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Brain Injury Survivor's Guide - Larry & Beth Jameson
Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide
Larry & Beth Jameson
Outskirts Press
ISBN: 9781432716202
Reviewed By Kenya Dow
Official Apex Reviews Rating: 
You’re
having a pretty typical day: work is progressing as usual, you make
casual conversation here and there, you begin to look forward to your
favorite TV shows later that evening…
All of a sudden, you feel
a sharp, flashing sensation, you become dizzy & disoriented, and
the next thing you know you’re waking up in a hospital bed surrounded
by friends & family. Over the next few days, doctors and nurses
check on you regularly, assuring you that you’re improving nicely, that
you’ll be going home soon, and that you’re going to be just fine…
But
you’re not fine at all. Soon you begin having difficulty reading simple
sentences & phrases. Key facts and information – such as your
husband’s birthday or your anniversary – escape your memory. Cooking a
meal for yourself becomes nearly impossible. You even have trouble
seeing things in your peripheral vision…
Welcome to the world of
over 5 million people in the United States with a long-term or lifelong
need for help related to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). From stroke
victims to war veterans to athletes recovering from multiple
concussions, TBI survivors often look as normal as their healthy
counterparts, but their lives are anything but, and in Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide Larry & Beth Jameson provide detailed insight into exactly what makes their daily experiences such a challenge.
Make
no mistake, though: their informative self-help guide does not serve as
a de facto pity party designed to remind TBI survivors of just how
discouraged they should feel about their conditions. Rather, as
survivors themselves, the Jamesons do a commendable job of infusing
hope, optimism, and courage into the hearts and minds of the numerous
individuals whose lives have been thusly affected. With the constant
reminder that their lives will never be what they once were, the
Jamesons successfully provide TBI survivors with helpful tips and
useful advice regarding the adoption of new daily routines, which will
greatly assist in the survivors’ acclimation to their new quality of
life.
The Jamesons even include a detailed list of professional
organizations & associations that support TBI survivors with
helpful programs and other useful opportunities. Coupled with their
comprehensive suggestions for memory improvement and overcoming
cognitive & behavioral difficulties, Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide
is a well-balanced, invaluable resource sure to benefit dozens – if not
thousands – of individuals who may feel that they have nowhere to turn.
Essential reading for those affected by TBI, as well as those who know
someone that is or may be.
Official Apex Reviews Interview: Larry & Beth Jameson (Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide)
Apex Reviews: Larry & Beth, thanks for joining us for this interview. We’re looking forward to learning more about your book.
Beth, your story of personal triumph is especially inspiring. Will you please share a bit of it with our readers?
Beth Jameson: As a result of my brain injury, I had no short term memory, difficulty thinking and making decisions, not being able to find the right words to say, and a flat personality that eventually resulted in a new personality. I was very fortunate to have loving family members and, especially, a husband who made my recovery his life goal.
He helped me make how-to lists for just about everything. He walked the aisles of the grocery store and made a list on our computer that had the items we usually buy in order as I would walk through the store. We’d print the list, highlight the items and I could shop without having to decide on both what to buy and where to find it.
When I was preparing to return to work, Larry bought the computer software I would be using at work for our home computer and helped me learn how to use those programs more effectively. We also made how-to lists for all my job functions. I carried a planner that contained all the written strategies which kept me informed about what I was supposed to be doing at any given time.
The planner was my brain’s assistant. That cut down on the constant struggle to remember and organize my thoughts which prevented a lot of the confusion and frustration that is normal for brain injury victims.
The strategies we developed helped me regain my independence and self-confidence. I now know that knowledge is power. If I want to feel confident in a situation, I try to learn as much about it as possible. That takes fear away.
I learned not to accept other people’s opinions without completely going over it and determining how it applied to me. If I had listened to all the doctors and therapists who told me I would probably never work again, I might never have tried.
Larry Jameson: Yes, you would have. You see, Beth has a ’rise above’ attitude. Regardless of what situation she finds herself in, she has a desire to rise above it. Telling her that she would probably never work again would have triggered that ’I’ll show you’ response.
