Drove my car from home, 80 miles to Sheffield, to watch a football match, Drove all the way & back without my Sat Nav'! (In my wife's car! ) Found my way there having gone online to sort my route, and decided to return by using the Route I last used when I was at Uni' there 30 years ago! My son sat next to me, and although he assisted slightly with the navigation on the way, he didn't need to on the way back, as it all came back to me, as I drove across the south peak district! So pleased as 4 years ago was having tremendous difficulties with navigation, by bicycle, or on foot, then when I did get back behind wheel, my confidence had gone! From someone who used to be very comfortable with navigation, I was wary about travelling, reliant on a Sat' Nav'!
IT IS GOOD TO BE BACK!
And my team won 3.0 !
Written by
miracleman
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Well done, i amso hopeful I can get behind the wheel again, my confidence is zero, and I feel my reactions are too slow.
There is no reason why I shouldn't drive, and I will try again soon .
But well done again xxx
I used to think nothing of driving down to my daughters near Eastbourne, I am in Manchester, and when No2 daughter was at Oxford uni I would drive there and back same day if needed, 6 hour round trip. I doubt I'll get back to that, but a trip to the local swimming baths would be great😄.
Fantastic! Ia m due to take my practical test next week! Also i am dyslexic so will have to use Sat nav as map reading eludes me! You should be chuffed!
I used to make regular visits to Harrogate from S.Manchester to see friends but haven't been since pre BI, three years ago. The most I've managed in one day is a 70mile round trip to a wedding & back but found it pretty exhausting.
But well done you ; it's such a brilliant feeling starting to take control again.
And your team winning had to be the icing on the cake !!
Well done as an acheivement that you manage the long drives and successfully found your way. I sometimes go and stay with my friend in Harrogate and like for all this journey was no problem at all to me. For me that was Kent to N yorkshire. I did it for the first time post BI last year but did an overnight in a travel lodge midway (Northampton area) on the journey there and back. It made it manageable but was still exhausting and took days to recover from. I also used to know my way but now rely on Sat Nav even in my local area and often get lost! I now get anxious about going out of my area whereas I was always was a happy traveller going long distances in my car. I used to know my way around Harrogate really well but I also found when I went last year I had lost that knowledge/ability. One day my son and I went into the town and my friend went off to meet her friend for lunch. The plan was that she would text me when it was time to meet back at the car. I quickly got very confused by the quirky streets and lost all sense of direction. I started to get anxious and panic that I wasn't going to find my way back to the car park meeting place. I had to text her to meet me by a shop that I was near and I stayed there for the duration of the time in the town. It really unnerved me and significantly upset me too. So miracleman what you have managed gets a definate thumbs up and well done from me.
StrawC: you mention hotel = break the journey. I used to sleep in the back of my car or camp but just tried this again and can't, sadly I'm too old/broken to do it now. I'd forgotten the last time I tried to sleep in back car = about a year ago = a night of hell but forgot how really TERRIBLE it was (had to take a tab but still in pain/turning over, not enough room)/thought I'd try again. So tried again 3 (?) weeks ago coz HATE wasting money but 2nd night gave up, me beat, and paid for hotel: the LUXURY = warm (it wasn't HOT sadly) shower and heating in room and REAL food then not back out into the cold again. And the BEST white/comfy hotel sheet to lie on plus my OWN pillow. I slept TEN HOURS (in 2 parts) = unheard of for me. DELUXE!
So I think I have to admit I don't WANT to sleep in carany more and shouldn't HAVE to. But then trips away out of the questions coz no income and benefits would NEVER pay for hotel even though without we can't DO the things could pre-ABI = wrong. But where do you draw the line coz I can't do MOST of what could before and no I'd never ask fora cinema in my home but a bigger screen than the PC would be nice, had BIG TV in UK and so nice coz could read text on it and see pictures/some detail (not all) without spex!
Depends though who insurer is and whether 'win' (get justice), only private insurance coughs up for nearer/some true costs (never ALL coz whole life wrecked/can't do), social security benefits don't even pay enough to live on let alone ANY compensation/help to access what lost. Money can't EVER buy or replace what we've lost: our lives as they WERE, before.
