September 19, 2014

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Hi everybody. Welcome to another week of traumatic brain injury recovery. I'd like to dedicate this blog to all the volunteers that have been helping me.

I mention volunteers because I went out for a bike ride with Burke hospital. There were volunteers there that helped me a lot. There were also volunteers when I went to Helen Hayes. It's pretty cool. They volunteer their time to help you out. I am very impressed.

There's so much to tell you. I don't know where to start. I mentioned I added another day to my water therapy. That's been great. It helps with the walking so much.

My friend who's doing a documentary on my recovery, he came up the other day. The film I did when I crossed the country is almost done. It was great to see him again. We went over some of the images I shot and he reminded me what a great trip it was. You know, life does become therapy. Just the simplest things help in your recovery. Looking at the film he shot reminded me how important it is to do what you love to do. And I love photography. It really picks me up. It gets me through the rough stuff. Speaking of rough stuff, oh man, I've been having a tough go. It seems like my body is waking up more and more. I said it before, but I'll say it again, it's bizarre. Things are a lot clearer. My vision is a lot clearer. I went out to Montauk, my home town, and I think I don't like what I see. I see this as metaphor and reality. I guess things do change over 7 years. You know, it's strange. It's like I'm in a time machine. I picture things as they were, and for me to go back and, like my old neighborhood, for me to go back seems difficult. Hard to describe, but it's not easy. I say sarcastically, just another fine day of brain injury recovery. It was funny. I was talking to my daughter on the phone. I think I might have said this before. I was talking to her like she was 2 and 1/2, you know, when I went into the hospital. There was a moment of silence. She said, "Dad, I'm not a baby. I'm grown up." Pretty funny. You see, kids are a good gauge of time.

I'm already planning my next big adventure to Europe. It's good to have goals and my goal is to be walking with a walker by the time of our departure. So I basically set a date that I'll be walking. I guess it's put a little fire under my ass and it gets me going. For example, I use my machine, the Up & Go, to help me walk. I use it every day and I stand every hour. It's a lot of hard work, but it will get me to where I have to be.

I'm going to include a few photos from my road trip and keep this blog short. To look at my other blog, you know, the one from the past, go to the other blog from my website.

Talk to you guys next week. Love, B. Nice

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