What do you want me to say to get you reading again, my neurodoc asked me. I don’t know, I shrugged. Reading is tiring. Relearning how to read after a brain injury when you were … Well, reading is a complex cognitive skill – if you think about it, it takes about 20 years from…
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Back Behind the Rocks
“It’s like you were in jail, got a taste of freedom, and now you’re back in jail.” Apt description of my relationship and communication headaches in North America, I thought. It’s not like this is solely a North American problem or that all North Americans fear communication or trying something new in order…
Reading Rehab Resumes?
A week after I got back from England, my neurodoc called me up and gave me my new reading homework. Same regimen as before: read two paragraphs after doing the skeleton, read out loud and slowly enough to avoid a headache and to enhance accuracy, and read every two days. I did my homework one…
Endless Saturday, the Day Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday
It’s Endless Saturday. I used to call it Waiting Saturday. Like that day when Jesus’s disciples, particularly the women, waited for the Sabbath to be over so that they could visit his grave; like that day, the day after tragedy struck, and no one knew what to do other than wait, my life was one…
Poetry: A New Reading Strategy
The English are big readers. When I mentioned my problems with reading while I was over there, instant brainstorming began. It’s interesting seeing how different people react differently to my predicament. All are sympathetic, but most kind of shrug helplessly, speak platitudes, or say information-free positive things. Over there though, it was like I…
My London Hotel, La Suite West, a Good Base for Exploring the City
My London hotel, La Suite West, was a little hard to find. Both cabs I took to it, one from Heathrow, another from a dinner out, motored past it. The hotel needs a big sign out front! I’d checked La Suite West’s website many times, had emailed them about my reservation and asked sundry…
What’s Flying Across “the Pond” like?
What’s flying across “the pond” like against the prevailing winds? Well, sit back in your narrowest chair, stretch your feet out till your knees are half bent, and let me tell you. Or watch! To begin, I used an e-Boarding Pass on my iPhone; and took one small suitcase whose zip is Herculean in strength,…
My First Real Vacation Post Brain Injury
As I mentioned earlier this month, I needed a break. I actually needed a vacation, a complete getting away from my life and from Canada, as you may have gathered from my post on my flight to England. Before my injury, I used to travel to England regularly to visit my relatives. But after one of…
The *Cursed* Flight: On my First Real Vacation Post Brain Injury Too!
On March 13, I entered Toronto’s Pearson Airport on the busiest day of the year, the first day of March Break. The next day, I left the country. I texted my mother: “1:22am: officially up in the air, seats go back, people already snoozing except guy in front to left reading a series of papers…