Stop Hurting That Tree!

     I was out walking with the dying dog today [she has terminal liver failure but so far is comfortable and still eating and holding her own three months post diagnosis] when I came upon a mixed bunch of kids-- some were teens and some younger-- gathered around two trees. The older kids were harassing one of the trees. 

     Specifically, they were grabbing onto one of the lower branches, yanking down to several feet from the ground, and then attempting to sit on the branch and bounce on it. There were no adults in sight. [The kids were at some sort of day camp I think]. The property being used was board of education, i.e. school, property.

     The tree branch was not designed for what it was being put through.

     I had several choices. I mulled them over in my brain. I decided to do something in spite of my reluctance to get involved and my uncomfortability factor.

     I stood there with my hands on my hips. Then I projected my voice as loudly as it could go without giving myself coughing spasms. [My voice is soft. What other people consider to be "conversation level" sounds frightfully loud to me].

     "Why are you hurting that tree?" I asked.
     "Stop hurting that tree!"
     and finally, "Let go of that tree!"

     The adolescents-- to their credit-- did. A younger boy who was not involved in the tree incident waved at me in a friendly fashion. I waved back at him.

     A young adult then appeared at the doorway. The adolescents and basketballs dispersed. "Well, get into your groups," he told the junior high and elementary school aged children. He could not look me in the eye. I am not a proponent of eye contact so this was fine with me. 

     Life went on.

     Here is a picture of the tree an hour after having its branch jerked around. The branch is not where it should be. The teens were really going at it and I was afraid that the branch was going to be broken off.

Bottom branch of this tree was pulled from about six feet to the ground numerous times. Picture was taken an hour later with the branch still not in its proper position. I took the picture myself so go away copyright monopoly trolls. You are not welcome here.

 sapphoq healing t.b.i. and resultant brain damage says: Speaking up is part of being a responsible community citizen. When choosing to do so, pick your words carefully. Do not attack the person, only the action. Those children and teens that you do not understand will be here long after both of us are dead and gone.

If You Aren't Going to Help Me, Then Get Out of My Way

     I was at a workshop recently where leaders of some committees were speaking. One such committee had the title "special needs" in it. The man was speaking about an experience that he had had while volunteering at a day program that warehouses survivors of traumatic brain injury five days a week for five or more hours a day. 

     The earnest volunteer found out that a woman who refused to read anything in a group setting-- she would throw the book across the room whenever asked to read-- actually could read words if he pointed to them individually. "They run together," she shrugged when carefully questioned, "so I tell people I can't read."

     The volunteer did not know that eighty percent of t.b.i. survivors have visual perception/ ocular-motor dysfunction/ visual processing problems. "The eyes are an out-cropping of the brain," I told him. "Large print helps because we need more 'white space' between the words." I could tell this was new information to him. Why oh why didn't the day program address this problem among its' customers? We are fortunate to have some competent physicians in the area who are well-versed in complications after a brain injury, including several eye docs.

     The book-throwing woman did not have to suffer the humiliation of being asked to read over and over again in spite of her protests. The company who ran the day program certainly could have fostered a visual eval for the woman. The visual problems that we have are not related to visual acuity. [Visual acuity is what is measured by the standard vision exams. Think Snellen eye charts and 20/20]. 

     Brain injury professionals in various disciplines need to communicate with each other for the good of their patients and customers. I expect competent treatment when I avail myself of any medical or other professional services. That an agency which conducts any sort of day programming for brain injury survivors would not educate its workers and volunteers about a very common complication for us is inexcusable. Period.

     Traumatic brain injury is frustrating enough, especially early on after diagnosis. To have professionals not know how to address a basic complication really sucks.



     Here are a few random stats and factoids about complications of traumatic brain injuries:

80% of survivors have visual perception/ocular-motor dysfunction/visual processing problems.
     A thorough eye exam by a t.b.i.-competent professional is a must.
     Large print may help [because we need more 'white space' in between words].
     E-readers with anti-glare screens may help.
     Wearing a visor may help.

20% of survivors have hearing deficits due to their t.b.i.

50% of survivors develop sleep apneas, either due to the t.b.i. itself or due to obesity which may come from inability or lack of motivation to exercise. Ditto diabetes.

Some percentage of survivors develop clinical depression due to damage in the left frontal-temporal lobe. If there was pre-morbid depression, symptoms may accelerate because survivors need larger doses of their psych drugs than before.

Incidences of addictions to drugs including but not limited to alcoholism increase after a traumatic brain injury [in comparison to the general population].

Survivors who were clean before their traumatic brain injury run an increased risk of relapse [in comparison to relapse among non-t.b.i.ers].

and finally:
We do have well-developed senses of humor. We have to in order to deal with some of the less than competent "professionals" that we are exposed to.



     The idea that "Traumatic brain injury survivors don't have a sense of humor" is a myth. With the lowering of our inhibitions comes the ability to laugh at what we truly find to be humorous and not to laugh when we don't think it's humorous. Those professionals who insist that we no longer "get" jokes usually are the joke.



sapphoq healing t.b.i. says: The onset of brain damage frees us from fulfilling societal expectations. This upsets some professionals. It leaves them to spin their wheels because we "don't co-operate" or refuse to conform to the status quo. When coming out of a-motivational syndrome into a level of determination that was missing in early t.bi. survivorship, we deserve to experience for ourselves the pushing against any limits imposed upon us by professionals. Sometimes, even well-meaning professionals believe in the fiction that surrounds life after a t.b.i. Sometimes, professionals forget that we are the experts on our own lives. If that hurts a professional's false ego, oh well. 

What Duck Dynasty Teaches Me

     I am fortunate to have a variety of mentors who have helped me to learn how to continue living and having a life after my brain damage. I appreciate people who have believed in me enough to teach me about responsibility and dreams at a time when things were pretty dark. Traumatic brain injury changed my life. Although my life is different now, I still very much have a life.

     Through my interaction with conservatives on Twitter (tm), I am reminded that in spite of my present neurological difficulties I can keep striving. I do not have to be a lump in a chair sleeping my life away to the drone of teevee talk shows. I can be a contributing self-supporting member of society. There is no self-esteem to be found in hand-outs. No one owes me a living. 

     Yes, I am an atheist. I have been a non-theist for many years. Even so, I can certainly learn from those who have differing religious viewpoints. I have found that in spite of my non-beliefs, I fit in better with those of a libertarian bent than I would have ever suspected. And I discovered Duck Dynasty.

     The Robertson family is from around Monroe, Louisiana. They are proud red-necks. They make me laugh. They remind me of folks I used to know when I was living in Baton Rouge. They are practical and fun people. At the end of the show, they pray. They get to do that. I don't care. The right to self-expression is not limited to "those who agree with me totally on everything." I stand with Phil Robertson. He expressed his Christian beliefs in an interview with a magazine and the world blew up. He has an absolute right to do so. As a heterosexual man, he does not have to understand same-gender love and relationships. As a Christian man, he does not have to endorse something that he believes is wrong. No one has to.

     Here are some of the things that I've learned through watching Duck Dynasty:

Being different is okay.
     
Doing stuff differently than other people do it is okay.

Building stuff is fun, even if it comes out weird.

I can express myself without cursing.

Family is important.

sapphoq healing brain damage