Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jan 28, 2012, 8:31 am
My grandson plays every sport on the planet it seems – football, soccer, baseball, and even basketball even though he is probably the most height challenged player on the team. He always gives it his all and plays as hard as he can – it’s just in his DNA. I love watching him play and I know he...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jan 21, 2012, 10:05 am
If you have any anoxic brain injury or another type of brain injury that affects your cognitive abilities, continue to challenge your brain. I continue to be amazed at the power of the brain to overcome obstacles. We’ve all heard that we have much more brain power than we choose to use – so why ...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jan 8, 2012, 9:53 am
Not only did I forget a lot of things after my anoxic brain injury, I quickly discovered that learning new things after brain injury requires a planned strategy and dedicated effort. You see, after my anoxic brain injury where lack of oxygen had “killed” the brain cells that provide short-term m...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Dec 31, 2011, 11:08 pm
Well it’s that time again – we’re starting over with a new year – 2012! New Year’s Eve has been one of my favorite holidays for years. It’s like wiping the slate clean and beginning anew. It’s a time to reminisce the past and plan for the future. This New Year is especially exciting an...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Dec 24, 2011, 8:23 am
We all have stress in our lives. Sometimes it’s even good stress. Still, whether it’s excitement or depression, we all experience it. There are a thousand and one therapists and well-meaning relatives and friends who can give us their profession or non-profession opinion on ways to relieve stres...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Dec 14, 2011, 8:47 am
Shopping for the Christmas holiday can cause a lot of stress. It can be especially stressful for someone who is living with an acquired brain injury. As with other tasks and projects, there is a way to make things a bit simpler. For instance – holiday shopping online can be helpful for someone who...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Dec 3, 2011, 8:08 am
The only thing better than hearing great news about your own health, is hearing great news about the health of the love of your life. I now know how Larry felt when he learned I would survive the ARDS which resulted in my brain injury. Of course, at the time, we were unaware of my brain injury since...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Nov 27, 2011, 3:25 pm
Every person's behavior is affected by circumstances. We all react at a given moment according to all that is going on in our lives at that particular moment. Anger, happiness, frustration, love, lust, disappointment, fear, greed, hope, guilt, pride, sadness, surprise and distress are some of the fe...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Nov 19, 2011, 2:56 pm
I was watching the interview with Gabby Giffords earlier this week and was so happy to see how far she has come. It’s great she has so many resources to help her learn to live with her brain injury. Yes, she has come a very long way from where she started, but she has so much farther to go to get ...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Nov 13, 2011, 2:42 pm
I was reviewing some articles on Brain Injury Online today and was drawn to the Brain Injury Stories page. It reminded me of how many others there are out there living every day with some type of brain injury. This particular page is a place for others to share their head injury information. It help...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Nov 6, 2011, 6:21 am
Nobody ever said life was easy. It seems that way sometimes when looking at others lives, but usually if you dig deep enough you will find all is not as peachy as it appears outwardly. When it comes right down to it, we as individuals who want a fulfilling life have to fight for it. That’s especia...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Oct 29, 2011, 10:00 pm
Well, it’s time to organize again. This is the time of year to put away summer clothes and sandals as I organize my closet with my winter clothes, shoes and boots. Likewise, when my mind starts to get cluttered with too many thoughts and tasks, I know it is time for me to take a breath and start t...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Oct 16, 2011, 9:33 am
Sometimes I just need to get away from the routines in my life. I start to feel like I’m in a rut and going nowhere. And, sometimes it feels comfortable to just be in that routine – going through the motions of life without having to have great concern about anything. If you read my blog regular...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Oct 2, 2011, 7:54 am
Survivors who are living with an anoxic or hypoxic brain injury; which means their brains have been deprived of oxygen for a period of time, often deal with what I have termed, the invisible brain injury. Outsiders who do not know a person has experience this type of brain injury, tend to think they...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Sep 18, 2011, 8:29 am
Until it was explained to me exactly how my brain was injured after my anoxic brain injury and actually how the brain works, it was difficult to understand why I was having so much difficulty remembering things that occurred only a few minutes before. I was thinking earlier today about how I would e...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Sep 11, 2011, 3:28 pm
Everyone needs security – whether it’s feeling secure within your normal day to day activities or feeling secure from any harmful outside circumstance such as it was during the horrific event of 9-11 ten years ago. We all began to feel a sense of insecurity on that day and were drawn closer toge...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Sep 4, 2011, 4:49 pm
Well, it's football season again. One of my sons came by today to use my printer as he was preparing to go to a fantacy football gathering. Competition is definitely in the air and everybody is thinking win, win, win. I attended a motivational seminar last week. Football coach Lou Holtz...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Aug 28, 2011, 5:37 pm
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. ~Winston Churchill So true. Doesn’t it though? When you think about it, life is all about attitude. You can have a positive attitude, a bad attitude, or just have a little attitude in general. As is true with any dis...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Aug 21, 2011, 6:10 pm
Letting go is one of the hardest things for a caregiver. There are degrees of letting go and the trick is to know when the time is right. I have worn both the shoes of the caregiver and of the survivor of an anoxic brain injury. That is – I still live with brain injury and Larry has b...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Aug 14, 2011, 5:42 pm
Confusion is a result of stress and also contributes to more stress. You sit and stare in wonderment at your computer screen not knowing what to do next. The project you have been working on for months now looks like something you've never seen before. Stress causes mental fatigu...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Aug 6, 2011, 2:09 pm
Sustaining a traumatic brain injury is a horrible thing, but an acquired brain injury of any type can be no less traumatic. It can ruin lives and break up families just as a “traumatic” brain injury can do. The medical community states that a “traumatic” brain injury occurs when an external ...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jul 24, 2011, 12:47 pm
What a wonder the brain is! I was sitting in an exam room last week waiting for the neurologist. I was sort of bored when I discovered a new poster that had been added to the back of the door. It caught my interest because it was laid out well with lots of great images of various parts of the brain....
