My injury happened when I fell off a ladder while cleaning the gutters on my house. That was 20 years ago, and I was 53. Spent 3 months in 3 different hospitals, a craniotomy surgery, 9 months at home and speech & occupational therapy. I worked for a library system, and librarians (my supervisors and co-workers/friends) searched and read every book they could find about TBI and gave me all the time I needed, and was able to back to my pre-injury work at the 12 month mark.

I think that one of the most important things to guide recovery is knowing that our brains are still rewiring itself. I feel that; I'm at 90-95% of the pre-injury person; feel that I'm still healing/recovering and gaining. Will I ever get back to 100%. I don't know, maybe, maybe not, but it doesn't matter, because I'm OK with what I have now. Doctors told me, and my family, that recovery is a 1-2 year process. Those doctors were wrong, I am still gaining. We (the royal "we") survived, and are still recovering. Finding a reason, any reason, to wake up & get out of bed. Move forward, not letting your injury define you, to "be here now". Take a walk in a park or around a creek, listen to birds, find a safe place (local mall) where you can "people watch". Volunteer.