TBI Voices

Severe Brain Injury : DJ Part One DJ suffered his severe brain damage in an accident on October 8, 2005 while working as a longshoreman, in a boat, doing construction work under a bridge.  It was during severe weather, and the boat he was working on suddenly tossed out of..
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Blow to the Head : DJ Part Two By Attorney Gordon Johnson 800-992-9447   Much controversy in the field of brain injury swirls around the degree of an alteration of consciousness sufficient for the diagnosis of brain injury caused by a blow to the head.  There is virtually not a mild..
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 Trauma Center for Brain Injury: DJ Part 3  When I first started work on http://waiting.com in 1997, I relied on some wonderful trauma center professionals for assistance in putting the site together.  I remember asking one trauma nurse, what she felt was the biggest breakthrough in saving those with severe brain injury,..
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Before Brain Injury: DJ Part Four As with each interview, we spent some time getting to know who DJ was before brain injury. Who DJ was and the kind of life he had before the accident.       Let’s talk about who you were before brain injury.   You..
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DJ’s Caregiver was his Mother who was by His Side: DJ Part Five DJ’s Mother, his caregiver, was by his side during the entire 16 days while he was in a coma.  DJ states wanting to see his mom his caregiver, once regaining conscientiousness. “When I came out of my..
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Early Rehabilitation: Dj Part Six DJ doesn’t remember being an inpatient at Daytona.  He doesn’t remember the early rehabilitation. He woke up there, but his memory began later. Events Leading Up to the Beginning of Early Rehabilitation Where did you go after you left Daytona? Daytona down to HealthSouth in..
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Neuropsychological Assessment: DJ Part Seven One of the neuropsychological assessment tests used in assessing brain injury is what is called an MMPI-2. There is a lot of controversy regarding this test. The brain injury community must say NO to the MMPI-2. No one who has survived a coma should ever be given..
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Co Morbid Alcohol Use: DJ – Part Eight DJ’s co-morbid alcohol use should not complicate the diagnosis of a severe brain injury.  As our brains are essentially all that we are, it is hard to argue that anything is completely irrelevant to assessing the nature of dysfunction after brain injury.  This..
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Short-Term Memory: DJ Part Nine DJ could not be a waiter anymore partly due to his short-term memory problems.  Not only would he have trouble remembering orders, the attentional demands, as the pace and the noise got greater during rush periods, would push all of his cognitive functioning to its..
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Tools for Short-Term Memory Problems: Part Ten A PDA is one of the tools for short-term memory problems, as long as you don’t forget it someplace. While the low-tech option of the teapot timer as one of the tools for short-term memory problems, helps him in the kitchen, DJ has..
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