Description

“GO HOME AND HAVE A NORMAL LIFE” That is what my physician told me when I was discharged after my brain injury in 1997. What did he mean by that? I couldn’t read – I couldn’t talk properly – I couldn’t even dial a telephone number. I had an 8 year old son who needed his mother. Since that day in 1997 I have been trying to find out what a normal life is. Having a brain injury is a journey about finding a new normal and New Brain Living. On May 13, 1997 at 4:00 am in the morning I woke up and I was paralyzed on the right side of my body. When I arrived at the hospital the doctors told me that I have suffered a stroke. I was 40 years old at the time. New Brain Living Revelation Having a Brain Injury and Living With a Brain Injury – Are Very Different! New Brain Living is a place where people with brain injuries and the people who care for them can find answers. During my years of recovery I just wanted somebody to talk about my brain injury so I developed New Brain Living so I could be the voice for the brain injured person. Throughout this book you will see that I speak for the brain injured person “from the brain injured point of view” so the people who care for people with brain injuries can find answers when their brain injured person cannot put into words what is happening in their “new brains.” During my recovery I spent a lot of time “trying to retrain my brain” so that “my brain would act the way it did before the brain injury.” I realize now that “my old brain is not coming back.” My journey to New Brain Living shows that “my new brain” is a “better brain” because I have learned that the concept of “brain plasticity” can be used to train my “new brain” to move recovery forward. It is an exciting time for brain research and recovery from brain injuries. The more we talk about brain injuries and teach brain injured people and the people who care for them to design their own personal recovery paths, it could make “Living with Our New Brains” an ongoing journey to recovery. To the Brain Injured Person: It is my hope that the words written in this New Brain Living book explains to the people who care for you what is happening in your New Brain and help you on your personal recovery path to New Brain Living. To the People Who Care for the Brain Injured Person: It is my hope that the words written in this New Brain Living book will help you understand what is happening in your brain injured person’s brain and help you design a personal recovery path to New Brain Living. The New Brain Living design was developed when my left hand was affected after my brain injury so I decided to draw to regain the strength in my writing hand. I have books and books of this design so I decided that I would create a logo for New Brain Living that would be a symbol of my recovery journey. Perhaps other people with brain injuries and the people who care for them will use the New Brain Living design as a symbol of hope. The New Brain Living design symbolizes strength because to recover from a brain injury you have to put your feet on the floor every day and never give up on your recovery no matter what. The jagged edges of the design depicts that recovery from a brain injury is not a smooth process, in fact it is filled with moving forward and then moving backwards but there are also calm times which are also represented in the design because amongst all the turmoil of recovery it is during the calm periods that real recovery can take place.

Author: Oostrom, Jean

Topic: Consumer Health
Media: Book
ISBN: 1484956036
Language: English
Pages: 92