Wednesday 28 January 2009

29 again?

I am turning 30 on Sunday. Its a time of mixed emotion but what I am really pondering is... as I missed out on a year does this mean I get two thirtieth birthdays? In my mind I am turning 29 as I feel like a year has been stolen from me. There is a whole year of my life of which I have no memory. Others tell me things but I am unable to remember. My memory of that time is non-existent. My wife tells me, for example,  that I used to speak Italian with a recreational therapist called Frank. I have very vague recollection of this but I certainly would not have known his name. So I think I should have a second 30th birthday next year to make up for the forgotten year in America! It feels so strange that others have a memory of that time but I don't. Not to be too negative though I am really grateful to be here, after all I am grateful to God that I am still alive and have a beautiful wife. So despite the lost year, this Sunday will be a really special celebration! And actually I am looking forward to living life in my 30's and all that it may have in store. So here's to looking forward. Thats it for now!

Sunday 25 January 2009

So who am I and what happened

Hello everyone, welcome to my new blog!    
A Few years ago when I was 25(my wife 22)we were living  in America.  I had just gotten my PhD in chemistry. I was involved in a car cash with my wife who thankfully is unharmed, I however received a nasty head injury (Which mainly left me with brain injury)   which left me with much memory loss and affected  my sight  and balance significantly.  
I suffer mostly with short-term memory loss but however my  long term memory is still patchy. For example I remember very little of my PhD or how I proposed to my wife.  (I WILL remember one day!)
  I find it very difficult to remember what it was that my wife  said to me just moments before, or what the last telephone conversation was about, so I use a moleskin book to write everything down keeping a record of my day
I am wanting people to read for themselves what it is like being a head injured person -not fun I can tell you.  Plus I want to keep a record of my own thoughts at this time in my life.  I can't promise good spelling or grammer or that my sentences will make sense, but I can promise that it will be a true account of living as a person who suffered  traumatic brain injury (tbi)but I can promise it will be....ooooops I forgot that I'd just written that bit....a true account of somebody that has a tbi and has learnt to live on (with the help of others).  
After my head injury I had to learn how to do everything again(walk,talk,eat, laugh)You may be wondering why this is entitled 'Four Chickens in a tree', well this, according to my wife  was the first joke that I made up and told, which I thought and still do is funny.  OK, Why were there Four chickens in a tree?                          Because the fifth one one went home!

That's it for now.