Cognitive Challenges Can Trigger Emotions: Quinn Part Seventeen
Quinn goes into detail regarding his issues he has with different cognitive challenges he faces and the therapies that he received for some of his issues. The therapies included, speech, occupational and cognitive challenges therapy.
We were talking about your therapies that you got early on, the physical symptoms and then started talking about the, the wave-like feelings that you get. You also got cognitive therapy for your cognitive challenges and speech therapy, right?
Yes.
What did they work on speech? Were you having speech problems or just cognitive challenges?
No, just the cognition.
So you were working with the speech therapist as far as relearning to use your brain and help with your cognitive challenges?
Yeah.
Talk to me about that.
She would give me like three words; bird, cloud, car, and then ask me to repeat those three words back to her, and then work on something else and then come back and ask me to repeat them, and then at the end of the hour or something ask me to repeat them again. What used to be simple tasks was unbelievably hard, because I couldn’t remember. In the beginning I couldn’t remember two out of three words, yeah. And learning how to associate words with something in my head, that I could remember them, and, you know. She had me write a story; pick a subject and write a story. The subject was a car, and I could only get out, you know, two or three sentences.
Were you surprised that you had the problems that you did?
Yeah, it was kind of odd, but it didn’t, it didn’t bother me. I don’t know if the drugs had relaxed my thinking of, of the issue. It’s kind of weird. Like I just kind of rolled with it, that this is life now as it is and oh well.
Did you, had you do anything like writing a check or balancing a checkbook?
Yeah, I take care of the bills but when I take care of them I have to have them checked, by the wife and, and whatnot.
Is that something that’s easy for you do again or was that harder than you thought it would be as well?
I didn’t think it was that hard, but then seeing some of the mistakes I made, you know, was, you know, it didn’t really bother me. But, I mean I did have issues with, it’s weird. What I used to be relaxed about, before the accident, now will sometimes drive me nuts, – and vice-versa.
For example?
Learning how to do stuff on the computer, and my wife sitting next to me trying to help me. I get extremely belligerent and, and violent and broke a telephone, you know, just, you know, excited about …
Was it having her next to you or the problems you were having?
The issue was leave me alone, I’m figuring it out. I, I know how to do this. Well I used to know how to do this, but now I don’t anymore and I need to learn, and her trying to help me, you know, was trying to process in my brain too many things at the same time. Just leave me alone.
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Paying bills never got taught to me and six and a half years later, I think I finally have a good system down. Brain rehabs are mostly worthless because they don’t want to tell the insurance companies how much work you need, only want to collect money and hold you till you reach a settlement.