The most commonly used expression I have heard since waking up is
“How is your recovery going”?
Which led me to realize that if you ask anyone how their feeling after coming out of a serious accident you will probably get a slightly similar response along the lines of…
“Pretty sh*t actually”, “not that great”, “could be better”. and that’s on a good day.
Although, here’s where the twist comes in.
Traumatic Brain Injury not only comes with a range of cognitive problems including:
Arousal and over-stimulation, Informational retrieval, attention, acquiring new information, problem solving and high level thinking skills (executive skills)
You may also find yourself with filtering issues, and by issues I mostly mean you may not even have a filter.
I am most surely talking about “impulsive behavior symptoms”, produced from all brain injuries although the worst resulting from focal frontal lobe injuries.
That just happened to be me.
So ask someone with a TBI including myself, how our recovery is going and if capable we might just write you a four page essay on all the things that you personally could be doing to improve it.
We may also comically compare you to concerning Disney characters, which I will touch on later…
So if you wanted a worst case scenario for socially inappropriate behavior, look no further.
My first visitor other then family was Tania the mother of Hugh my best friend who I have known since 8 years old, of Size 24 and approximately 120kg, she was definitely more to love.
The most genuine and loving person, who’s couch was always free for me whenever I needed it, she was very familiar with my pre-accident craziness although she never could of expected what came next.
Waking me up from my resting period I looked up at her and without thinking said
“Oh Tania I love you so much and what I love about you the most is you’re always happy, you’re always healthy and never hungry”!
I then went on to tell her about how much fun I had at her daughters 30th, not realizing that she was only 24 years old.
Following up with a few jokes regarding “Ursula” from the little mermaid only to fall asleep right after.
Her car trip home with Hugh involved a long discussion of how
“Dylan may never be the same ever again but we should still love him as he is”.
This was the first of many unfiltered moments and much like Instagram once a firm picture is posted for the world to see, it can be very difficult to take back!
Really makes you wonder all the things we might say if we didn’t have that little voice of reason telling us not too, even to those we love.
I can say that Tania has since gone on to get stomach stapling surgery and has lost almost 30kg, a feat more then worthy of a mention!
What an incredible transformation and just another source of inspiration for myself to see someone else overcoming their own struggles.
I have always been proud to call Tania my second mum, but I couldn’t be prouder to see her looking just as incredible on the outside as I have always known her to be on the inside
Please know that some cognitive problems like #nobrainfilter will resolve over time, many through specific rehabilitation.
The best tips I could give you to guide you through your own lack of a filter would be too:
- Expect to act impulsive
- Identify what triggers those impulses
- Self-Monitor &
- Surround yourself with good people, who have a great sense of humor.
Also I’ve found you can be more impulsive around those you find attractive or want to impress, so please lads no brain injured pickup lines.
Again to finish up, Great work Tania!
Still love you heaps although I bet your hungry now 😉
