My psychologist told me that contentedness would eventually resurface for me. Not that it reappears for all survivors, certainly not, but that it would for me. She said this once we had worked together every week for a couple years & she had learned more of me: my priorities, goals, desires for the future, fears & how I spent my time. Only then could she knowingly make this statement. Initially (for the first 6 years ((that really does = at first in this regard, as this recovery takes soooo long!!))) I had no self-generated hope of full recovery to speak of. Dr. Artherholt, amazingly & necessarily, provided this hope for me.
Full recovery from a TBI, and particularly a Critical TBI, is determined by neurologists, to necessitate lifelong practice.
To specify: I’ve been told by my psychologist, that full recovery does not imply that recoveries (including I) will reclaim absent faculties utilizing the same mental navigation tools. Those, once habitually utilized neural pathways, were obliterated by the TBI, never to be reclaimed. New pathways, however, to reach the same outcome, need to be & can be, identified by the brain.
Again, my youth at the time that I incurred my Severe TBI (26, nearly 27) is identified by my doctors to be hugely helpful in my recovery. A young brain is far more pliable than an older one. (I can find new ways of mentally achieving my goals). And to specify further: what I consider “full” recovery pertains to regaining, all of the skills that I personally utilize routinely. Math, for instance, is only, in my reality, utilized regularly for calculating totals & sales when shopping! As has been my perspective since middle school. And therefore, the easy calculator on my phone suits me just fine.
Though I’m certainly not nearly wholly content yet, I can now foresee this overwhelming contentedness manifesting itself in the relatively near future. This certainty results from having partial contentedness, even if only slightly, with my life presently. Before working with Dr. Artherholt (my psychiatrist) as well as for the first 6 years of our work together, I couldn’t even envision my joy of life resurfacing, ever.
I’ve been working the hardest I’ve ever worked at anything as well as harder than the vast majority of people have ever worked or will ever have to work lifelong. (I was reticent to claim this, until my psychiatrist, a doctor who’s therefore studied prolifically (as is required of any doctor) as well as offered psychiatry to numerous Severe TBI survivors, reiterated the truth that TBI survivors not only work among the hardest to reclaim their lives ((let alone quality lives!)) they work harder than most others work for anything)!
In the past, what has resulted from my prolific work has been the achievement of the aim that work was designed to accomplish. But also, my aforementioned profound luck arose in tandem. Not always, certainly not, but when recounting my most influential outcomes, luck has certainly been a grandiose facilitator. This “luck” has been called blessing or fortune by loved ones and in reality, I consider it to be a boost from the universe.
After a decade + (My recovery is still very much in progress) but after withstanding & achieving a prolific amount, I now feel confident in exclaiming a truth that I’ve been confident about lifelong & is particularly relevant in this circumstance: Love heals. Love (in part – but grander than all other parts) has initiated my 2nd life.
I’ve been the extremely fortunate to be the recipient of love from individuals like my Parents, my Mentor, and friends: Chris, Lela, Jasper (to name only a few who have most grandly served me) as well as my newest friend, who lived in SanFrancisco & just a couple days ago, traveled home to Bozeman, Montana: Rob.
My recovery has now been 10 & 1/2 years and in it I’ve needed, and received, assistance from countless individuals. As a result, my profoundly impressive recovery has been far from an individual effort, it has certainly been a collective one.
At the risk of being knowingly redundant: THANK YOU!!
Individuals in my life have have made this healing experience tolerable (moments in the last few years have certainly been joyful) & possible!