Structure and routine are important in dealing with brain injury, the occupational therapist told me when my husband was discharged from the hospital. He suffers from memory loss so establishing routines helps provide consistency and stability to his day. It also helps with sequencing skills – knowing that things will happen on a regular
We have added boxing to our exercise regime and although I have never been a fighter, I find it exhilarating hitting Coach D’s boxing mitts. BAM! for the 40 crunches he makes us do. BAM! for the two minute planks. Coach D dances around, making us get in the proper position. “Protect your face!”
In brain injury, short-term memory is usually the first to go. Long-term memories are more deeply rooted and can remain intact. When I tell my husband it’s the 4th of July and ask what he thinks happens, he automatically says, “Fireworks. The block party.” Our neighborhood has been throwing a 4th of July block party
It’s week 6 of our exercise regime and feats I thought impossible are happening – holding a plank position for over two minutes, concentration curls with eight pound weights, and skull crushers with a 45 pound bar. With gentle pressure from Coach D. and the support and laughter from companions, we are getting stronger,
I started a new exercise regime – two days a week, my backyard is transformed into a gym and three of my neighborhood friends and I work out with Coach D. The lawn area is for ropes, agility ladders and hopscotch. The patio is equipped with benches, mats, ab wheels, bar bells, weights and
Zack and I took in the show, –Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible, at the Met Breuer last month. I was drawn to this painting by Roman Opalka, a Polish artist who began the count to infinity to convey the continuum of time. He painted 233 canvases in all, before his death in 2011, with white
I’m packing for a trip to New York to see my son Zack then on to Washington DC for an education conference. It’s not the myriad details that need attending before I leave — arranging for the caregiver, planning out meals and stocking the refrigerator with enough food for a week — that leaves
I’m listening to Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread in the car during my commute to work. “Oh, what a world, what a world,” says Abby to her future mother-in-law, Mrs. Whitshank. “That’s what the wicked witch says in The Wizard of Oz.” “In a way, it sounds kind of pitiful,” Mrs. Whitshank says. Those
My husband and I are in Mammoth for the long weekend. I was hoping it would snow so we could hole up in the condo next to a crackling fire. But the weather has been sunny and warm, in the 50’s, which made the late Friday night drive easy and clear of ice. I know
I am addicted to Candy Crush. And Candy Crush Soda and now Candy Crush Jelly. Why do I spend hours playing this simple game of matching three candies and getting excited about striped candies and candy bombs? It is not a game of skill or strategy and it doesn’t require a lot of thought. It’s
