I went for another 19-point EEG assessment at the ADD Centre this past week. I’ve had, I think, three of these before, the last one being in September 2007. Things have changed! First off, much better cap. It’s stretchy and easily goes over all my hair. Plus the electrodes are on the outside. The syringe [...]
I have told my story a gazillion times. Well, okay, maybe not a gazillion. But between insurance docs, my docs, vocational and functional assessments for the insurers, therapists, new recent docs, it sure seems like it’s been a gazillion. So you’d think by now it would be no big deal. I could go into some [...]
I had a rather heated conversation with my doctor the other day about — anger. Brain injury anger, to be specific. It had suddenly occurred to me that since the time of Phineas Gage in the 19th century, physicians and psychologists have known about how brain injury can change personality, including bringing on outbursts of [...]
The Mental Health Commission of Canada has released its National Strategy report. It took them five years to compile and write it. I understand that they had two Chairmen — the original one resigned. I’ve heard several interviews with the second Chairman, a physician, and the original Chairman, a Senator, and I caught a snippet [...]
Standard of care. It’s a phrase that gets tossed around a lot. Let me tell you a story about what it should not be, especially for a person in a drug research trial. Before I begin, a note on my background. I grew up as the daughter of a clinician-researcher who is to this day, [...]
An elderly gent said to me: you look…you look alive! This gent has known me a long time, starting in what I call my hell years after I had suffered a closed head injury aka traumatic brain injury. Back then, I used to see him weekly, yet when I spotted him one time in a [...]
It’s me and the men. Fat men. Snoring men. Young men. And extremely picky men. That latter is a new one to me in my five (six?) sleep studies. Seriously, does this guy think a hospital is going to purchase his preferred kind of sheets just for him? It’s not like in the pre-bed bug [...]
A new year, another new doctor. The first thing my new specialist said as soon as I sat down was: I know what your problem is. Pause. You have physician fatigue. No kidding. Astute. I don’t recall another doctor noticing that on their own or, if have, acknowledging it openly to me. I immediately paid [...]
Boy, did I fall down on the job. I thought I’d written a final follow-up post on my case manager saga. I hadn’t! Oops. In a nutshell: a total 180. I met with my new case manager in the afternoon. He spent one and a half hours familiarizing himself with my needs, writing down a [...]
