I am an entirely different person from my concussions. I have changed in steps. I have had cognitive struggles from a concussion, high fever, other illness and stress. Over time, usually a year of slowly improving, I have regained my cognitive skills. I never looked at the negative. I just worked toward regaining skills. My goal in many instances was to regain my ability to do math calculations in my head. That was my touchstone of recovery.

I did not focus on rebuilding skills. I did it casually by taking on opportunities to stretch my brain. One of my visual processing exercises is Free Cell. I play for enjoyment and to kill time. I have had a high ratio of winning 90% of the deals. Right now, I am in the high 70's with my goal being to get to 80% and stay above 80%. I have learned it is a good way to develop work-arounds and other accommodations. I need to be patient as I look for plays. This helps me slowly think through the various plays.

After my first concussion at 10 yo, I regained all my cognitive skills except my verbal processing. I can not put a % on recovery. I was a different person. I was not the sweet little boy anymore. I started struggling with depression.

My sophomore year, I had a relapse from soccer ball heading. I dropped one Grade Point for a year.

Another injury / relapse my freshman year of college caused me to change direction and leave school.

A concussion in '96 left me with head aches for almost a year. I did not track other attributes.

I was assaulted and slugged in the back of my head in 1999 and my wife says my personality changed and other things changed.

My concussion in 2001 at 46 yo left me with the most permanent functional losses. I almost completely lost my ability to multi-task. Driving became a problem. Memory problems became chronic without recovery. I had a NeuroPsych Assessment a year later and repeated it with another NeuroPsych with the same results.

My short term and immediate visual and auditory memory skills are in the bottom 20% and mostly below 10% of the population. Fortunately, my intelligence has remained high. This allows me to learn ways to overcome or work-around my memory limitations.

Other than my complete inability to tolerate multiple sounds and too much visual stimulation, with patient focus and work-arounds, I can accomplish anything I need to accomplish.

The important thing to consider is that patience will allow you to overcome most of your limitations. You may need to re-invent your life but it is a change, not a loss.

My best to you.