May 26, 2017

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the present.

Don't knock it til you've tried it. That's what we'll call this blog. I'll explain.

A friend of mine was really bummed out because he had put his father in a nursing home. He said all his father does is sit on his bed and stare at the wall. I assured him, it's not such a bad thing. I've been there myself. A blank wall gives you a canvas, a blank canvas, so you can think. The mind is an amazing thing. I used to sit there and remember things I've done in the past. It was like I was there. Pretty wild.

The other day, someone I won't mention, told me I will never get better. This is how I am. I've plateau'd. I take people like this and put them in a special section of my mind. In other words, don't let people get you down, and don't let them set limits on you. It's amazing what you can achieve when you put your mind to it. Just don't give up.

I'll share one more thing with you guys. I am a little nervous about the healthcare changes. They said there's gonna be a change to medicaid. Medicaid supplies me with a health assistant. I'm a bit concerned about this. Anyone know about that? One other thing I'd like to share with you is this. I want a damn apology from our fearless orange leader. I told you before, but I was at a party and the guy pushed me off my chair (see previous blog). And I also want an apology for mocking disabled people like me. Go ahead, walk a mile in my shoes and see what a tough guy you are. I'm gonna end it there and put away my soapbox.

Have a good week. Love, B. Nice

P.S. Here's the link to my other blog.

May 19, 2017

Hi everybody. Welcome to the blog where I talk about the present.

Brutal. I'll explain more. I wanted to do a photoshoot where I specifically shoot an item as if I was specifically shooting for someone. My friend is an art director and she came up with some flowers for me to photograph. I set everything up, reflectors, my scrims, you know, everything for a photoshoot. The first thing I noticed was I set everything up to my height, 5'11". You know, I'm in a wheelchair now and everything is about 4' so I had to lower everything. Pretty crazy right. My friend here says I was on auto-pilot, and I guess I was. The shoot went great, but man, was I wiped out! I can see I only last a couple of hours. I had to concentrate on setting up all the equipment, picking out the music, talking to people, etc. Bottom line is, I'm not ready, no way. But, it's a step. Remember, everything is baby steps after you have a brain injury, and I took my first baby step. That lazy boy chair with a beer cooler looks like a better and better idea. Other than that, it's therapy as usual, every day. I keep plugging away. Not much else to tell you. It's freaking hot, and the humidity is real high. Not a good combo for me.

Here's the other link to my blog where I talk about my past. See you next week. Love, B. Nice

May 1, 2017

Hi everybody. Welcome to the blog where I talk about the present.

Let's call this blog fugly. I'll explain. I have a therapist. We'll call him Jack. I see him Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Every time I see him, we're like two brothers always telling jokes and picking on each other. Well, this past Friday, I saw my therapist Jack. He was wearing an orange t-shirt. I said, "Man, you look like an ugly pumpkin." Then we proceeded to insult each other. Anyway, I got back to work on my arm bike. Remember, I can't see too good. All of a sudden, in my peripheral vision, I see a flash of orange. I say to Jack, "Man, you're fugly." Then I realize, it's not Jack. It was another patient. I didn't bother to explain, but I got a lot of strange looks for the rest of the session. Oh well, just blame it on a traumatic brain injury.

Hey, speaking of traumatic brain injury, I just found out New York State is the leading state in the United States for traumatic brain injury waiver. All the other states look up to New York State as an example. So I guess, by default, I picked a good place to live. If you have a traumatic brain injury, you might want to consider moving to New York State. You'll get more services.

I'm gonna leave you with a profound thought I had. You see, I always wake up around 4 am, and can't get back to sleep. The thought I had right before I woke up was this: Life is like water over a long fall. Think about it. Pretty profound, huh?

I'll talk to you guys next week. Here's my link to my other blog. Love, B. Nice

April 17, 2017

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the present.

So, I get up early every morning. I don't know if it's because of my injury or what, but I just lay there and some thoughts come to my mind sometimes. I call them fortune cookie thoughts, because they sound like thoughts you have when you open up a fortune cookie. Here's an example: OK, so I'm lying there, and I thought, "Always follow your intuition as you would your nose." I mean, who thinks of stuff like that? OK, here's another one, "Never think too much as you have to be careful what you ask for." Now where, exactly, did my doctor operate? And the last one, I can't describe what the next one is because it's too weird. The point is, when you have a brain injury, you're gonna have huge swings in thoughts and moods. Just go with it and you'll be fine.

That's all I'm gonna talk about for this week. Just remember when you have a brain injury, you have to work real hard. I mean I had some tough training in track and field, but this rehab stuff is really tough. It makes college days of training seem like a walk in the park. REmember, don't give up.

This is B. Nice signing off. Love, B. Nice

Oh yeah, check out my other blog, where I talk about the past.

April 3, 2017

Be the master of your own universe. You've heard that before, right? Well, it's true. When you're sick, like this, you've got to take charge, be your own doctor, in a way. Look after yourself. I'll give you an example.

The insurance companies, let's say, won't cover you for 2 - 100 mg tablets of "whatever." But, they will cover you for one tablet of 200 mg. It's insane, but you need a point person that understands insurance speak. You've gotta get it right or you'll miss out. Remember, I said before, they wouldn't give a man who clearly needs a wheelchair, a wheelchair. The insurance companies almost play doctor. It's crazy. I've had great insurance, but it's only because the people that looked after me know how to talk insurance talk. I can't stress enough how important this is when you're looking to be covered. I'll just give you one other example. My doctor prescribed a certain medicine and the insurance wouldn't cover it, so we said it was for epilepsy and it was covered. It's crazy, I know, but it worked. Like my friend here said, it's enough to make your head spin.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I have someone who is an independent living person. I've been going out and taking photos with an assistant. It feels great to get out and take pictures. Mind you, I can't see what I'm shooting, because I'm legally blind, but I'm having a great time.  That's what it's all about, right? Art for art's sake. Happiness for happiness sake.

You know, I forgot what I was going to talk to you about, so let's just leave it here. Check out my other blog where I talk about the past. Here's a link.

Have a good week. Love, B. Nice.