BJ: Well, he’s probably right. More important, however, I’ve learned to accept the new person I am, and I work daily to improve that person. I enjoy life more because I have a great understanding of how short and how fragile it is. I try to dwell on the more important things in life: family, friends, nature and self-worth.
I know there is a way to come up with a solution to accomplish just about anything. If I am unable to do it the traditional way, I come up with an alternative method that gets the same results.
Larry was the key to my improvement and he still is my security blanket."
AR: Please explain to our readers precisely what a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is.
LJ: First, let me say that the term traumatic brain injury is the current buzz word in the news media because of Iraq and Afghanistan. Any brain injury is a traumatic experience for the victims and family members. Actual TBI is caused by an outside force causing injury to the brain. It might be a nearby explosion, a gunshot, a car wreck, a fall, a sports injury or anything else that causes the brain to violently rock back and forth inside the skull.
A stroke or an aneurism can cause a brain injury of equal or, even, greater intensity, but there is no outside force involved. That’s more commonly known as Acquired Brain Injury.
The brain is made up of billions of cells called neurons. Each of these cells has tentacles like an octopus. Those tentacles carry electrical impulses to nearby neurons billions of times per second. It’s very similar to an electric power plant providing electricity to several towns and neighborhoods. A car (outside force) knocks down a power pole (brain cell), and a number of residents lose their electricity. Even though the power grid itself is still working fine, a portion of the distribution network is no longer functioning because the connection is broken.
In brain injury, the broken function may be loss of short term memory. A person cannot remember the names of people they ate lunch with thirty minutes earlier. He or she may not even remember eating lunch. Now, it’s important not to confuse short term memory loss with temporary memory loss. A temporary loss will return.
Short term memory is part of the overall brain processing function. When it doesn’t work properly, a notebook or planner becomes a brain injured person’s new short term memory.
A major problem arises because the brain is not working like it once did. That leads to confusion which leads to frustration which leads to guilt which leads to depression. A normal brain doesn’t function properly when the person is confused, frustrated or depressed.
We devoted an entire chapter in Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide to the Cycle of Response. It is imperative for a brain injury victim and family members to understand where the victim is on the Cycle. The cycle is Mental Fatigue, Confusion, Frustration, Guilt and Depression. You identify what stage you or your loved one is in, and you take steps to back down the Cycle. It could be as simple as taking a break, walking away from whatever is causing the stress, or listening to music.
AR: In the book, you provide other TBI survivors with specific activities/exercises to follow in order to improve memory and overcome cognitive & behavioral difficulties. How exactly did you develop the exercises and hone them into their current form?
LJ: We read a lot of information and then simplified much of it into workable and manageable strategies. We were not trying to reinvent the wheel of cognitive therapy, but we were definitely trying to make it more understandable and easier to implement.
The first step is to develop a personal planner that is filled with step-by-step instructions, driving directions and other information that reduces the demand on memory and cognitive skills. By removing stress you open the door to a better learning environment. A brain injured person, when confronted with a task, will remain calm by knowing that actual instructions for completing that task are nearby.
With a more conducive learning environment, we wanted a program that would be easy to remember. That’s why we chose B.R.A.I.N. as the program name. Attitude can be a hindrance or motivator to learning, and we wanted to make attitude an important motivator in our program. That’s why the "I" stands for Imagine and "N" stands for Never Give Up.
Behavior, for the most part, is a frontal lobe thing. By reducing stress, confusion and frustration and adding music and humor, you can develop a methodology for controlling behavior most of the time. Everyone has moments when they fly off the handle, and a brain injured person is certainly no different in that respect.
Beth would say something which would come straight from her emotions. I would look at her and say, ’Is that filtered or not?’ referring to the frontal lobe’s emotion filter. In most cases, she would look back and smile. Then we would discuss whatever subject she had brought up. She knew I was not responding to what she actually said , but to what she wanted to discuss instead.
No two brains are alike; therefore, no two brain injuries are exactly alike. A person’s personality plays a large role in beneficial therapy, and no one knows that person better than a close family member or friend. Supportive family and friends can prove to be the best therapists for someone with an injured brain. That’s why we devoted so much of our book to these wonderful people.
AR: Please explain to our readers the significance/applications of a Cycle of Response.
