
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
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David is a survivor of traumatic brain injury. In this blog he shares his experiences and gives tips to help other brain injury survivors.
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
2M ago
An anniversary passed quietly last month without much fanfare. November marked the eleven-year anniversary as a contributing writer to Brainline. Like the car that struck me back in 2010, this is something I never saw coming.
Brainline is a trusted source for information about brain injury, and one that Sarah and I leaned on heavily after my injury. To fast-forward from those early years to today – nothing short of amazing.
This article is my 133 consecutive monthly article, something I take great pride in. You see that I still struggle, though I struggle less. I still hav ..read more
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
2M ago
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve found myself looking back over my life. Sometimes it’s a quick glance over my shoulder, looking at yesterday. Other times, I look back further—much further.
The picture on the left was taken back in 2005. I had just emerged from warm Hawaiian waters after scuba diving with sea turtles. At the time, I was still two years away from a diabetes diagnosis and four years away from our wedding day.
I was a different person then—mentally, spiritually, and physically. Close to the peak of my weight gain at just under 300 pounds, my wetsuit was most likely either ..read more
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
3M ago
It’s hard to believe that today is the 14-year anniversary of my accident. It was the most pivotal day in my life, one that delineates “before and after.”
Life before was relatively carefree, my life skies were deep blue, the grass was green, and life was as uneventful as it gets.
<Insert nasty cycling crash here>
When I came to on Main Street after being struck by a sixteen-year-old driver, I was a different person, though I didn’t know it yet.
Everything was about to change—and I do mean everything. Little did I know that it was more ..read more
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
3M ago
Thank you BrainLine.org for publishing my newest article. As the days wind down to my accident anniversary, this reflective piece is just me trying put order behind chaos, and to better understand what it means to live a life of purpose.
~D
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Finding Purpose After Trauma
November has always been a bittersweet month for me. This year, when the calendar hits November 11, I’ll mark my fourteenth anniversary of the event that not only changed my life but also the lives of everyone close to me. Over the years, my injury anniversa ..read more
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
3M ago
It's funny how much I took for granted. In my life before everything changed, I'd just climb into bed, and awake the next day.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
These days, I take nothing for granted. Nothing. I'm closing in on two weeks of back-to-back nights of solid sleep.
There are two sides to the sleep coin. Prolonged sleep debt, debt spanning many years, comes with a very heavy price. PTSD certainly has a long shelf life.
But the winning side of the coin is stacking consecutive nights of solid sleep. It really feels like winning the Sleep Lottery.
My mindfulness train ..read more
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
4M ago
Usually when I write, I have a starting point, an endpoint, and plenty to say along the way. Not today.
Years ago, I made the decision to be painfully transparent in sharing my journey. That is, at least in a small part, the nature of an advocate.
Some things are easy to talk about. Ask me about my grandbabies, and you’ll get an earful. But some things really suck. I don’t mean vacuum cleaner suck; I mean literally suck – as in suck the life right out of you. And that type of suck really sucks to write about.
This is… tough to share.
Last Sunday found me in a literal crisis. I’m not t ..read more
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
4M ago
Looking for some midweek hope? I encourage you to take a moment to read my newest BrainLine.org article.
Peace,
David
Redefining Brain Injury Recovery
After my brain injury, I asked anyone who would listen: “When will I get back to normal?” The answers were as varied as Pantone colors. Wise brain injury survivors would tell me that recovery was lifelong, which was not what I wanted to hear. Members of the medical community were more concrete in their answers, though they were 100 percent wrong. Early on, one professional told me that I would be completely recovered within 18 months ..read more
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
5M ago
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September is National Suicide Prevention Month. It is a time to acknowledge those affected by suicide, raise awareness, and help others seek treatment.
Our family has been touched again by suicide. This past April, my dad took ..read more
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
6M ago
It’s been three weeks, and I seem to be getting along just fine. Three weeks ago, I made a “quality of life” decision when I quit watching the news. While this may seem ho-hum to many people, I have been a bona-fide news junkie for my entire adult life.
My decades-long passion for the news actually started when I was just a kid, but I won’t bore you with the long backstory. I do, however, take pride in knowing what is happening in our World-at-Large.
But of late, it has become increasingly difficult to watch the daily news. On a typical day, there are reports of war, famine, pe ..read more
David's Traumatic Brain Injury Blog
7M ago
Thank you to Brainline for publishing my mos recent article, a hope-inspired article if ever there was one!
~David
Taking a Victory Lap After Brain Injury
There is no denying that living with a brain injury brings many challenges — both seen and unseen. Later this year, I’ll celebrate two anniversaries, both of which changed my life. This November marks the 14-year anniversary of the day I was T-boned by a newly licensed teenage driver while I was out cycling, from which I sustained a traumatic brain injury. Was it the worst day of my life? I’ll let you decide.
In November, I will co ..read more