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You have selected:Living with Traumatic Brain Injury Personal Stories and Blogs

The Afterlife

It can take years to accept a loved one’s afterlife, and it may take a decade. I’m not talking about life after death; I’m talking about life after a family member’s brain injury.

The Magic of Moments

The interesting thing about brain injury is being left with a before and after—lifetimes separated by that one moment that changed everything. Last week Nicole and her family set out on an old, but once again new, adventure...

Reaching Back in Time — a Message to My Younger Self

Reaching Back in Time â€“ a Message to my Younger Self

Summer is such a fun time of year. In fact, it’s my favorite season. What better time of year than to talk about suicide?

Letter From the Other Side: Return from a Traumatic Brain Injury

Letter From the Other Side â€” Return from a Traumatic Brain Injury

The Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Tim Page writes about rebuilding his life after a traumatic brain injury.

Are You Shocked by Brain Injury? That's Not a Bad Thing

Are You Shocked by Brain Injury? Thatâ€™s Not a Bad Thing

My exposure to brain injury has been a journey in education and life lessons. Connected to the brain injury community by circumstance, coincidence, and the universe speaking (loudly) for the past few years, I’ve learned some things.

I Can Fix You

It took a few minutes to go over my medical history as we sat in his exam room. He took a few notes, listened to our story, took a few more notes, and asked a question or two. He then looked us square in the eyes and uttered four words. “I can fix you.”

Irritable Gratitude Syndrome

If you are caregiving for a loved one with TBI are you tired of hearing, “Isn’t it a miracle he’s here? Think of all the blessings you have in your life!”

An Unexpected Miracle

I was finally able to do something that I’ve not been able to in several years. And I was able to do it with new hope.

Traumatic Brain Injury: A Lifetime of Recovery

Traumatic Brain Injury â€“ A Lifetime of Recovery

I am a very average “TBI Guy.” I have ongoing memory challenges. Word-finding challenges and aphasia are my constant companions. Add a splash of vertigo and half a cup of tinnitus and you have the perfect recipe for a pretty average post-concussive life. And amazingly, today I am okay with that...

Second Wind

Over the last few months, as my five-year anniversary passed, I felt an internal change. No longer was I simply trying to keep my head above TBI water. A new passion started to stir inside of me...

Living a Complicated Life After Brain Injury

Recently, life unfolded in a way I never saw coming. The raw, gut-level emotional pain was unimaginable. And for the first time ever, I decided that a topic was too raw, too real, and too emotional to even consider writing about. Until now.

Have You Seen My Old Life?

Over the last few years, I have come to the slow realization that there is no way to wholly rebuild a life shattered by traumatic brain injury. There will always be a few pieces that are missing.

Shattering the One Year Myth

Like so many others who share my fate, I get a bit reflective every year around TBI anniversary time. I now allow myself to look to the future with hope, a realistic hope that I will continue to heal. But there was a day that someone stole my hope and left me completely and utterly devastated.

The Five Yamas

I’ll be the first to say that these suggestions, as we shall call them, are not always easy, but all you have to do is practice.

I have found me a path

Right before my weekly TBI yoga class, a man was telling me how he wanted to do yoga, to give it a try, but for such-and-such reasons he was afraid he couldn’t do it...

The Wonders of Neuroplasticity!

Little did I ever give a thought to the fact that during all those years my brain was quietly remapping in stealth mode. No smoke pouring from my ears, no smell of wood burning, all my healing was happening quietly under the hood.

Revising the Expectations

In the three years since TC’s attack, I have learned a great deal, and chiefly, I have learned what any good writer knows to be true: in life, and in writing, it is essential to revise.

The Slow Process of Acceptance

A couple of years ago, I was not sure if I would be able to keep the gears of life turning. Time has shown that while the gears occasionally grind, they are still in motion. I am profoundly grateful for that.

Defying Expectations after Traumatic Brain Injury

Recovery from a traumatic brain injury is not a spectator sport. By better understanding where my deficiencies were, I would be better able to work on them.

A Mission to Move: Thriving, Not Just Surviving, Following TBI

You need a mission. So says Sergeant Bill "Big Sarge" Hansen, a former Marine and a current mentor with the Wounded Warrior Project®. Today Sgt. Hansen has a clear mission: to provide mentorship and support to young veterans carrying the physical and emotional scars of war.

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Fractured Family Tales

Family life after brain injury? It’s complicated. People walk out of your life without explanation, without just cause, leaving you to wonder what the heck happened.

How Transparent is Too Transparent?

I feel like I have mastered the face-to-face challenges I used to confront when asked about my health. But it’s my written work that still often causes me angst. Like a human-sized pendulum, I swing back and forth about how much I should share. How transparent is too transparent?

Life Goes On

Gretchen Rubin, once wrote, “The days are long, but the years are short.” She was writing about parenting and not traumatic brain injury, but as I reflect on this poignant quote, I realize that as a caregiver, even those seemingly endless days have passed with such speed that I can hardly account for the last three years of my life.

Building a "Survivor Family" After Traumatic Brain Injury

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, I now see that my family was not fractured. It was slowly being rebuilt as a new kind of family — a survivor family.

Living an Unfiltered Life

Today I live an unfiltered life as my brain injury has essentially wiped away my emotional and verbal filters. No longer does anyone say, “So David, can you tell me how you really feel? These days, I am learning, often the hard way, to say less. ne times.