Husband has frontal brain damage from surgery, upset with challenges

Dear @lanulare & all,
I have a TBI from a one block from my house, on 2012. I had different ways of the “problems”, usually physically & mentally like cutting the grass or swimming again or working at my city or playing my MC (motorcycle) and on. I’ve lost my memories like Christmas from my kids example. I lost 80% of my memory & understanding today.

#1 (1/2 a year) - I lived at the hospital and then another place of that. That learned easy places - like bathrooms, eating dinner, walking without falling down, and on.

#2 (3/4 a year) - Staying at my house and spend M-F, 6 hour a day, like playing cards & others.

#3 (5 years) - At home but another M-F, 6 hours a day working things like the money, cleaning, cooking, lifting, working in/out, “help-ing”, and on. That was, for 5 years with this. That’s gone 3-4 years ago.

That’s ended. Sure I can’t drive anymore but I’m married for the last 42-plus years - thankfully! But I worked at my church; meet older friends, trying my ability ride my guitar/music (can’t get, but trying again), cleaning up, and others.
Thx,
Greg D. @greg1956

PS: I take 3 times-a-day of meds for anti-seizure than before. Makes the last 4 years of anti-seizure - thankfully!

PSS: Be careful of people has a TBI the weakness as people gets older. I am, now, 70 years old. I’ve falling down cause I had been acccident a falling down a few years ago on my rearends. Now my balance is gone on my right foot. Falling down is to easy.

@gregd1956 You might want to try a ukelele. Only 4 strings. Chords are easier than the guitar.

😄

@triciaot and @greg1956 I just picked up the ukelele and I can attest that it is easier than the guitar. What joy it has brought me. Just remember to relax, have fun and don't worry if you cannot make all chords...some of them are tricky no matter what instrument! Joy, joy!

My son sustained a severe traumatic brain injury. He is permanently disabled and dependent on my husband and I. While he accepts his new situation, he fights to improve what he does have and explores other ways to make his life fulfilling. For an example, he does not have good breath control and his speech is very difficult to understand, so he cannot play the horn instruments he used to play (baritone, trombone, trumpet, french horn). So, he explored other musical expressions. He also has difficulty with fine-motor skills; he cannot write well or for a long time and he cannot brush his teeth. But his fine motor skills have improved with practice, so he is taking piano lessons. I would encourage all brain-injured people to explore the arts and attend concerts, art galleries/museums, garden...and take a lesson or two. The arts are magical. Always remember to take a breath, relax and just enjoy the doing, instead expecting the perfect. May your life be blessed with art!

@marialara I bought a ukulele after breast cancer treatment that gave me brain fog. It was when the medication dose was lowered and the fog mostly lifted I was so elated I got the ukulele.

I use the Ultimate Guitar app on an ipad. What I love about the app is that it will transpose all the chords up or down. So when there is a song that has one or more chords that are difficult to finger, I just hit the transpose up, or down, until I find a set of chords that are easier to play. It almost always works! The app provides chords for the guitar and almost all of them have an option to play on the ukulele. It has incredibly simplified my playing.

Thank you, @rubyslippers! Hopefully others will see these comments and take a musical leap! May you be blessed with music in your step, in your heart, and the ability to share with others. <3

@lanulare Your prayers and kindess are so generous. Thank you. We have come a long way. Over two years after his accident, we did research and decided to get HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) for our son. It was the most pivotal therapy he had. Within five months of treatment, he gained healing in the awarness part of the brain which lead to him, learning to walk with a walker, bladder and bowel control, being able to eat solid food, aware of people outside of 6 minutes/6 feet. He has come a LONG way. If you would like to know more, just holler ;). God bless you!

My husband's been playing drums since he was 13, and he's started working with me on learning drumming rudiments (single and double stroke rolls, paradiddles, etc.) that I pat out with my hands on my knees and shoulders. He thinks that working on my coordination and to develop ambidexterity might reconnect some new neural pathways. Can't hurt. It's fun, it's something I've never done before, and we put on music we like and he starts simple drumming on his knees and I try to mimic what he's doing.

I'm in the same boat for the past 3 years and his tbi is killing me.

@marialara You sound like a musical family! With such skills your son may be interested in these:

Device: Xbox Adaptive Controller (with MIDI adapter)
Physical Demand: Low to Moderate (Highly customizable layout of switches/jacks)
Musical depth/Capabilities: High (Can map 19+ switches to independent MIDI triggers) Building a custom instrument layout tailored exactly to their surviving movement.

Device: iPad Apps (ThumbJam / Animoog)
Physical demand: Low (Requires isolated finger tap/slide on glass, but no pressure)
Musical depth/Capabilities: Very High (Microtonal scales, full synthesis control) Musicians with good visual-spatial control but low physical strength.

You might also check out Drake Music. They have spent years adapting musical instruments. Their experience may give your son opportunities in music that match his skills.
https://www.drakemusic.org/
And last but not least: there is a large group of adaptive gamers that have figured out how to make gaming controllers work for a variety of physical skills. With that group “where there is a will there is a way!” Gaming might also be of interest, but this group can help adapt an Xbox controller that can be used with a MIDI.