shezbut,

Sorry to hear of your bad experience with the snow plow. Even non-PCS people have times where their brain freezes up. The insurance companies were nuts.

One thing I learned is to plan a lesser involved day and task. Just because you think you can doesn't mean you should. We tend to over-estimate our abilities, especially early on before we have learned more work-arounds, accommodations and other coping strategies.

There are many physical activities that teach the skills we need.

When rock climbing, one always has a plan in case one fails. It is called a safety rope. They are not used to climb except in rare situations. But they are always used as a safety system. The time spend setting up safety systems is far more than the time needed for the climb. But, the lowered stress from knowing there is a good safety plan makes the climb much more manageable.

I used to move heavy safes. I learned early on that I always needed an escape. I did not need 1,000 to 2,000 pounds falling on me. If it was a dead lift that required two people to make the lift, it was necessary to have at least three people lifting. If one misstepped, the others could handle the load. With only two, if one misstepped, the other would get hurt because he could not handle the load alone.

Consider it Murphy's Law for PCS. If we slow down, take it easier, we get just as much done because we do not have to repeat ourselves as often.

You are very fortunate to have a nurse who understands. She is a gift that very few of us have.

btw, It sounds like you could benefit from some journaling. In a journal you could note the nurse's instructions, your medication schedule, your failures, how you can learn from your failures, and most importantly, your successes. Even come observations about your snowplow incident and claim.

Often, we enter a conflict unprepared to defend ourselves. In hind-sight, you may have been able to comment, "I was waiting for him to go around me. By the time I realized he did not see me, it was too late to do anything. Was I supposed to be able to read his mind?"

When I was 16 and newly licensed, I had a head on accident. My 4th concussion btw. I was considered at fault because the ink was still drying on my license. It was a one lane bridge on a blind corner. Later, I realized that I needed to stick up for myself. It became obvious that the other guy was speeding and had an earlier view of my car due to his position in the blind curve. My inexperience and self-doubt meant I had 6 years of higher insurance rates.

With PCS, it is often helpful to wait to start to decide what happened. As we wait, the other parts of the memory of the event may start to fall in place. If we make up our minds too soon, we end up doubting ourselves far too much.

Learning to reconstruct memories is a valuable skill for PCS. We can't learn the skill over-night nor can we reconstruct the memory over-night. It sometimes helps to start a note about the event. Then, over time, we can add details to the notes. Eventually, we can reconstruct a large part of the 'forgotten' event. We did not necessarily forget what happened. We just got the details misplaced and out of order.

Been there, done that, learned to do better.

My best to you.