Perpetual Restrictions After TBI: Trouble Adjusting

Perpetual Restrictions After TBI: TJ Part Twenty Two

In part twenty-two TJ talks about the perpetual restrictions after TBI that he faces in comparison before his severe brain injury.

TJ’s Perpetual Restrictions After TBI

What else is different about your life? 

Living here at home.  I haven’t been at home since I was 18.  I moved out of state as soon as I graduated high school, so I’m used to being on my own.  Now I’m stuck here, well.

Not Being Able to Drive One of TJ’s Perpetual Restrictions After TBI

Why do you think you need to be stuck here?

I ( am unable) to be on my own and I can’t drive.

Are you working at all?

I work for myself.

Doing what?

10 bucks an hour in cash here and there.  Somebody needs something done, they call me and I go do ’em.

Financial Situation Being one of TJ’s Perpetual Restrictions After TBI

Do you get Social Security disability?

Yeah, a little bit.

How do you feel about being dependent on your parents?

I’ve never been dependent on my parents.

Lack of Privacy is Another One of TJ’s Perpetual Restrictions After TBI

And what is it about having to live at home that you don’t like?

No freedom, no privacy, and can’t come and go as you want. No friends, no friendships.

You lost a lot of your friends from when you were younger?

Not really.  A lot of them, they faded out as you get older, even when I lived up there.

What do you think are your most significant problems from your brain injury?

Problems not being able to drive and get my license back, that’s a big problem.

Have you gone through driving school?

There’s a whole big ordeal about the whole license issue, so we’re taking, going another route to see what we can do about it.

Is your license suspended because of what happened in your accident?

No.

Were you ever convicted of fleeing the police?  No?

I was never convicted of none of that. If I paid it, before (I would have gotten my license back).  I was going to pay it off, but then I crashed and so I wasn’t able to.

So what are the problems you have in terms of getting your license now?

A lot, a lot of stuff.  A lot of little stuff, but a lot of stuff.    Well, they issued a summons for me to go to court.  I was in a coma so I couldn’t go to court.  Because I didn’t go they issued a warrant for failure to appear.  That’s the only thing getting in the way of it.

Have you tried to drive a car?

Not since the crash.

You say you do a little bit of work and is that something to do with Avon?

I do Avon and then I also help out with the people that need yard work done.

What kind of yard work?

I help like raking leaves, planting, taking plants, taking them out. Mulch.

Do you get tired quickly doing that or can you do that all day?

I get tired but I deal with it.  I don’t let it bother me.

Part Twenty Three – Memory Attention After Severe TBI

By Attorney Gordon Johnson

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