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jul 17, 2011, 3:18 pm
It is definitely the lazy hazy days of summer. Just when we think it couldn’t get much hotter – it does. So rather than complain about the weather it seems like a great idea to just find the enjoyable aspects of it somehow. For those of us who are fortunate enough these days to be employed, we s...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jul 10, 2011, 8:04 am
I was just reading an article on the CNN website that I thought would be good to share. I was agreeing with the writers statements – saying to myself “this is good – I’m glad the military is finally recognizing these truths about acquired brain injury”. The article entitled “CPR for Your...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jul 2, 2011, 12:36 pm
Once a year we celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July to recognize our country’s independence. There are several types of independence and losing that independence is a terrible thing. When I lost my independence after my anoxic brain injury, I was devastated. It brought on depression alon...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jun 19, 2011, 2:15 pm
Once I had gone through the denial period an accepted that I had a brain injury, the first thing I wanted to do was to know what areas of my brain had been damaged. Understanding your brain injury is imperative to learning how to live with the damaged areas. By using compensatory strategies, I have ...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jun 12, 2011, 12:04 pm
No matter what happens life goes on and you do what you have to do every day. How you choose to approach situations is up to you, but life happens day after day. Whether a person is living with a brain injury, cancer, or some other unplanned and unwanted situation, life just goes on. It is how we c...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jun 5, 2011, 11:34 am
Lately I’ve been feeling like my head is in a fish bowl. There are too many different important things to remember and sometimes I feel like I’m going down for the third time. When I get to that point, I step back and remember what is really important in my life. (I may cry a little first - feel...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - May 28, 2011, 10:14 pm
Well here it is Memorial Day and summer is around the corner. People have either headed out on vacation or they are in the planning stages for the upcoming summer season. Chad, our first born, and his family just recently bought a ski boat and are heading to the lake at every opportunity. Sean, our ...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - May 15, 2011, 9:24 am
I just watched a Sanjay Gupta special about the progress Gabby Giffords has made since her brain injury which occurred due to a gunshot wound to the head. I have watched quite a few of the segments Dr. Gupta has done on brain injury and have always found them to contain accurate information – not ...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - May 7, 2011, 10:39 am
Well, I’m back. Last week I never even had time to think about this blog. I do believe the last month has included some of the busiest days ever! Getting Larry to his Chemo and Radiation treatments, trying to get in some office hours, grocery shopping, keeping up with medications and appointments,...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Apr 24, 2011, 8:46 am
One of my biggest challenges after my anoxic brain injury was making decisions – especially making decisions in a timely manner. Memories (now) of being in the grocery store with Larry while he was trying to teach me to not take all day making a decision are fond ones. Not so much then. I had to a...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Apr 17, 2011, 10:11 am
While I do believe in prayer and have seen it work in my life multiple times, I am reluctant to carry on about it when I speak and in my writing of this blog. However, I must say today that I am so thankful for what I believe was a direct answer to my prayer with regard to the PET scan test Larry ha...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Apr 9, 2011, 8:06 am
If you don’t already know by now, as brain injury survivors we are geared toward selfishness. There may be exceptions, but I was not and am not one of them. It has been easy for me to be that way since I am surrounded by lots of people who love me and allow me to be that way from time to time. Som...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Apr 3, 2011, 6:46 pm
There a many types of brain injuries. Not every one of them is termed a traumatic brain injury since that seems to be reserved for trauma to the brain caused by a physical injury as in a car accident or being hit over the head with an object. However, when you consider the trauma that is experienced...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Mar 27, 2011, 6:15 pm
Those of us who live with an acquired brain injury have a tendency to be over protective of those we love and even strangers we see endangering themselves to a possible brain injury. We know what they could face and if they have an accident that involves the brain and we want to spare them from the ...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Mar 20, 2011, 12:54 pm
