Kristen,

Thanks for your honesty about your driving struggles. It is the start of learning to self-evaluate. PCS causes many blind spots, both visually and cognitively. I used to be a private pilot and owned my own high performance aircraft. I stopped flying after my second episode where I landed my plane without completing the pre-landing checklist.

Checklists are drummed into the mind of pilots during training. I used them with discipline. I know I started the pre-landing checklist but only completed 2 or 4 checklist steps. The second time this happened, I realized something was wrong and parked my plane while trying to figure out what happened.

When I drive, I am aware that I sometimes have similar struggles. At least when I am driving, the car will not dig a smoking hole into the ground. It still requires serious discipline to drive safely.

If you see a driving rehab therapist, please keep in mind that they only see you drive in limited circumstances. My check ride went lousy for me but the therapist said I was fine to drive because I pulled over and stopped when I had a problem. She did not consider the problems that could have arisen if I did not have a chance to pull over and stop. I had a melt down crossing a very busy intersection with cars, bikes, and pedestrians. I made it to the other side and stopped.

Regarding nutrition, I recommend a daily regimen of:
Vitamin b-12, 1000 mcgs
a B-50 complex
a high potency multi-vitamin like GNC Mega Women (not One a Day or Centrum)
C,
D3,
E,
Magnesium,
Calcium
Omega 3, 6, and 9 fish oil

Avoid caffeine, alcohol, MSG, and artificial sweeteners (aspartame/Equal/Nutrasweet and sucralose/Splenda are the worst)

Good meat protein is good from amino acids, pork is the best.

Regarding your job,
The environment of a job can be as stressful as the cognitive effort. If there is noise, visual clutter, visual stimulation, smells, voices, and any other stimulations, they all cause stress, especially to the injured brain.

As you consider your financial needs, consider than you will be able to save on child care costs and even be able to reduce car insurance premiums if you continue to not drive. I reduce my insurance to just comprehensive when I know I am not going to be driving.

Those who have researched PCS and have long term experience treating PCS have all found that quiet rest is the only reliable way to recover from a concussion with prolonged symptoms. Dr Robert Cantu in Massachusetts is likely one of the top 5 in the world. He has been writing about concussions since the mid 1980's.

The brain needs the rest so it can start to sort out the injury. The constant metabolism of the brain needs to be slowed so that toxins can be purged faster than they accumulate. The most common concussion injury is called diffuse axonal injury. This when the millions of fine axons that transmit the information get damaged. These same axons are covered by myelin, a insulation like covering. This myelin has a drainage system similar to the rest of the body's lymph structure. It is called the glymph system because is is part of the glial cell system.

When the axons, myelin, and glymph system is damaged, the toxins are very slow to be removed from the brain. When any of these systems try to heal, they need to discharge the toxins from the injury and the rebuilding process. So, it is an all or nothing kind of healing system. The rest reduces the speed of the toxic build-up so it can be flushed.

There are many on NT who have experienced the value of rest after trying to work through their need to recover.

The rule of thumb I suggest for cognitive activities during this rest is anything that requires manual effort but not a computer or mouse. The hands can not work faster than the recovering brains limits. Things like playing solitaire with a deck of cards, knitting, sewing, crafts, fishing, and just about any manual activity are just enough cognitive stimulation. Playing with a toddler would fit with this.

Taking a nap during the day will also be good.

There are no ways to prognose how much recovery you will experience. As you recover, you can undo weeks of recovery with a single high stress event like a trip to the mall that was too long or attending a social activity with lots of sounds and voices. Grocery shopping should be done during slow times or by someone else. Plan an escape route for those times when you need to escape excessive sights and sounds when you are out in public.

If you need some resources to help others understand your condition, there are two great resources. The TBI Survival Guide at www.tbiguide.com is 84 pages of great information. The 6 segment YouTube video series "You Look Great" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Xso...ature=youtu.be takes about an hour to watch.

More later if you have more questions.

My best to you.