alexscott,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear of your struggles. Wow, what an experience you have been through. I'm from Mobile but did not want to stay so we moved away when I was very young. Too much humidity.

It sounds like you have made a great start at getting some life back. You have accepted your limits and worked to find ways around them. That is how most improvements come. I can understand you struggle to understand your image of yourself. TBI can leave one with a lack of sense of pleasure and affinity.

I think you need some help learning who to open up to and how much to tell them. You have made a good start opening up here. There are books that talk about how to identify personal preferences and skills. There is one called something like "Find the Job You Love." There is another that I read long ago but I can't remember the title right now. If it come to me, I post it. I have memory problems too.

There are plenty of techniques for working with memory struggles depending on the kind of memory struggles you have. I have very poor visual and auditory immediate and short term memory. I have to work hard to get things into long term memory. Tracking days is very difficult for me.

Research shows that using electronic devices like smart phones and such can be very helpful to people with brain injury memory and cognitive struggles. I have witness a person with severe struggles use an iPAD to help with many daily struggles. He can even use it to speak when he is struggling with words.

There is an excellent video series on YouTube called "You Look Great" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Xso...ature=youtu.be

It is 6 segments that take about and hour total. John Byler did not suffer and injury as severe as yours but a lot of what he has to say is applicable. Your friends and family will benefit from watching it.

UAB is doing some research that may be useful to your family to participate in. The link is http://www.ahif.org/

There is a list of support groups at http://ahif.org/documents/rec-support-groups1.pdf I high recommend getting involved in a support group. They are very helpful for family and friends so they can meet others who have similar issues dealing with a TBI person.

Please feel free to tell us more about your struggles and needs. We are here to help.

And, Thank you for formatting your post with lots of double line spacing. It males it so much easier to read.

My best to you.