neurorehabilitationFromTheTrenches

I did say this would be a subject of a future blog post. Here it is, I had hoped that one of my slightly more music savvy guest bloggers would do the honours but you're stuck with me. So, I will use this post to create a TBI playlist with the Wilburys running the show. I can't remember the first song of theirs I heard. It was almost certainly The End of the Line or Handle with Care , whichever, it shook me up. I remember thinking "wow, Youtube really has my number" and "is that Bob Dylan?.... AND Roy Orbison!" I won't bore you with a summary of the original super group but if you're interested, and you should be, you'll find that here . Next on the list is The Pogues with The Band Played Waltzing Matilda . As well as being relevant to my rehabilitation, due to my failed attempt to have it as my song to sing, in music therapy, it's just bloody brilliant. It tells the story of an Australian teenager being dragged into World War One, and

It has nothing to do with my brain injury, I don't think, but I'm turning vegan. The reasons are pretty obvious to me, but I'll share them with you nonetheless, maybe you'll feel inspired to follow suit. Health I quit drinking cows' milk some years ago because I had read that dairy might be the cause of some specific health problems I had been having, namely, gastrointestinal issues and bad skin. Within a few weeks of having switched to soya milk for my cereal, and black coffee, I was cured, I could even stop taking some tablets I had been taking for heartburn. B12 is the only vitamin missing from a plant based diet, and an inexpensive tablet supplement, taken daily, can cover you. Other health benefits include weight loss, and since we find ourselves in the middle of a blubberdemic , it can't hurt. The Environment It's very trendy to be kind to the environment these days. I went to this last night when it was really brought home to us, the harm we

It's time to discuss the brain, if I may be a bit controversial. The more I read about it the more incredible it is, and thus we are. Here are some images of my brain taken shortly after my accident. That's what a grade 3 DAI looks like. The white denotes, you guessed it, blood. One of the first books I read post-coma was Your Brain Knows More Than You Think . It was a good read for me at the time; about plasticity and ultimately, whether I agree or not, anti-euthanasia. Another information source I used was the android app, 3D Brain . Be warned it uses up a good chunk of disk-space. This allowed me to learn about the different lobes of the brain, and what they control and to relate it back to my head. All this and other information sources lead me to the undeniable fact, that there is no such thing as free will. The human personality is simply an illusion, a meme, that is developed by our interaction with the world and our bodily functions' reaction to the sa

This weekend started with the arrival of our friends, Pia and Niall, over from the UK. We went for dinner and drinks in Locanda Riva . Claire and I had been there a few times before, so knew it would suit the other two. There were no late nights o'er the weekend so a much-needed sleep catch-up would be allowed to take center stage. On Saturday we had brunch in the newly opened Schlosscafe la Petite Rue . The original was jammed with breakfasters so we were prompted toward the castle for a delightfully quiet Fruehstuck. Later that evening we again went to the Burger Lab . As expected, it was great. When our guests left on Sunday --- guest articles? --- we plotted our training for the following week. This included Claire booking appointments for me with Ergo and Logotherapists, for which she would actually have to wait until Monday. Personal training, for myself and Claire, was still unclear. Claire's goals are loftier than my humble hopes, for which we created a simple W

This will be a review of the Alinker . Claire found the Alinker through social media and figured it could mean an end to the wheelchair. Of course, the wheelchair comes with plenty of social stigma, but, more than that, it encourages laziness. There are people who need a wheelchair, but for everyone else who can use their legs, the Alinker might be the answer. It struck me as pretty gloomy that the default, for people hoping to, one day, walk and run again, was this comfortable chair on wheels that, in my case at least, relied on the kindness of others, to move forward. I have many impairments that are combining to make walking a nightmare for me. Chiefs in this are my coordination and balance. The Alinker , almost entirely, removes balance from the equation with the saddle and by providing a sturdy frame to hold on to. Where balance, in my case, comes back into the mix is when, from a seated position, I try to propel myself forward, My ass-on-the-saddle coupled with my ridiculous

This has been a very eventful week. Congratulations Jimmy Treanor for cementing your supremacy at Sillytrain. There's a copy of A Primate's Memoir on its way to you. I have been officially discharged from Reha Hamburg, this being my first week of G.P prescribed drugs and therapy. Firstly, the weekend was brilliant. I had a host of friends over from Dublin and London. I'll name them in the hope that I'll finally get a guest article from someone other than Claire; Fiona & Lee Rego, Cillian Cahill, Darran Diskin, Adam O'shea, Frank & Zac, Conor McMeel, James Bundy and my Spanish friend, also over from Dublin, Alex Marginet. Alex, Claire and I enjoyed some tapas and wine on Thursday in Ma Maison in Bergedorf. After the rest of them arrived, we had a fairly chilled out Friday night in Hofbraeu , followed by the Alex by the Alster lake . Myself and Claire had been up since 5.30am, rehab and work respectively, but lasted way longer than expected. Where are