Driving down the Texas roads as the sun rises
Texas sun rising behind one of the grasshopper oil rigs that decorate the Texas landscape
Early morning Texas sunrise
Article By: Wilfred Rawventure Campbell at BlisssReturned.wordpress.com
The brain requires more food nourishment than the rest of the body combined. Did you know that once the brain cells die, they cannot be replenished, unlike the cells of the rest of the body? Did you know that the higher the quality of whole food nourishment that is taken in by the body, the greater the whole food nourishment fed to the brain. Did you know that the whole food nourishment fed to the brain, the longer the cell life expectancy and greater the quality of thoughts and reasoning regarding whole life matters? Continue reading
“MILD BRAIN INJURY: IMPLICATIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE”
LUANN JACOBS, MA-CCC/SLP RMTMild brain injury is a real misnomer, as it conveys the idea that nothing much is a problem when quite the opposite is more often true. It is called “mild” because, in fact, the mildly brain injured can walk, talk, eat and dress independently, often times drive a car, shop, cook, go to school, or even work.
What the term fails to account for is the inherent limits of how often, for how long (endurance), and the all-important, how consistently (e.g., every day, once a week) these activities can be performed. Even more elusive is the concept of how many of these daily activities can be done sequentially in a given day as is normal in the lives of people who are not brain injured.
The mildly brain injured cannot put back-to-back the normal activities of everyday living (dressing, eating, shopping, cooking), work (engaging in gainful employment by meeting deadlines, delivering a product for money, being present a requisite number of hours) and social life (eating with family or friends, participating in parties or holidays, going to movies, etc.). They cannot do all of this on any one day or in any one week. Many mildly brain injured have poorer hygiene than they did prior to injury because if they bathe and wash their hair, that may be all they can accomplish in a given day. So they often must trade-off activities. Bathe on alternate days. Cook two days a week. If they engage in work, then someone else must be performing many or all of the other activities. Continue reading
4/8/12, Easter Sunday visitation..
4/8/12, Happy Easter! This is my last visit to Marcus until May. It is both a happy day and a sad one…
I stopped at the 7-11 like always. I also played Mega Games, Lotto, and Powerball. Maybe we will be a winner in something in life, who knows, definitely not I.
I wished I lived here so I could visit with Marcus every weekend. Then I could make sure that he’s remembering the words he need to know and not learning words that he has no clue as to their meaning. Sometimes it is difficult to talk to him on the phone.
6:15 AM, I am in the car line up and I am car number 6. Two more cars have already lined up behind me. With it being Easter, no one knows how many visitors will actually show up because of church and children’s Easter activities.
It’s still a full moon with white clouds floating over it in the pitch black of the night or I guess early morning. It is a beautiful sight.
I feel energized this morning, but how long it will last? I have no idea.
I usually go to bed at 11 PM and get up at 4 AM.
Photo by http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moon_clouds.JPG
While sitting here in my car, there is way too much time to contemplate life and its ups and downs. So I write.
There was an article in the New York Times this morning about the use of prison consultants. My name is mentioned along with Michael Frantz from Jailtime Consulting. Why would anyone including me use a prison consultant, who has been in prison, I was asked. For one thing, Mr. Frantz knows how the Bureau of Prisons works. I don’t. He knows the rules from within the prison. He’s been there and done that. I needed his help. Continue reading
4/1/12, today is my second visit to see Marcus on this trip…
I finally got some rest. I was exhausted from visit one due to all the emotions and having my granddaughter with me. Driving is very difficult for me and the stress is worse.
This morning, I stopped at the 7-11 and got an all beef hot dog. Hopefully it will hold me until I go home. Due to only being able to eat out of vending machines, I don’t eat at the prison as I have Celiac disease and can eat nothing with gluten in it.
Marcus has Celiac disease, but has never upheld the gluten-free diet. He likes eating from the vending machines because it’s kind of a treat for him to eat junk food and he gets his beloved Dr. Pepper. Continue reading
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Photos done by Mark Little
The line is already longer than usual at this time. It’s dark and about 55 degrees out. Just the outdoor lights of the prison are shining. We are car number seven today. It should be busy because most people visit the weekend before a holiday and next weekend is Easter. Usually a holiday does not count against their visits.
Feb 6th was my last visit.
Katie is going back to sleep for our last hour in line and I shall write.
We are both very excited to see Marcus and I know he is excited to see us. I pray we can get his spirits up today. Darn, all I can do is yawn this morning. It’s going to be a long day. The night before the first visit I can barely sleep. I am so excited to see Marcus.
Today, I thought I’d be visiting Marcus at camp. He qualified for camp and even was recommended for it. We don’t know why he hasn’t been able to go yet. He was qualified when he came here. But do they follow the rules they set for everyone else? I think not. Our prison consultant is trying to find out why they won’t let him go. Continue reading
4/4/12, Angela arranged our salad beautifully…
Arranged – to plan or prepare.
Have a great week!
Hope, Health, and Happiness,
Vickie
ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2012) — A powerful new imaging technique called High Definition Fiber Tracking (HDFT) will allow doctors to clearly see for the first time neural connections broken by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other neurological disorders, much like X-rays show a fractured bone, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in a report published online in the Journal of Neurosurgery.
Maybe there is hope for others to understand that even though a brain injured/damaged person looks normal, the brain is broken in various areas and they really can’t do the things they say they can’t. Continue reading
