Words That Make a Difference

However important words are, they must be and are judged. They are judged by just the words we use and HOW we use them. It is by action. The act behind or act not met that is scrutinized. I have a silent injury. My injury affects my life in every mental capacity. I have one very slight physical manifestation. My right side is very slightly weaker than the left. A spatial awareness deficit of roughly 15% makes me 'clumsy'. I loose balance and my knee may lock or buckle. I fall and bump into things i spill constantly. My biggest problem that arises from my injury is Social!!!! Society gas rules by which we must abide to fit in. These rules are governed by our actions. The rules are based on principles of action and these principal requirements are a function of our executive functioning. Problems with memory, the inability to be contextually aware of my surroundings. My difficulties with time and inability to sequence and actions have grave impairments. Then the everloving confabulations. These are the crem de la crem. They make us liars. Confabulation is a clinical term and gives is the grace to understand that we cant 'help it'. But recalling a memory that is a mixture of memories not related are to any normal person story telling or exaggerating or simply appear to be lies. Being respectful of others is the basic social guide. But if i cant remember an experience i shared that makes me insensitive perhaps. Dont mess with peoples time. Heck i cant get anywhere on time anymore no matter how many calendars or alarms i set i forget they went off and what they're for. Missing appointments. Misunderstanding social context of a conversation. I was having impressions of my teeth done and when the dentist said impression i thought first off about first impressions then impersonations. All the while impressions of my teeth were being taken. Thank goodness my mouth was full of goo. Why cant my mouth be full of goo everytime i take things out of context. Well it is full of goo because I start talking about a subject completely un related. It sounds funny but over time these little things. Have made life a living hell. I have become socially isolated. People think its drugs or that im just. Ot wanting to move past the injury when that is all in want to do. People dont understand me. Or they misunderstand me and the little things make or break a person. Like words. Little words. To little thoughts to little actions over and over define character. Our character is how society judges us by and by what value it places on a person. A silent injury is undaunting. When someone has a physical manifestation of a brain injyry then society 'forgives'. Because that person is a victim. Silent head injuries make for bad people. Unwanted character. That makes unwanted people a person like me. This is why i gave up ir give up at times. Sometimes i fight like there is no tomorrow. But hope gives way when there seems to be next to nothing that I do right. As an RN of 28 years my clinical practice was in neurological and psychological nursing. And now with a significant injury i cant get the word out because im not sociably a person with character worthy of believing. So the things in research and study mow are my reason to live. Fighting my way to find a way to get people to listen to me. Hey nurses and doctors!!!!! There us NO SUCH THING as a person who had a 100% recovery from a head injury. The brain was damaged and like all organ systems there is residual impairment. Its a silent injury that is a 100% recovery. Also this is the most important thing in this message. Head injuries have a latent morbidity and mortality rate that is unconscionably high and it manifests in suicide. The social isolation myself and others feel becomes overwhelming and people have too much pain in rejection that they end their own lives. This begins to happen about two years past injury. By two years peoples little blunders have shown their once impecable character before the injury not after the injury they change.... Of course we do WE ARE FOREVER HEAD INJURED. stop discharging and start post injury monitoring for social disconnection. Save lives. Start realizing silent injuries are elidemic and change in the was neurological trauma is manages has to be redefined and treatment protocols for social health need be identified and managed. We need a new area of clinical practice and its social practice. Social impairments kill. They institutionalize in either psychiatric hospitals or prisons. Look at the statistics of inmates that gave suffered moderate to severe head injuries. The numbers soar. In some studies 80% of prison populations have suffered an ABI So words. Yet what are those little words and why do people all of a sudden give up? I hope uninjured can try to grasp this concept. I wonder if anyone that can do anything about this will. I have identified it but i am head injured. Even though people say i have made 100% recovery. I am no longer considered a reliable sour e of information. Yes i have woken up in hell. So its hard to constantly fight in hell. But survivors survive. Thank you. Sue.