#brain injury survivor

[kaykaymcdoogle]

It’s been 5 years since I had a stroke. For me, it’s great news that I had a stroke; but for others it was a scary time. But now I am here, sleep-deprived and ready to get on with my life! I’ll see you on the other side, my friends!

[skwibbit]

It’s Brain injury awareness this month 🧠

I am a survivor

Be kind to yourself and others

[mariasanfeliu]

I’m determined to finish this

After successfully writing 10 chapters of my book, I got stuck. I can’t say it was writers block, it was more like I got distracted, which happens to me very easily now. I have small attention span and very bad short term memory after the TBI, which makes it very difficult to write a book about a TBI, but I’m determined to do it. This has happened a lot since I first got the idea to write this,…

[nightmaretour]

Anyway, people with brain damage I love you. People who have had strokes I love you, especially if you're told you were "too young" to have one. People who acquired your brain damage by less common means such as infection, lack of oxygen at birth or degenerative disease, I love you. People with moderate and severe brain damage, I love you. People who lost their sight or hearing or ability to speak because of their brain damage, I love you. People who have paralysis from their brain damage, I love you. People with amnesia and severe cognitive issues from their brain damage, I love you. People with rare and unusual symptoms from their brain damage, I love you.

You are not a punchline, you haven't lost your humanity, your thoughts and opinions are as valuable as anyone else's. We deserve respect.

[ID: a dark red banner with the words "This post is about physical disabilities, do not derail." in grey font. Either side of it is a lighter grey wheelchair user symbol with the user leaning forward with the arms raised and back, giving the appearance of wheeling fast. End ID.]

[noagskryf]

"i wish i could unmask wherever i went." "i wish i was visibly disabled."

Okay, fine.

Do you also wish you were pulled out of class and asked if you've taken illegal substances because you weren't masking?

Do you wish you were just not allowed in class sometimes because of your symptoms being disruptive?

Do you wish parents would pull their children away from you because you walk funny and make weird noises?

Do you wish your parents got sympathy glances whenever youre out in public with them?

Do you wish all this? Or do you wish you were more accepted by society?

EDIT: i think im not very good at explaining myself, this post is targeted at people who say "i wish i was visibly disabled" and then go on to deny that visibly disabled people experience a lot of ableism and danger because of it. this isn't targeted at people who wish they didnt have to hide themselves.

[stellaltumi]

shoutout to all the fellow disabled people who spread awareness and advocacy even when they have no energy to do so, I see you, I love you, and you are so deeply appreciated. your story has the potential to be someone else's survival guide.

[gayaest]

Next of the first years for my paravolley AU is: Tsukishima 🏐🤍

[aeliana-882]

Litterally I'm a 28 year old who has had more brain surgeries than I've had dates in my life and it has taken me years to realize my life IS going to be different from others my age. But I'm so greatful for the people on here who support eachother in our chronic illness and for the people I've met in RP's who are now my friends!

Thank you guys, all of you, you guys have no clue how much your online friendship means to someone like me ❤️🧡💛💚💙🩵💜

[comorbidityqueen]

This may seem like an usual spring tree on an average morning with a sunrise in the background like any other, yet this moment held so much intention of letting go. letting go of trauma from formative years of being soaked in shame and wishing i wasn't part of the world for decades after because of it.

after my stroke i went back to school in the midsts of my rehabilitation and outpatient hospital services. I was still relearning how to walk and was using a wheelchair. My friends no longer wanted to talk to me due to feeling i had "changed too much" and at this time i suffered at the hands of significant peer abuse; bullying if you will. It started from classmates, integrating into the school as a whole as i started hanging out with a new friend group. I was interested in a boy and after one night after going over his house and making out with him the next day at school he laughed at me in front of his friends calling me disabled slurs. I was called countless slurs, often the r word, had things thrown at me, pushed down stairs and was soaked in shame. I started self harming and also had a difficult time at home with emotional invalidation and ignorance, judgment too. It was hard to grieve a life and body i was never going to have, but to compound that and to grieve my self worth and identity that was suppose to be forming at this time, was hugely detrimental to my mental health as well.

i knew visiting somewhere where significant trauma, especially childhood was never going to be easy, yet in that moment i felt so grounded, centred, and at peace for letting go and forgiving those that caused me pain. The boy, i made out with? apologised years later and told me how much he struggled with his own mental health diagnosis and projected his pain onto others and how wrong that was. I don't live in fear, these days. I owe that to sobriety, aa, being in a healthy relationship, processing trauma in a healthy way in sobriety and understanding i have purpose in this world despite every time someone made me feel like i didn't. yes i am living proof bullying can kill you, but in the words of hannah gadsby,

"To be rendered powerless does not destroy your humanity. Your resilience is your humanity. The only people who lose their humanity are those who believe they have the right to render another human being powerless. They are the weak. To yield and not break, that is incredible strength."