LJ: The Cycle of Response is simply a person’s reaction to a given situation. For a person with an injured brain, it usually begins with Mental Fatigue. That injured brain simply will not function properly for an extended period of time. It may be thirty minutes or two to four hours. Imagine you are at work writing a report for your boss. All of a sudden, you forget what you’re writing. You could be in mid-sentence or getting ready to begin a new paragraph, and your train of thought is simply gone.
A decision needs to be made about your next course of action. Do you continue reading and re-reading what you have written trying to regain your thoughts? The more you read, the more you become Confused by what you are supposed to do next. It doesn’t take long for that confusion to become Frustration – ’why won’t my brain work?’ Guilt rears its ugly head, and you think to yourself, ’I’m not a good employee like I used to be.’
Not far behind guilt is Depression. Guilt is convincing you that you are no longer productive. Depression brings thoughts of separation. ’I should just get out of this situation.’ People end marriages; they end their jobs; they may even end their lives. That’s pretty significant.
Now imagine sitting at the desk and losing that train of thought. You read back a couple of paragraphs trying to regain it. Then you pretend you’re Ronald Reagan and talk to your brain, ’There you go again.’ You get up, go for a walk, and/or listen to some music: whatever changes the situation. The purpose is to give the brain a recess and let it do a little recharging.
It may be that you need to ask for help. Once again we return to the importance of having a team of family members, friends and co-workers who will provide whatever assistance is needed at a given time. The purpose, of course, is to back down the ladder of the Cycle of Response.
AR: What kinds of reactions have you gotten from other TBI survivors that have read the book?
LJ: The emails we have received have been truly uplifting. Just reading the reviews on Amazon touched our hearts and reinforced our belief that we have found a positive way to use what happened to Beth to help others. We began the project wanting to help people who found themselves in a similar situation, and we have. The book is already a success.
Writing from a perspective of knowing what brain injury actually is and how it actually affects a person, we did our own copyediting and page layouts. We understood the limitations of attention span and slowed cognitive processing. For those reasons, we did our best to write in easy-to-understand conversational language. We used exact examples of situations and how we responded to them.
Many have said they could see themselves as they read the book. That applies to both brain injury victims and family members. To know that the book has already made a significant contribution to someone’s life after brain injury is almost indescribable.
AR: How has your publishing experience been thus far with Outskirts Press?
LJ: We’re not going to say it was completely without problems. Having learned to live with problems and develop advocacy strategies served us well. We explained our frustrations to Outskirts, and they took remedial action. That is a sign of doing business with a good company. Once they took that action, the publication process became one of smooth sailing. The actual print quality of the book exceeded our expectations.
AR: What’s next for you?
LJ: Our book, Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide, references our support website, www.braininjuryguide.org. We are continually adding information, strategies, games, puzzles and videos to the site. We have a section in which we review other books about brain injury and sections where people can find local resources such as support groups. Our goal is to make the website the most definitive source of information available to anyone who wants to know more about brain injury. The emphasis, of course, is to provide help to families living with brain injury.
AR: How can people learn more about your writings and other efforts?
LJ: Visit www.braininjuryguide.org.
AR: Any final thoughts you’d like to share with our readers?
LJ: An injured brain is simply that: an injured brain. There is still a functioning human being wrapped around that brain, and that person has hopes, dreams, goals and desires just like anyone else. Some people we met a couple of years ago bought our book and wrote a review on Amazon that began, ’We know these people. Or at least we thought we did.’
Like many victims of brain injury, Beth has no visible signs. She had achieved so much before we met that couple that they could not tell she had suffered through such an ordeal. Brain injury will not go away but, in most cases, it can be overcome.
It’s not our purpose to be alarmist and tell people to avoid anything that could result in brain injury. We do encourage everyone to read our book and learn what it’s like to live with an injured brain. Learn how an unwanted and unexpected event will change a life forever.
Our caution to people would be this: use common sense when participating in activities that could lead to brain injury. Protect yourself as best you can. And know that should that life-altering event become part of your life, there is help available.
AR: Thanks again, Larry & Beth, and best of continued success to you in all your endeavors!