Cogmed is over. I’m both really glad and kind of sad, for it’s been five weeks of something different that also makes me feel like I’m regenerating my brain in real time, not the usual let’s wait a couple or more months or years (or decades with traditional rest and strategies) and see if this…
Tag: Update
Cogmed to Train Working Memory — An Experiment to Help Post-Brain Injury Reading Rehab
I’ve begun Cogmed to train my working memory, that brief moment you hold something in memory in order to accomplish a task or store a piece of knowledge before you forget then scratch your head as you futilely try to remember what you were doing or reading. The folks at the ADD Centre had told…
Return to Reading the Novel
Reading. A. Novel. Except for the graphic wordless novel I read last Spring, I haven’t read a novel in 3 years. Yeah, that’s a shitload of time taken from me by changed and unknown identity; grief; loss; lack of consistent, continual professional help devoted to my reading; and lack of social support to encourage me…
Faith Healing, Brain Injury, Regenerating Eyesight, and Walking
I went to a faith healing a month ago. Yeah, I know, faith healing! Who believes in that charlatan practice, eh? Well, it was central to Christ’s ministry and to the early Christian church. But even back then, the elders warned of false prophets, the need to discern between those who genuinely give themselves to…
Happy Gamma Fights Brain Injury and PTSD
The substitute brain trainer I had last week meant I could persuade her to do extra gamma brainwave training. My next appointment wasn’t for a month, and I was looking for the de-stressing effect of gamma brainwaves. I had no idea the surprise gamma would give me! First surprise came right after: the stairs at…
Easing Back into Brain Injury Health Care After Eye Surgery
Well, it had to happen some time. I’ve restarted two-thirds of my brain-injury-care appointments. As of this past week, I have returned to using the TTC on my own – solely to get to brain biofeedback. So I’m not exactly using the entire TTC on my own, just one well-practiced route! As expected, it took…
Walking Continues to Improve; Getting Stronger after Eye Surgery
Walking improvement continues in sudden leaps and expected plateaux. After first two weeks of October, I suddenly improved in speed by about 12% to at times 18% in addition to walking smoother, more competently (as in normal gait, firm footfalls, balanced bilaterally most of the time). At some point in first three weeks of October,…
Back to Semi-Regular Brain Biofeedback Post Eye Surgery
Back to biofeedback. I was ready! Well, that was the theory. We’re easing me back in at once every other week schedule. So far, my CNIB orientation mobility trainer has guided and walked with me to it for less and less of the way each time without me actually attending an appointment. This week he…
Walking Progress Update 5 Months Post-Eye Surgery in a Life with Brain Injury
Almost three weeks ago, we came to the next phase in my return to independence: riding the bus alone. Eep! “A round trip,” my CNIB orientation and mobility trainer replied, “you don’t have to get off — all you have to do is sit and not throw up!” Um, OK. My CNIB (Canadian National Institute…