[viciousland]

crying on the dancefloor [my bedroom] cause i love learning but the educational system hates me [a neurodivergent person] and i hate it right back

For real... how people do it?

learning at the speed they want me to learn is impossible for someone like me

proving my self worth and my intelligence the way they want me to is impossible for someone like me

how do i prioritize the learning process?

how do i know what's important from what it isn't?

how do i understand what they want with trick questions? like bitch I DO NOT GET IT WHY DO YOU WANT ME TO FAIL?!

[mariasanfeliu]

Time for another EEG

It had been two years since my last electroencephalogram so as much as I didn’t want to, it had to be this year. Even though I know I need to do this, I dread every time my neurologist says I need another one, but he’s right, it had been two years. Two years is a long time, but I still remembered how this process of getting electrodes glued to my head for 24 hours went, so I exercised and washed…

[ozwriterchick]

Also, today is 1 year since my brain broke (I had a stroke)

I’m doing good now, so it’s a celebration :)

[nightmaretour]

I just came across this site that has all sorts of equipment for people who have trouble with use of their hands (there's things to help wheelchair users to carry things too!). I have hemiplegia and so very little use of my left hand, and there's so many things I saw while browsing where I wondered how I've never seen a solution like that before. Some of the things there are way out of my price range, like their all purpose gripping tool, but I'm genuinely so excited about a lot of the things there. They have a tool to pop pills out of blister packs!!

Sharing because I bet there are so many things there that might help someone else too. Like for real some of the stuff here is life changing. I think they're UK based, but it sounds like they ship elsewhere too.

[noagskryf]

Bloody hell i wish i could just drink a cup of water without spilling half of it down myself

And bonus points if ableist fucks didn't laugh about it

[kittentism]

hate feeling like im in the background of my own brain. im so so so aware of my cognitive issues of how its getting worse of how its affecting my mood and processing (because what kitty think and what kitty process is different) and how when kitty get tired it gets so much worse but cant do anything about kitty just stuck hyper aware and watching own life

[iloveanimalsmorethanhumans]

It's been 14 years, now...Wow....

Story time! For those who are not aware of what went down in my life 10 years ago, and even for those who were,

Here's the story:

10 years ago I was a divorced Mama, renting a room in a house with two other women, trying to juggle work and motherhood and I was pretty miserable.

I had just broken up with a guy who turned out to be a severe alcoholic. (Oh, the irony.)

I had spent the evening before hanging out with one of my best friends, laughing at the silliest things until my stomach hurt. I felt pretty good that night. I didn't get home until about 2 a.m. and I had work the next morning.

That same night someone else was up all night, not having nearly as much fun. She and her boyfriend were up all night fighting, and drinking.

At 7 a.m. I managed to get myself up and out the door. I was tired, but still happy.

The other woman would be leaving her boyfriend's house soon. Drunk, and not happy at all. She would have a bottle of wine with her.

My memories of what happened next shatter into bits and pieces.

I can remember voices, talking, being on the side of the road, arguing with the first responders about whether I was wearing a seatbelt or not. Yelling at the same first responders to call Lowe's and tell them I was going to be a little late.

I don't remember much for a while. Totally missed the helicopter ride to Christiana.

I digress. What I forgot was the part where that other woman and I met, in the middle of the road, head on.

The impact spun my van around and caused it to flip. I was partially ejected from the passenger side, partially in a ditch with the top of the passenger side on my chest.

There was a farmer who heard the collision and my screams. (I don't remember screaming, but given the situation it seems to have been an appropriate response.

He called 911 and held the van up off of me until they got there. (I would meet him a little over a year later in better circumstances.)

The time after that is kind of a blur. 3 weeks in the hospital getting pieced back together. My ankle was crushed and some of the bones decided to check out the world outside of the flesh.

My father and Step Mom came up from North Carolina and immediately jumped into cleaning up all of my loose ends and figuring out how to help me piece my life back together.

There are two metal plates and some screws in my leg, they became the plates and screws for the rest of me. I'll be eternally grateful for that.

I'll also always be grateful to my cousins who drove over as soon as they heard so the first people I could see after surgery were family. That still resounds with me, and remains an important memory in the fog.

It took 10 long months, moving to North Carolina, leaving my son here, almost losing my leg to infection, a lot of tears, a lot of laughter, and so much patience and determination.

I look back and can mark the changes in my life since then. The full extent of my injuries wouldn't be discovered for a few years. Hello head injuries and brain damage!

Yeah, I've been through a lot. Some days I struggle more than others, but I survived, and I am thriving. Although some days I can't see it, and depression doesn't just go away after you survive something like that, no matter what the movies show, but the good days outnumber the bad, and overall, I am happy, and I love my life. I'm grateful for it, and I'm grateful for the people sharing it with me. ❤