My brain is broken, now what?

Navigating the Challenges and Embracing the Journey of Brain Recovery

Have you ever had a concussion? I had a minor concussion about 11 years ago when the trunk of my car hit me on the head. For the 6 weeks following, I found that accomplishing tasks became very different. Usually, I could multi-task several things all at once.

After the trunk hit my head, I had to concentrate on one task at a time, which was crucial to my brain recovery.

I was tasked to create a budget for a club that I had become the President of, and it was my job to convince members to pay more for their membership. I could not do anything else while working on a spreadsheet and slide presentation. No running to change the laundry. No accepting phone calls. No talking to anyone. 

I called this a minor concussion because my doctor did not think I had one at all until I described my 6 weeks to him. A constant headache. Easy to tire. I sensed that my head bones were out of whack (confirmed by my chiropractor). I did not seem to have enlarged pupils, which is why my doctor thought that it was not a concussion at first. However, I knew that brain recovery was necessary as I noticed these symptoms persist.

To improve my brain activity, I started playing two games on my phone. You might think that this was a “bad” idea since screen use should typically be curtailed while healing from a concussion. Since my doctor did not think I had one, why not do something that felt like I was reconnecting parts that seemed to have disconnected?
This unconventional approach was part of my brain recovery strategy.

Boosting Cognitive Health with Brain Games

Are you curious about which two games I played? 

One was Angry Birds. This game requires a lot of repetition to improve the score of each round and a learning curve to have the birds knock down all the targets for the highest points.

Playing “Angry Birds” helped fire up my focus and micro-finger movements to direct the birds to the target. It also helped my eye movement. I could only play for about 10 minutes, and then I would have to close my eyes for a minute or two. If I was working on a task, like the club budget, I could reset my brain by playing “Angry Birds” to refocus and get back to my task. This was a crucial part of my brain recovery process.

The other game was the memory game from the old Dora the Explorer app. I had this app on my phone for my friend’s young kids to play with when I visited. Before the trunk hit me on the head, memory for matching cards was easy. I seemed to photograph each card and their placement in my mind. After the trunk hit me on the head, I lost this photographic memory almost completely. This game played a significant role in my brain recovery.

It was like my internal camera had run out of film. I tried to use the 9 square grid instead of the 30 square grid but it took me so long to match the cards. The cards had little character photos on them. I decided to give them names. When I attempted the 9-square grid, I would say the name out loud. I was slow.

First, I had to remember the name I chose and say it out loud to hear it. However, my accuracy of finding the match improved. My visual recall became supported with my verbal words. Gradually, after about 2 months, I could do this without saying the name out loud, but I still needed to say the name in my head. This holds to this day. My photographic recall for a memory game has disappeared, but I found a new way to remember. This was another step forward in my brain recovery.

When I had knee replacement surgery, after 4 weeks of a progressive recovery, I heard a clunk in my knee. It was a subtle sound, but what followed was a very unnerving experience. At the time, I was in my living room, which was about 8 steps down from my bedroom and the bathroom. When I had to head upstairs, I could not. I could not remember how to maneuver my legs to do stairs. I stood at the bottom of the stairs with mounting frustration and anxiety.

My husband, Ken, stood there with me, not knowing what to do. I held on to him. I visualized what my surgical leg needed to do to move. I tried moving it, but it wouldn’t go. I tried to lead with my other leg, but the surgical leg wouldn’t follow. Finally, I turned around and went up the stairs on my bottom, with Ken holding my surgical leg to help it follow along. 

What happened? Did my brain break? 

The orthopaedic surgeon was able to see me after a few days. I had to go for another x-ray. By then, my knee was locked into a bent position. This was so weird. The x-ray technician said something like, “Didn’t you do your exercises?” or something derogatory to that effect. I knew that I did everything I was instructed to do very diligently.

The surgeon said that the x-ray showed that everything was okay with the prosthetic but that the physiotherapist would have to do extreme traction for the knee. The traction movements were painful to the point of nausea and near passing out. The physiotherapist let me scream it out. It wasn’t long after the appointment that the knee locked up again, and I could not straighten it. I realized this must be a brain problem, not just a leg one. The physiotherapist taught Ken how to make the traction move so that I could try to keep the knee from locking up between appointments. After about 3 weeks of this torture, the knee began to straighten. A few weeks more and I could choose to straighten it on my own, and when it was really tight, I could get Ken or the physiotherapist to do the traction move. 

I still had a problem. My brain and my foot of the surgical leg were not in communication. In a way, everything above my surgical knee was “mine”, and everything from the knee down was “not mine”. I wanted to claim my lower leg back, but how would I do that with the metal prosthetic in between?

Brain Recovery through Music Reconnecting Mind and Body after Surgery

I realized that I had to allow my mind to rest. I had to get a lot of rest. I could not multitask. With recovery from knee surgery, doing certain exercises several times a day is critical. I had to save my energy and focus for these exercises. Like with my “concussion,” I needed my brain also to have something else to counterbalance doing the physical exercises. I started to listen to music that I have loved through the years. It helped my mind go back to various times in my life.

Music that I was familiar with helped me relax and visualize without having to do any further physically demanding work. It wasn’t necessarily healing music, but it was healing for me. For example, I listened to David Gates’s “Clouds and Rain Suite,” which calmed me in my mid to late teens. I listened to Harmonium, which supported me after a breakup in my early 20s. I listened to the Madonna “Holiday” album, which I loved to work out to in my mid-20s. This music was healing because it was integral to the soundtrack of my life. 

My brain, along with my knee, improved. My internal music playlist worked for me mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. 

Next on the blog, I will discuss:

• The pros and cons of changing your diet
• Pushing your limits!