shoot for the stars, if you miss you will land on the moon.

You will have the best case scenario if you believe you will recover. Do not underestimate the power your belief. Not only do your beliefs affect your decisions (ie how aggressively you seek out treatment, etc), they have significant influence on your mind and body. Do not stop until you exhaust all the possibilities; you owe this to yourself.

Will, this is true.

When I was first injured, my prognosis was terrible. My evil neurologist kept asking me why I was "wasting" my time on physical and cognitive therapy. I told him that, sure, if I tried, there was a possibility I might fail. However, if I didn't try, failure was 100% certain. There is nothing to lose in trying.

In fact, there was lots to gain. No, I'm not all better, but I'm doing much better than anyone thought possible.

Hockey- you have a wealth of knowledge... and have gotten me through some issues that turned out to just be anxiety.. I am so thankful to have this board and "lifers" like you ... you have made this journey more manageable

I am improving significantly. After 4 years I just started working full time again on August 1. Before the accident I worked 1 full time job and 3 part time jobs, so I'm not "normal" yet - but I still have hope that I will be someday and it's definitely worth the hope and effort it's taken me to get as far as I have to this point.

But that doesn't mean it was roses and peaches for me and that I didn't question it. It's very human to feel awful about such an awful thing that creates such a huge challenge in one's life.

Hang in there!!

I'm 7 months in and am very much feeling like I'm never going to recover. I've seen very little improvement and possibly none at all, but I'm trying to adjust to the possibilities of never being back to my previous level of functioning.

The way I'm trying to look at it for myself is that I feel it's unlikely I will improve significantly, but I'm trying not to be negative about that, rather trying to accept it as a fact. If I'm right, then my expectations will be met. If I'm wrong, I can be pleasantly surprised.

I had an extremely promising career ahead of me, I was going to apply to start my doctorate this year and I've spent the last 10 years building towards that. I'm trying hard to come to terms with that.
One of the other things I'm doing is trying to think of the positives, like I will have a family, I think of all the things I can do like walk and talk and still live life fairly fully.

On a side note, my friends and I were talking recently about invisible disorders and my work speciality is autism, you may familiar with the t-shirts to spread awareness, 'I'm not naughty, I'm autistic'?
I was saying I'd quite like a t-shirt that says 'I'm not stupid, I'm concussed!' :P

When are you going to start taking orders?

When somebody, who knows I've had a TBI, grossly underestimates my cognitive function, I say "I'm brain damaged, not brain dead."

Abbilee,

I saw very little improvement post 7 months. However, I did continue to get better very slowly. The month to month improvements have been almost negligible. However, if I compare myself right now to where I was few months ago, I know I am getting better.

Amy Cuddy's IQ dropped 2 deviations after her TBI and she was told by her doctors that she will never graduate from college. She never gave up. It took her 8 years to complete undergrad and now she is a renowned social psychologist and a professor at Harvard Business School. Check out her TED talk.
http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_y...es_who_you_are

keep these videos coming, thanks will. for now i just listen to the audio. some day i shall watch them!!

Yes; while I still have some residual minor vertigo and some mood changes I can’t fully describe, I’ve recovered by most objective measures.

My NPA five months after my injury stated “On examination, the patient demonstrated intact cognition in all domains assessed including learning and memory, attention, processing speed, language skills and executive functions. He has shown an excellent recovery from his severe injury only five months age. From a cognitive standpoint there are no concerns with respect to the patient returning to work full time or returning to driving.”

That said all major life experiences, whether traumatic or benign change us in some way. I have an enhanced level of gratitude for life, and remain very grateful for all those who participated in my recovery, from the doctors and other medical professionals to family and friends. Miracles happen.