Surely there are more people out there with brain injury?

Hi Maree,

I'm glad that you responded but I feel sorry that you too have suffered.

A major brain injury must be a very difficult thing t cope with day to day. My mild TBI has left me with sight problems, constant headaches, restricted short term memory and balance problems. Having more than that to cope with would have been more than I could bare. Fifteen years is a very long journey - they did tell me it would take some time but…

I hope you have a good support network helping you. This is what I really would have wished for but it has not resulted so far.

I hope you keep hope in your heart,

Angela

Thanks Angela.   I wish, too, that I had a good support network, but the stroke destroyed my ability to produce oxytocin, so nobody wants to spend time with me, except people who feel they have a moral obligation (extended family, neighbours who knew me when I was younger, people who I was close to before the stroke) or people who like to patronize me.
I know the memory defecits make life very hard, it is not something you think about when your memory works automatically, but when it requires you to really concentrate on what you have to remember, or use aids, like paper notes, it is frustrating and annoying.

Hi Ang,
I have often wondered whether it would be better to be blind or deaf, and have always thought being blind would be better so that you could still join in conversations, and not feel so very lonely.
Yes, I know you said that youare not blind, and you must be very thankful for that.  My eyesight was badly affected after the stroke, I had double vision, which meant that I could not read, and most attivities were totaly unenjoyable.  Even going shopping at the supermarket was distressing because I could not read the signs on, say, the fruit and veg.  Fortunately i had laser surgery to correct being short sighted shortly after the stroke, and the opthamogist corrected the double vision at the same time.
I just wish that other people could not tell that I have had a brain injury, it would mean  that they would be less likely to patronize me, and treat me like an inferior.  it has been my edperionce that, if peiople know that you have suffered a brain injury, then their opinion is that you MUST be mentally retarded. and therefore you do not have to be treated as an equal with respect, but they can treat you like a child, to be seen, not heard, and that you can be instructed in what to do, and how to behave.
I am obviously not having a good dayu, today,and I am sorry for the vent