You might be a survivor if:

(Or) Top Ten Signs that you're having trouble adjusting, Post-TBI

• You are thankful for the swarms of ants in your house because they make it easy to find where you left your dinner.

• You answer the phone by saying, "Help me, I fallen and I can't get up", on the off chance that it may get you the medical care you need.

• You spend weeks trying to make up a joke in which St. Peter tells a TBI that before he can come into Heaven he has to go to Hell so he can be evaluated by a neurologist, but it never sounds funny--

• You spent an entire month's benefit check on life sized cardboard cutouts of your family so you won't have to beg them to visit you anymore.

• You've decided that real healing won't take place until you find a mint 78 of "Dancing Lessons from Madame Zalonga".

• You want to go out into the yard and mean to do it someday.

• You play an endless loop of "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Crafts", and hope that you'll be abducted by aliens soon.

• You are delighted to find that, with the simple addition of instant gravy mix, it is possible to eat oatmeal for all three meals, every day.

• More than a year has passed since your last haircut, and no one has mentioned it.

• You wear pajamas all day, but actually sleep in your clothes.

Of course, this is all in good fun. Just a bit of silliness. You shouldn't interpret this agoraphobic, xenophobic picture as as a reflection of my own life. I lead a healthy, full, as near as possibly normal life. And I go out everyday to get oatmeal. And I change my slippers, too. If you don't believe me, just ask the aliens.

Continue On To: In the Hospital In the Nursing Home After Discharge Lifetime

Or Go To: The Issue of Guardianship Dealing With Medical Bills Social Security Legal Actions