Having a Brain Injury and a Guide for attending Dr.’s Appointments

I think that it is important for individuals who are living with the impact of a brain injury to understand how the brain works. Specifically, what part of their brain was injured and impacted due to their injury.

Having a neurologist explain to them and their family members/caregivers may help to increase compassion and empathy. Compassion and empathy in doctors, family members, caregivers and friends.

There are many resources to explain how the brain works and functions. During my search for a resource that is easy to understand, I found this link: Brain Anatomy and How the Brain Works

Invisible Nature of Brain Injuries

Brain injury often becomes invisible after external wounds have healed. Because of this reality, doctors and other medical support personnel may need to be understand. Understand that you have an invisible disability may help them to dig deeper to understand you, so that you do not feel misunderstood.

Understanding that you are living with a disability that cannot be seen, may help them to show more compassion and empathy to you as they participate in your rehabilitation and recovery process.

Being an Advocate

Understanding how your brain has been damaged can then be shared with Physical Therapist’s, Speech Therapist’s, Recreational Therapist’s and Occupational Therapists. These therapists can then develop a specific treatment plan that can help the individuals to advocate for themselves.

Encourage these individuals to advocate for themselves after these various therapist’s have finished their treatment plans. Advocate for themselves to work to enhance their quality of living.

Compensating for Injury

By learning how to compensate for the impacted function affected by the damage will help them to enhance their quality of life. Increase their quality of living, despite their now deficits and limitations because of the damage to the specific area of their brain.

By understanding and being able to explain how their brain has been damaged will also help them when meeting. When meeting with other medical personnel and providers who may not understand how their brain has been impacted by the injury.

Understanding how their brain has been damaged, because of the injury, may also help them to accept and have empathy toward themselves. Empathy to help them realize that although they may have deficits and limitations, they can learn how to compensate.

How to compensate for their now deficits and limitations, instead of feeling helpless and hopeless. By realizing that they can learn how to compensate for their now deficits and limitations they can take steps to advocate for themselves.’

Advocate for their Needs

Advocate for their needs in mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions, as they become aware. Aware of how their brain injury impacts the way they now think. Aware of how their body has been affected by their brain injury. Aware of how the injury affects the way that they relate.

Relate to the God of their understanding and themselves. Aware of how the injury impacts their energy as they relate to people, places and things. Aware of how they “feel” and experience what happens in life.

Enhancing their Quality of Living

Understanding how the brain works, functions, and how the damage the brain works impacts quality of living opens the door. Opens the door to being able to create a life that does not have to be limited. Limited by the damage done by the injury to those brain functions.

How Understanding helped My Process and quality of Living

Living with the impact of an open skull fracture, right frontal lobe damage, a severe brain bruise with brain stem involvement for 57 years has given me insights that have helped me to increase my quality of living.

Over the course of the past 18 years, I have written and created resources to share what helped to enhance my quality of living. To be able to share these resources I created 30 Discussion and Keynote presentations, 19 eBooks published on Amazon and 24 Posters.

To view outlines of the discussion and keynote presentations, links to my 19 eBooks on Amazon and my 24 Posters, please scroll down. Clicking on the links will open the resource on my website or on Amazon.

Availability to be of Service

I am available to offer these discussion and keynote presentations to groups, organizations, as an in service or in any other venue. Since June 2020 I have shared from these presentations (virtually) throughout the United States 143 times, with upcoming events. See this link: Public Speaking