If you’re standing still, you’re moving backwards – delaying forward progress. This is an old saying – but it’s true. If we’re not moving forward towards our goals, we are moving backwards. This is true regardless of the type of brain injury – whether it’s a Traumatic Brain Injury, a...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Mar 13, 2011, 7:05 pm
Many of us who managed to survive an acquired brain injury now live with the after affects which sometimes includes learning to manage migraine headaches. I say manage them because most people are unable to rid themselves completely of them. However, with all the prescriptions on the market now, the...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Mar 6, 2011, 3:10 pm
Earlier this week I logged into my laptop at work only to find out I had lost my connection to both the intranet and the internet. I was “down” and unable to do much work. It wasn’t just me. Most others around me were having the same problem. While it was frustrating to not be able to do my jo...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Feb 27, 2011, 7:51 am
I really love my mom. She is always encouraging when I discuss my confidence level in a certain situation. She understands that I have a physical problem of no peripheral vision after my brain injury. However, I’m not sure she completely gets it when it comes to understanding the emotional and cog...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Feb 20, 2011, 7:36 pm
It is true that a survivor is someone who lived through an accident or some other tragedy in their life and “survived” the event – thus a survivor. But being a survivor, especially in brain injury terms, means so much more. In today’s world, the word “survivor” is used about as loo...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Feb 13, 2011, 10:29 am
Tomorrow is February 14th – Valentine’s Day. Lots of people will be giving flowers, candy, jewelry and numerous other creative gifts to try to show their affection for someone they care about. It can be a romantic holiday and I guess that’s why I have always liked it more than many others. Lar...
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Larry J. posted an article on Uncle Brice's Blog - Feb 7, 2011, 3:30 pm
What is a Boy was written by an anonymous author and was published in The Nevada News of Prescott, Arkansas on January 25, 1951. It was recently resurrected by Jerry McKelvy in his Sandyland Chronicle and serves as the basis for this article. My thoughts were turned to this subject with the SuperB...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Feb 6, 2011, 11:50 am
I recently heard a co-worker talking about his awesome memory. Well, good for him but not everyone was blessed with such a memory. Some of us who originally had that gift lost it for one reason or another. I had an above average memory prior to my acquired brain injury. It was extremely useful to me...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jan 30, 2011, 10:55 am
The brain is filled with information and emotions surrounding our current and past life events. No matter what life events occur along the way, life goes on after brain injury. Yesterday I visited my dad’s gravesite and placed a single red rose on his tombstone. It was one year yesterday that he w...
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Larry J. posted an article on Uncle Brice's Blog - Jan 26, 2011, 5:43 am
United States Representative Gabrielle Giffords has a friend in author Tom Zoellner. Tom has known Gabby for a decade and has even knocked on doors in the Arizona sun in support of her campaign. He knows a side of her all America would like to know. Tom wrote, "I want her to be able to ride her mot...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jan 23, 2011, 3:00 pm
Returning to the rest of society after a brain injury is no easy task. The extent to which a person can “recover” depends on several factors - two of which are the portion of the brain injured and the severity of the injury. A third major factor is the underlying personality of the brain injury ...
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Larry J. posted an article on Uncle Brice's Blog - Jan 22, 2011, 7:16 am
Job killing is the new buzzword being applied to any and every thing Republicans and their sponsors don’t like. Their sponsors? You betcha, to quote someone who knows how to raise the value of a personal bank account. Job killing, used as a buzzword, does not need to be used accurately. It simply...
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Larry J. posted an article on Beth's Brain Injury Blog - Jan 16, 2011, 1:00 pm
What is “full recovery” when it comes to brain injury? The average person (and some in the medical profession who have had no real interaction with a brain injury case) is under the impression that full recovery is a possibility. That is, they think the person can return to the exact same state ...
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Larry J. posted an article on Uncle Brice's Blog - Jan 14, 2011, 9:39 am
Brain injury is, perhaps, one of the most misunderstood of tragedies that can happen to a person. Because everyone’s brain is different prior to the injury, everyone’s brain injury is specific to the individual. Gabby Giffords and her family face a recovering period not knowing at the moment w...
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