Getting Ready for my Move... Continued

A note about Harborview Medical Center-they are good, very good. A friend let me look over her files from a year ago and it is clear that I was not in good shape. Harborview has not quit on me, nor LET ME QUIT either!

I am back seeing a fella by the name of Ross. Ross is a speech pathologist type of fella. He is very smart, and has come up with some interesting ideas on how to get around things that a brain injury can cause.

Our appointment highlighted some things I would like to share.

Folks with high intelligence, sometimes have a more difficult time in recovery-the tricks they must learn are not things they ever had to put to use in their previous life...

Ross figures, like I have, that I have made an approximately 50% recovery-that is good... and bad... It is remarkable that I have come this far considering that at one time I could neither breath on my own, nor talk, ... you get the idea...

My NEED to kayak, and work on wood, etc... probably come from a need to put my fingers on a life that I once knew... and would like to again...

My experiences with my "brain taking a hike..." are not unusual, and my recent choices of taking 15 minute breaks each 45-60 minutes are appropriate and needed. I had been feeling guilty for taking them... OTOH they are what allowed my head to work pretty well for the two, four hour stingts I do at the hospital in the computer department...

"I should take even more notes than I do..." and then try to review them the next day. It looks as though my faith that I only hurt my left brain, is probably unfounded. My ability to "cognate"... to deal with new information has seriously been affected.

I cannot handle a budget, my finances are handled by a friend-she gets my check and that is very good. I have a problem with understanding the concept of time, and proportion. I also don't add 2+2 so good anymore-sheesh this is turning into a 5th step...

I have for the second or third time gone grocery shopping on my own. This last trip took me over 3 hours and then I was in line at the check out-I spent way less than $100... but I was proud of my self!

To save money I skipped soda pop and the like, but I did buy coffee [on sale!] and "mocha creamer"... I cannot afford to be a "Pepsi-holic" for a while... and that's okay... I bought some honey and peanut butter. That way I can better have a lunch at the hospital [.60 for coffee] and also can bring a sandwitch with me when I go paddling...

This is getting long... there must be a better way to divid these pages up, make them easier to read... this page is turning into a novel isn't it?

Ross says that my determination is what is helping me recover... and not to quit. Last week was a really loooong one... brain hiking every day-3 or 4 times a day... but if it will help, I will keep pushing myself.

This move will be something! I am trying to figure the steps needed by me to pull it off. This will be a BIG step, and frightens me a little.... strange thing for a 39 year old man to say eh? But it has been a goal of mine since I woke up last year, to get out on my own I mean. It will not be a complete thing as my money will still be taken care of by my friend and that takes some of the stress off...

The closer I get to the turn of the month, the bigger this idea seems...

Thank you for reading...

Tom... 3/28/99