BIRRDsong Survivor Tips Home

This page is dedicated to hints and tips submitted by our survivors, including family members and caregivers. Any information included here is strictly anecdotal and is not to be construed in any way as professional advice. To submit a tip please click here web@birrdsong.org Please include your name, contact information, and date of your entry.

Summary of submissions (chronologic sort)

Submitted by Max Conradt 10-6-07 Date of injury 10-19-01

Never, never, never, give up. Keep challenging yourself. Never give up your faith, you CAN do this! In a 3 ring binder, I divide the page in half with a line down the middle. One section is an Action List, the other a schedule of things to do that day. I remove the page and carry it with me at all times during the day. When my day is completed, I put the page back in the binder checking off and making sure of the things I did for the day.

When you're out and about and remember something you have to do, or maybe pick up at a store, call home and leave yourself a message. You may even want to end the message with something positive that you've experienced that day. When you get home, grab a pad and pen and listen to your messages, jot them down, and then do them. It works like a charm. I've been doing it for years now!

When making an appointment of ANY kind, while you're writing it down, and do this in your calendar, repeat the day, month, time and you may want to ask approximately how long you should plan to be there, back to the person you scheduled it with. Don't talk to a second person without verifying all the information with the first person. If you do get transferred to another, verify all the same appointment information with that person as well. This will save valuable time and frustration all the way around.

Listen to your body on your new journey. When it says rest..........rest! Rest is a primary necessity for brain recovery Be well and stay strong!

I'd like to share a tip I learned in my rehabilitation. It is the acronym S.T.A.R.

Reaching past our personal limitations each day just a little bit helps dealing with the frustration of struggle, slowness, increased difficulty to complete tasks. I developed more patience and more appreciations for the small victories

•Use a timer to account for your energy. I 'center' myself, and think "how long can I give to this project?" If it is 45 minutes, or 90 minutes or 15 minutes, I set a timer for that amount of time. I like a digital timer that hooks onto my pocket. If I do not do this, I tend to over work and over stress. These are the times I have fallen (again) and hurting myself (again). When the timer goes off, I MUST rest. If I don't, I mess myself up.
•Use an accomplishment journal. There are days that I feel as though I have not gotten anywhere at all. If I do use my journal it assists me in knowing I am not a slug! When used together,.these two things help my life run more smoothly.
•For Families:
My best tip to families of TBI members is to LISTEN. If your family member tells you they can't, they CAN'T. EVERY time I have fallen since my first TBI (both the second TBI + a broken arm + misc. bruises and stumbles AND two black eyes + more bruises and bumps... all due to MY trying to keep up when I had already passed on that I was too tired to do so. I needed support in my getting back into a safe and serene enviroment. Again, I say "LISTEN".

All the best,
Barb George
Brush Prairie WA
360-253-8360

To aid myself in being less overwhelmed I take a simple step that really helps. When I know I'll be going somewhere that I'll be needing to remember certain items, I get them ready the day before. That may sound like a simple task, however as we all know, nothing about living with a brain injury is simple.

So in order to keep it as simple as possible, I will take the entire day prior to my commitment to set things out IN THE SAME SPOT ALWAYS. I'll even set my purse along with the items and add the things to my purse that I'll need making sure not to complicate my process. In order to do that, I place things in my purse, which has three compartments and a zippered inside pocket, in the same compartment all the time. I don't put papers in with my personal items. Such as lipsticks, lotions, Kleenex, that sort of thing. My ID and money never mix either. My ID is always in the same slots, each and every credit card or ID of any kind has it's own slot and that's where it lives. I return each one to it's original slot. Checkbook, calendar, notepad & pen have their own compartment. Keys are always safely zipped along with my money on an inside pocket of my purse. When I take my purse anywhere, and you women know it goes with us alot of the time, I always have it zipped. If I need something, I set my purse down, get the item, and immediately zip it again.

I have things ready the night before using the entire day if necessary so that the next morning I'm not overwhelmed that I may have forgotten something. You know how that feels, and it can make for a bad day.

When John & I travel I really stretch out my "getting ready and getting packed." I make a very detailed list of the things I'm going to bring. I put the opened suitcase on a chair and as I put things in, I scratch them off and don't look at the scratched off stuff again. I will not start packing until I have completed my list. I have the suitcase out a week before we're to take off and pack it the same way each time, taking the week to do a little at a time. I keep my list on the packed clothes in the suitcase so I always know where it is and can see it when I walk by the suitcase. Repetition is a life saver and very much a time saver.

John is even perfectly content and trusts in my packing for him. When he's traveling for business, it's crucial certain things get remembered so again, I have a great feeling of success which leads to empowerment.

Coping with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury by Diane Roberts Stoler, Ed. D. and Barbara Albers Hill

This amazed me.........talk about helping my memory! I had always heard that reading before you retire at night is a very helpful in remembering what you read. My short term memory is operational at its own choosing. So, I tried this reading tip. Not only did it work in helping me remember what I read, it went one set further and that was HUGE for me! I hadn't been able to remember my dreams at night for the past 7 years. The 7 years after my injury. I may have remembered them briefly when I woke up but it was very, very briefly. I even started recording my recollections to see if that would spark anything later on during the day when I played it back. That didn't work for me. Good idea however not the results I was after. When I started reading before bed I was absolutely amazed to not only remember what I had read the night before but I started remembering my dreams also!! I've always loved to remember my dreams, even as a little girl so when I couldn't, it was devastating to me. I chalked it up to "one more thing" I have to get used to or deal with. So imagine my joy to discover this!! It's a simple thing and simple is good!!!!

In dealing with my short term memory loss this is a trick I use that works for me and I also use it with others that are dealing with the same challenge. When I'm having a conversation with John, my husband, at times I will just 'go blank' when trying to find the word that I need to continue our conversation. What he'll do then, and when I ask, is to give me the first letter of the word that is 'lost' which allows it to form in my mind and in turn remember the word. Sometimes it may take a second or third letter, goal being to use as few 'cue' letters as possible. It doesn't work all the time but I find the more we use this kind of trick - so to speak- the easier it gets with my word finding. That's a plus on all counts. Self Esteem, Confidence, and general feeling of being able to hold a conversation with someone and get your point across.

Summary of submissions (chronologic sort)

Submitted by Max Conradt 10-6-07 Date of injury 10-19-01