side of my body. The reason that the left side of my body was so affected is that my brain injury happened when I hit the right side of my head against the street when I lost my balance and fell off of my electric motorized scooter. The various lobes of my brain that I damaged doing so impacted different parts and abilities of my body that I had grown so used to utilizing in a normal fashion, just like every able-bodied person out there.

I had always dismissed the lack of function on my affected left side as meaningless, as I was naturally a righty, and didn’t remember using my left arm, hand or leg for much before my brain injury. Afterwards, my various physical and occupational therapists were quick to refute this, because it was as goofy as it sounded!

All in all, how are your abilities now compared to what they once were before your own injury?

Can you think of this off the top of your head, or do you need some paper to write this down for comparison?

Speaking of therapists, what kind of therapy do you take now, or require to regain any physical or mental skills that you’ve lost since your brain injury? Did therapy start in the hospital like it did for me? For over three years after my injury, I participated in physical, occupational, speech, and psychological therapy to regain some semblance of who and what I wanted to be. My main driving factor was standing up from my wheelchair and walking away from it for the last time, as I now required it to get around, besides my daily use of a walker, which I was taught to properly use by various physical therapists over the years after my injury.