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You have selected:Personal Stories and Blogs

Nourish Your Noggin: Interview with Tina Sullivan

Rosemary knows that eating well under stress is hard. Sometimes cookies feel better than salad, but in the longterm, the opposite will prevail.

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Unfreezing Grief

"Growing up with a father with a TBI is complicated, un-ending grief without closure. It’s the opposite of resolution. It’s missing someone like hell who’s still alive and with you."

Is TBI a Laughing Matter?

As Rosemary knows, laughter is a natural anti-depressant, an anti-anxiety fix, a shot of oxygen, and a muscle relaxer … and, best of all, it doesn’t require a prescription.

Reflections on Motherhood

Mother’s Day is a holiday that is meant to be full of love and appreciation, but Rosemary has found that the day itself varies intensely from year to year, depending on family dynamics, age, and life circumstances.

Caregiving for Someone Whose Nose Doesn't Always Know

When the Nose Doesn't Know: The Observant Caregiver

Traumatic brain injury makes quirky seem quirkier, especially when a person is in the initial months of recovery. Rosemary learned that Hugh's loss of his sense of smell came with both dangers and quirkiness.

Creativity in Caregiving

Loving wife and teacher Abby Maslin uses her creativity and teaching skills to help her husband recover from a severe TBI.

Here's What I've Learned by Accident ... How About You?

Hereâ€™s What Iâ€™ve Learned by Accident â€¦ How About You?

People often ask Rosemary what she has learned from Hugh's traumatic brain injury and all that has come after. In this week's blog post, she shares some of the lessons she has learned along the way.

Five Things Caregivers Wish You Would Say

During Hugh's recovery, Rosemary heard many family and friends say, "Let me know what I can do to help." They meant it, but here Rosemary shares five offers caregivers would be grateful to hear — and accept.

Life Out of Order: An Interview with Sally Laux

Rosemary talks with author and caregiver Sally Laux who lost her three brothers — two to death, one to a severe TBI.

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Helping Veterans Succeed in College

Helping someone with a brain injury navigate life on a college campus after being in the military can be a tall order. Army veteran Timm Lovitt is the man for the job.

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Superman: Suzanne Laboy's Blog

In February 2013, police officer Peter Laboy was shot in the head. His wife, Suzanne, is chronicling the family's journey.

Banishing Caregiver's Remorse

Do you feel like no matter how much time you spend caregiving, you are not doing enough? Rosemary has felt that way, too, but realized she needed to do something about it.

What Does It Mean to Survive?

"Life and living is the very definition of surviving. It is what the living do. Definitions are meant to change. Able to change. For the brain injured, begging to change. What does it mean to you to have survived?"

Gifts

"Think for a moment about the best gift you have ever received. What made it so different from all the rest?" Rosemary shares one birthday present she will treasure forever.

Succession Planning

Rosemary talks about how planning for life’s unexpected emergencies is never easy or comfortable, but in the long run, it can save a lot of heartache.

Help for Couples After TBI

Rosemary's sister once told her, “There’s the truth we tell others, the truth we tell ourselves, and the truth we won’t even tell ourselves” It wasn't until she was in therapy after Hugh's crash that she fully understood her sister's words.

Brain Wreck

Why did this wife take a photograph of her husband in his hospital bed after he sustained a severe brain injury?

Life Out of Order: A Story of Sibling Loss and Living with TBI

Sally Laux has lost her three brothers — two to death, one to a severe TBI — and yet, as she walks on a landscape of new textures and colors, she somehow continues to find meaning in her life.

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Paper Trail or Trial?

Before Hugh’s injury, I loved getting mail in my mailbox. Afterward, I dreaded adding another pile to the piles of mail that permanently resided on my desk, office floor, and living room table.

Why Stories Matter

Cool It on the Acronyms! Making Your Military Skills Understandable on a Civilian Resume

Rosemary talks about giving her first caregiving talk at a brain injury conference and how friendships and opportunities burgeoned from there.

Bouncing Forward

What exactly is "resilience"? In her caregiving blog, Rosemary talks about this important ability as a way to "bounce forward" after brain injury.

Shade It Black: Death and After in Iraq

The story of one Marine's job retrieving and examing the remains of fellow soldiers lost in combat and the crippling psychological toll this experience took once she was stateside.

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Caregiving with Heart

Rosemary knows that sometimes love is the last thing on her mind when she is stressed and tired, but here she shares some heartfelt reminders for herself and other caregivers — especially since it's Valentine's Day.

Despite Symptoms of PTSD, Soldier Sees His Calling in Army

A lot can happen in 14 months in Iraq. Spc. William Medlin found talking about his trauma with a counselor helped.

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War-Torn Marriage: Family Shattered by TBI, PTSD Picks Up Pieces

The breaking point came when Sandra Rivera found their 9-year-old son backed against a wall with his arms over his face, shielding himself from her husband’s screaming.