Falling and Physical Therapy Again

I've succeeded in injuring my back twice in a month.  After the first injury, there was a spot in the middle of my lower back that had spasms for three weeks.  Out came the TENS Unit.  I was glad that I had one [purchased for me after the motor vehicle accident which had insulted my brain into her present condition].  

A few days after the spasms stopped, I fell.  When I do fall, I tend to fall to the right.  I am still having trouble with uneven ground.  This time, I fell on my back.  I was not a happy camper.  My neck muscles kicked into automatic and strained forward in order to avoid a whiplash.  A week after this, I consented to sign up for physical therapy.

I had my eval this week.  I learned several things.  There was good news and not so good news.  The good news was that my hips were fairly strong and that the p.t. folks would work with me on some balance exercises and my uneven ground issue.  The bad news was that my falling had more to do with my perception problems [courtesy of the brain damage... le sigh] and that my right side, all these years later, was still showing evidence of having been far more injured during the accident than my left side.  I've worked very hard through the years and to find out that bit of news did not exactly thrill me.  Brain damage sucks.  Oh well.  I am alive to complain about it.  That is something.  Beats the alternative.

I was given a sheet of exercises to do at home.  That was something I had requested.  Some of them target the latest back injury.  Some of them target my very tight hamstrings.  Yeah, I did them today.  Yes, when I go to physical therapy I work very hard to derive the greatest benefit from it that I can.

Meanwhile, I have renewed my commitment to myself in terms of healthy eating habits, sleep, and exercise.  I am worth it.  This body is not the body that I came into the world with.  Likewise, Briella [still brilliant but a bit sideways] is not the brain that I came into the world with.  Shit happens and it is up to me to make the best of it.  Whining is ineffective.  I cannot be who I used to be.  I might as well keep striving to do the best I can with this particular set of cards that I've been dealt with.

sapphoq healing t.b.i. says:  I've done my share of screaming and crying.  I've been at this for quite awhile.  The grief and sorrow that I went through after realizing that my battered brain was not going to revert to the brain that I used to know was a very necessary grief and sorrow.  Because I've been at this for quite awhile, I am no longer overwhelmed by the impact that my traumatic brain injury has on my life.  Aside from the occasional bad moment, I pretty much keep myself moving forward as best I can these days.       

Three Dimensional Fun

The picture is of an open floor plan house that I created on Trimble© Sketch-Up.  I have the free version which Google© popularized.  You can find more of what I've been playing with at the 3-D Warehouse© .  My collection is called "do as you will."

Since my motor vehicle accident and resultant traumatic brain injury, I have all kinds of perception and ocular motor
problems.  These difficulties are not a result of any deficiency in my visual acuity.  [Visual Acuity is measured by the Snellen Eye Chart, how clearly one can see and results in a measurement of a/b e.g. 20/20, 20/30...  My visual acuity is very good.  I don't need glasses to drive].  But my eyes don't play nicely together or with my brain.  Consequently, I live with double vision and photophobia.  Almost nine years after my brain damage, I continue to work at cognitive exercises and puzzles daily.  One of the things I've started to play with is the free version of Trimble© Sketch-Up. 

Since around the middle of August, I have been creating three dimensional models of shapes, houses, other buildings, furniture (mainly coffee tables), and a few other random things almost daily.  And I've gotten better at it.  There are free videos available but I've found that I am better off experimenting with the toolbar myself and only resorting to watching part of a video if I get stuck on something that I am attempting.  I like making the models and found it a natural progression from making e-stationary and textures.  [Note: the textures on my house above are all included with the free version of Sketch-Up.  So they aren't textures that I've created].

I've found creating a ball to be more difficult than making any of the models in this sample of things I've done.  And creating 3D shapes (-- other than the rectangle-- rendering a successful model of a four sided di took me several hours) was harder for me to learn than how to chauffer edges.  (The surface of this kitchen table is chauffered, using a tool called "Follow Me).

 

 

 

 

I like challenging myself to learn new things, even stuff that forces my eyes and brain to work together.  And forcing myself to use my damaged brain to think in new or unfamiliar ways is a definite win.

sapphoq on healing t.b.i.