*sapphoq healing tbi
Monday, October 27, 2008
Driving, Executive Functions, and Stuff
Yeah, I've been gone for awhile.
(http://life.sapphoq.com)
Now I am back.
I've been to Peter Kahrmann's workshop/peer support group in Albany where I found out that the part of my brain that caused my multi-tasking to "shit the bed" as the neuropsych at Sunnyview had so eloquently expressed it is my frontal lobe. Frontal lobe damage is the reason why I cannot carry laundry from the back porch to the bedroom and converse at the same time.
I took Dad to a driving evaluation at Sunnyview today. I learned a few things while there. I learned that many of Dad's vision problems (his visual acuity which is commonly expressed by numbers like 20/20 or 20/30 or 20/40 is acceptable) from his dementia are the same vision problems
that some of us with brain injuries struggle with. For those who like meaningless stats, 80% of folks with t.b.i.s have vision problems and 20% of us have auditory problems. 99% of us have memory problems. I don't have the memory or the auditory problems. I do have the vision problems.
During the driving eval at Sunnyview, the evaluator tested for visual acuity, visual scanning, visual discrimination, color discrimination, peripheral vision, impulsivity, and reaction time.
The difference between traumatic brain injury and dementia is that we can expect some improvement in some areas over time. Dementia does not improve. Dementia progresses and worsens over time. Brain damage is brain damage though, in spite of different prognoses. Consequently, some of the things we learn from places like B.I.A.-U.S.A. like "every brain injury is different" is also expressed in Alzheimers' circles as "every dementia looks different."
spike
(http://life.sapphoq.com)
Now I am back.
I've been to Peter Kahrmann's workshop/peer support group in Albany where I found out that the part of my brain that caused my multi-tasking to "shit the bed" as the neuropsych at Sunnyview had so eloquently expressed it is my frontal lobe. Frontal lobe damage is the reason why I cannot carry laundry from the back porch to the bedroom and converse at the same time.
I took Dad to a driving evaluation at Sunnyview today. I learned a few things while there. I learned that many of Dad's vision problems (his visual acuity which is commonly expressed by numbers like 20/20 or 20/30 or 20/40 is acceptable) from his dementia are the same vision problems
that some of us with brain injuries struggle with. For those who like meaningless stats, 80% of folks with t.b.i.s have vision problems and 20% of us have auditory problems. 99% of us have memory problems. I don't have the memory or the auditory problems. I do have the vision problems.
During the driving eval at Sunnyview, the evaluator tested for visual acuity, visual scanning, visual discrimination, color discrimination, peripheral vision, impulsivity, and reaction time.
The difference between traumatic brain injury and dementia is that we can expect some improvement in some areas over time. Dementia does not improve. Dementia progresses and worsens over time. Brain damage is brain damage though, in spite of different prognoses. Consequently, some of the things we learn from places like B.I.A.-U.S.A. like "every brain injury is different" is also expressed in Alzheimers' circles as "every dementia looks different."
spike
Labels: driving, executive function, frontal lobe, Peter Kahrmann, t.b.i., tbi, traumatic+brain+injury
¶ 7:04 PM 0 comments links to this post
Sunday, May 06, 2007
IMPULSIVITY AND DECISION-MAKING 5/6/07
On my trip to various cities out west, I was directly confronted with my increased impulsivity courtesy of my traumatic brain injury. My first day in Chicago, I cursed out a store employee at the airport [under my breath] because he claimed not to have change "even if" I "bought something" which I was willing to do. I needed a single for the subway so I could get to the train station. I removed myself and reminded myself that he was doing his job and that was that. Mentally, I congratulated myself for exercising some restraint. I did get my change but not from him. I cursed out someone else somewheres else-- again under my breath-- but I remember neither the time nor the circumstance.
In Phoenix I had to admit that my impulsivity could lead to dangerous consequences. When I took one bus that turned before I needed it to and didn't allow the driver to complete an explanation [which she gave to another passenger a few stops later] that another bus was coming which would take me to my destination, I was left on a corner wondering if I should "walk" the remaining distance. Fortunately, I remembered something about calling and asking someone with sense about these things. So I called my friend with my [borrowed] cellphone and I learned that I should not walk through Papago Park on a hot day. So I waited for the bus. The first few days in the Sonoran Desert which was Phoenix Arizona, I noted that people carried water or Gatorade with them. It took me several days [and a very long walk to and from the zoo-- from and to a bus stop-- with no taxis in sight] for me to connect with the idea that I need to drink more fluids AND to also carry water or Gatorade with me.
In trying to keep up with the demands involved in re-learning how to utilize public transit, I put myself at risk for dehydration. I was "lucky" not to endure medical consequences for my poor decision-making combined with my impulsivity. By time I got to Sedona, I was carrying water with me almost everywhere I went. Sedona's weather was a tad cooler but hydration still a necessity. I also elected to take jeep tours rather than walk great distances to unfamiliar hiking trails.
This impulsivity is polar opposite to my pre-injury personality which involved cursing people out [not always under my breath] but did not involve risk-taking, especially with health concerns. I survived the Sonoran and learned a few things about my vulnerabilities and liabilities in the process. When the airplane taking me home was landing, I felt triumphant for managing to [mostly] take care of myself and [mostly] making good enough decisions over the past three weeks alone.
sapphoq healing t.b.i.