I stayed in Travelodge - basic, but clean and cheap and it cost me £29. Tea/coffee making facilities and we took our own breakfast. For an overnight stop on journey somewhere it was all we needed.
Did you have to do one of these specialised training courses and tests to get back into the car. They seem very involved and tricky
I never drove after my TBI. Wrote to the DVLA about a year after my TBI. Month later no reply, wrote again, same result! exasperated I took to the phone!!! Again, & again, automated messages!!!! My post TBI anger/frustration nearly got the better of me! Surprised I avoided damaging the walk by swinging the phone! After giving up, I tried again a few weeks later, and miracle of miracles got to speak to a REAL PERSON! After explaining my story, she revealed, the length of time I had been unconscious for, I had already exceeded the 6 months not driving I would need to serve post accident. Of course the DVLA should have been informed of accident originally, but my wife was far more concerned with my continuance on the planet, than me driving. The DVLA said that if they got a letter from the consultant who carried out my eye muscle alignment correction operation, then I would have their permission to drive. Consultant contacted and Letter sent I got a letter giving me the go ahead to recommence driving two years after my TBI! My eldest son was having driving lessons, and his instructor agreed to go out with me, not on formal lesson, but as a professional opinion. It was fine! He said I just needed to get more practical experience. I believe I am a safer, more considerate driver. My car had been sitting on the drive since my accident, and had been insured, with 7 seats, it was useful for the family although my wife does have her own car. Not by the book, but it worked for us!
Excellent achievement. I love it when a plan comes together. It rarely has over last five years but the sense of normality when you plan something, you carry it out, and you return home and review it, is absolutely enormous. I commend your effort. Like being let out of the cage of self limitation, back to live with the normal people again! For those struggling with navigation, it is the same area of hippocampus as spatial proprioception. I found (sounds boring now) that planning a holiday in a European city for the weekend helped. Not just one but many. I went through a phase of two weeks of planning trips around the world every day. Made me feel good too! I would have to use google maps to select hotels and sight seeing places within walking distance, which restaurant I would eat at, within walking distance, which flight or bus or train, timetables, flight times. All this and especially using google to view the picture of the map location by zooming in to ground level, doing a 360 degree view, helped to set up the neural pathways, watching videos of the town embedded the experience. There is research to suggest the planning of events enhances brain function. Also organising to visit someone, by planning online via google, but not writing down address, road name or house number. Use memory even though you know its not there. Be confused. Be helpless. Put yourself there. By getting it wrong, the brain specifically targets the blocked area and updates. Keep getting it wrong and you finally get it right. So my advice, go get lost (safely) and you will find your navigation skills. Also I used hitting a tennis ball against my living room wall! Eventually I stopped tripping over my feet, bruising my arms on items misjudged in proximity to me and starting to use wild images to remember road names. Read a book on how to improve short term memory. Little bits every day when you are in your wake fresh mind. Create some wild pictures for the road names so that they will be easily recalled. Having gone from complete memory block, I can now drive in my local area and both recent and early memories are being shoved forward into consciousness through feelings, smells, sounds of laughter within the brain. Evidence to me my hippocampus is connecting in the way it should again. Bliss.
Excellent post RecoveringH, If anyone with navigation difficulties uses this system, please let us know how it works for you, obviously works for R'H.
Went to Black Country Headway's Convention today, and the presentation from Dr Steve Sturman, Consultant Neurologist, Neurology & Rehabilitation, University Hospitals Birmingham, confirmed that the latest reseasrch shows that the brain has an amazing capacity to repair itself, previously ubdetected. I will post on what was a great morning and early evening, in its own post! When I receive a copy of the various, excellent, presentations, I will give a post them.
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) Found my way there having gone online to sort my route, and decided to return by using the Route I last used when I was at Uni' there 30 years ago! My son sat next to me, and although he assisted slightly with the navigation on the way, he didn't need to on the way back, as it all came back to me, as I drove across the south peak district! So pleased as 4 years ago was having tremendous difficulties with navigation, by bicycle, or on foot, then when I did get back behind wheel, my confidence had gone! From someone who used to be very comfortable with navigation, I was wary about travelling, reliant on a Sat' Nav'!
Really need help and advice 
Ever think how luck you are? 
5 and half years later
Happy Christmas & Super New Year
It's like it didn't happen!
