[TheForge] Good to hear from you (was: Anyone know why IForgeIron dot com is down?)

[Jerry Frost]

Thanks Bruce. I hadn't thought about what good friends you and Andy are, 
I'd probably have to take a club to you to make an impression. I can 
relax now. WHEW!

You and me both, it took me almost a year to discover how much was 
scrambled and I discover more as I go. It's weird how the You , you know 
and your brain aren't quite the same person. It wasn't till I was 
getting pretty pissed at people for not letting me do what I'd always 
done and my neurologist told me my brain still hadn't learned it was 
injured that it really started sinking in. I need to get copies of my 
EEGs and CATs so I can get a look at where the bleeds were, I think most 
of the damage was between the hemispheres but I'm not sure.

I've read "Stroke Of Insight" and am rereading it now, it's more than 
interesting it's been  super helpful. Problem solving, for me anyway, 
has always been three part, first acknowledge the problem, second define 
the problem, third solve the problem. Stroke of Insight has helped me 
discover problems and define them while providing methods of letting my 
brain solve them.

It's really counter intuitive to let your brain solve it's own problems 
but you might have to show it the problem and sometimes even play tricks 
on it to get it going in the right direction. I mean really, you can 
keep secrets from your own brain WHILE thinking about them. Life is just 
too weird sometimes, I couldn't have written something this off the wall 
on my best SiFi writing day.

I will most certainly check out the Ted Talk, Dr. Jill is an inspiration 
and a hero of mine.

Have you read "Stroke Of Insight"? Dr. Jill is more than right, she has 
basic rules for people who visit stroke/TBI/etc. survivors to help their 
brains repair themselves. Surgeons, doctors, etc. can do gross repairs 
but the brain has to repair itself. There are ways others can help or 
hinder but it isn't so intuitive as one may think.

Thank you Bruce.
Jer


On 7/15/2013 6:39 PM, Bruce . wrote:
> Jerry,
>
> It's always good to hear from you.  Frankly, I can't recall that rant
> you referred to, so I obviously didn't let it bother me.  Hell, Andy
> Vida is one of my better friends, so I guess I'm inoculated against
> rants!
>
> I hadn't quite realized what degree of damage you suffered.  You
> remain articulate, and that's important.  A friend of mine suffered a
> very serious stroke a few years ago.  I don't get to see him much
> because he lives in another state, but his family was very supportive
> -- which is good because he lost a little physical function, and lost
> speech almost entirely.  Yet I can talk to him and see that he
> understands everything I say.  He's in there -- he just can't tell me
> so in words.  Much better that you can speak for yourself.
>
> No, I don't intend to inject myself into the IFI troubles either.  My
> one comment was as far as I go.
>
> BTW, you or anyone else with any interest in the brain might find this
> TED talk to be eye-opening:
>
> http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
>
>
>