Traumatic, Believe It!

There has been some suggestion that, through reading my blog, one would think it's all gravy, this TBI business. It's true that I've been keeping things positive, as much for me as for anyone else, but, make no mistake, these are incredibly hard yards. Neurorehabilitation is the hardest thing I've ever trained for. Unlike regular rehabilitation, I can't just rest up and wait for my brain to fix itself. Neurorehabilitation requires constant input and the improvement rate is non-linear. Yesterday, for example, I spent some hours with the Gehbarren, trying to walk with my hiking pole. I would have fallen quite a few times, were it not for the Gehbarren, so how then can this be, since I managed passably well last week. From my point of view it's clear, my coordination and balance are far below the levels that they should be. But I had been training specifically to use the hiking pole as a tool to counteract my poor balance and I thought I'd nailed it. Back to the drawing board, and the cane. This is the sort of disappointment I deal with daily.

As well as all that, I want to get back to my job this year some time. Germany is a truly social state, and I have done well out of them thus far. However, there is plenty of bureaucracy to navigate. Claire has been working hard to ensure I am getting all the help I'm entitled to get. The driver has single-handedly turned two lives upside down. Next week Claire goes back to full-time employment for the first time since the event. She will have to get home to me to help me get to physio 3 days per week until I can get there by myself. Logopaedi and Ergotherapy are available to me as house calls. As well as that, I obviously have my own, necessary training to occupy me during the day. While I'm at it, I'll plug my new physio. I've switched to her because my last physio went on holidays and her, my new physio's, Praxis is part of a CrossFit gym that will be a cane-walkable distance from our apartment. It's early days but great so far, and Claire and I have already joined the gym.

Assuming it all goes to plan, and I get my job back, and compete in a triathlon, there can be no denying the pain that was caused to me by careless driving.

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