In Phoenix I had to admit that my impulsivity could lead to dangerous consequences. When I took one bus that turned before I needed it to and didn't allow the driver to complete an explanation [which she gave to another passenger a few stops later] that another bus was coming which would take me to my destination, I was left on a corner wondering if I should "walk" the remaining distance. Fortunately, I remembered something about calling and asking someone with sense about these things. So I called my friend with my [borrowed] cellphone and I learned that I should not walk through Papago Park on a hot day. So I waited for the bus. The first few days in the Sonoran Desert which was Phoenix Arizona, I noted that people carried water or Gatorade with them. It took me several days [and a very long walk to and from the zoo-- from and to a bus stop-- with no taxis in sight] for me to connect with the idea that I need to drink more fluids AND to also carry water or Gatorade with me.
In trying to keep up with the demands involved in re-learning how to utilize public transit, I put myself at risk for dehydration. I was "lucky" not to endure medical consequences for my poor decision-making combined with my impulsivity. By time I got to Sedona, I was carrying water with me almost everywhere I went. Sedona's weather was a tad cooler but hydration still a necessity. I also elected to take jeep tours rather than walk great distances to unfamiliar hiking trails.
This impulsivity is polar opposite to my pre-injury personality which involved cursing people out [not always under my breath] but did not involve risk-taking, especially with health concerns. I survived the Sonoran and learned a few things about my vulnerabilities and liabilities in the process. When the airplane taking me home was landing, I felt triumphant for managing to [mostly] take care of myself and [mostly] making good enough decisions over the past three weeks alone.
sapphoq healing t.b.i.
Labels: decisions, executive function, impulsivity, t.b.i., tbi, traumatic+brain+injury
¶ 9:59 PM 0 comments links to this post
Monday, March 26, 2007
PLANNING 3/26/07
I am going away cross-country. When planning an itinerary, I discovered that thinking ahead in a linear fashion [the way I used to] was no longer second nature. [Drat the damage to my executive functions.] Instead, my t.b.i.-related random chaotic style of doing things has infiltrated far beyond the boundaries of household organization. Yeah, that is what travel agents are for.
Unfortunately, the travel agent was doing a good job of imitating a nervous wreck during my three hour session with her. She was in a mad rush to get me out of there. At the end, she threw the itinerary on the desk and said, "This is it. If you sign this, there can be no changes." It appears that I have already posted about this singularly difficult encounter with the forces of order. Onward ho.
Upon getting everything home, I was informed that no, I did not have to be back for a commitment at the end of April. That commitment is at the end of May. I also realized that one of the connections that the harried travel agent had provided me with was of the "no way Hosea" variety-- as in, no way could I move fast enough for that. I took the weekend off to recuperate and to think about my options.
This morning I got on the phone to fix and amend and alter what I had to.
The upshot after spending a morning's worth of aggravation and phone calls is that I will be leaving a day earlier than I thought and coming back four days later. And renting a car for a day in order to make it to one spot which wasn't doable without spending most of a night in a train station waiting for a transfer.
Now I have several choices. I can continue to grieve the change in my thinking processes-- a total waste of time. I've done enough of that. Something in my inner core was permanently altered by my whacked out neurological landscape. I've known this since I got out of the car after the accident. I can accept it without having to wear the shackle of must stamp the seal of approval on it today. I can bitch and moan. That option is also rather unattractive. A constant diet of cognitive stew is boring. There are a few other options I'm sure that I am missing here. What I am putting my self-determination to is the idea of being happy that I am able to go on an extensive vacation. Because not everyone can.
sapphoq healing t.b.i.
sapphoq
executive function
frontal lobe damage
Unfortunately, the travel agent was doing a good job of imitating a nervous wreck during my three hour session with her. She was in a mad rush to get me out of there. At the end, she threw the itinerary on the desk and said, "This is it. If you sign this, there can be no changes." It appears that I have already posted about this singularly difficult encounter with the forces of order. Onward ho.
Upon getting everything home, I was informed that no, I did not have to be back for a commitment at the end of April. That commitment is at the end of May. I also realized that one of the connections that the harried travel agent had provided me with was of the "no way Hosea" variety-- as in, no way could I move fast enough for that. I took the weekend off to recuperate and to think about my options.
This morning I got on the phone to fix and amend and alter what I had to.
The upshot after spending a morning's worth of aggravation and phone calls is that I will be leaving a day earlier than I thought and coming back four days later. And renting a car for a day in order to make it to one spot which wasn't doable without spending most of a night in a train station waiting for a transfer.
Now I have several choices. I can continue to grieve the change in my thinking processes-- a total waste of time. I've done enough of that. Something in my inner core was permanently altered by my whacked out neurological landscape. I've known this since I got out of the car after the accident. I can accept it without having to wear the shackle of must stamp the seal of approval on it today. I can bitch and moan. That option is also rather unattractive. A constant diet of cognitive stew is boring. There are a few other options I'm sure that I am missing here. What I am putting my self-determination to is the idea of being happy that I am able to go on an extensive vacation. Because not everyone can.
sapphoq healing t.b.i.
sapphoqexecutive functionfrontal lobe damageLabels: executive function, t.b.i., tbi, thinking, traumatic+brain+injury, travel
¶ 1:00 PM 0 comments links to this post
