the great thing about my head injury

and you know what, although there are lots of bad things, there are lots of good things too.

I joke around a lot more and am a happier person

I am honest (although it gets me in trouble too)

I am not ashamed of who and how i am now

and although i try an adhere to social expectations i have no inhibitions and that i find is very freeing in my head

i don't generally watch a film twice unless its a classic .. lol i consider Star Wars saga the old war films and i love Gladiator , you may catch me watching those more then once but i do like watching a film that i never think of putting on if im just watching the TV and a film may be on and i enjoyed it again but would never make a be line to put it on myself !

its nice when you watch a film you wouldn't think of watching and it surprises you

i think the motorcycle diaries was one of those, it didnt sound that interesting (i just had to google it because i couldnt remember what its about lol)

but anyway it didnt appeal to me, but watched it on tv sometime in the last year and i was glued to it (that reminds me i have to watch it again now )

Glad you've found some positives and it's pretty uplifting when someone celebrates the smaller pleasures of life.

'fraid I can't think of any for me.......except I would never have met all these brilliant folk on Headway. xx

see there is good the good things are usually little things

Totally agree! I watched a film the other day that I recorded months ago & never managed to watch the whole thing as I was struggling to pay attention the times I did try...or so I thought...finally watched the whole thing & when I saw the ending I did remember seeing that ending before ha ha must have watched the whole thing before afterall, enjoyed it again though

I always like Biker's posts, and this is no exception. This 'bonus' also keeps me away from commercial TV (largely a waste of valuable cognitive stamina in the first place!) to avoid head-scratching memory-blips at the end of ad breaks! Wait - there's more.... pick up a book cheap from a charity shop and by the time I've mislaid it/forgotten I even bought it/re-read pages to recap/compiled Post-it notes to update plot and characters it'll last me months!

Possibly this is giving things a 'somewhat charitable' spin, but seeimg the humourous side of ourselves is no bad thing. In all seriousness I found The Poisonwood Bible a good read; small cast and linear plot. Recommended.

Hi Biker, get where you're coming from. I love reading, especially Penny Vincenzi books and before B.I. i had read all her books. 5 years into my brain B.I. I have started reading all her books again and it's as if I've never read any, I'm so enjoying them, Infact i can't put them down.

its a great feeling isnt it

if i watch the same film repeatedly i can eventually get to know it but after a short time it becomes all vague and foggy again, i sort of know what the general story is about, but not how it plays out, so watching it again,i dont know what to expect ( i remember odd bits like in avenger the puny human and hulk punching thor stick in my head but the rest of it just fades away

i do love movies

I was away at a writing retreat a while ago and during the weekend it was pointed out to me/ I realised that I spend a lot of my time saying "The good thing about having a brain tumour ...." so as a result of that conversation am thinking of writing a book with that as the title. I hope no one would mind if used some of your suggestions to add to my own. Thank you. (I'll be sure to credit you all in the acknowledgements if I ever manage to get it published)

there are good aspects too, but we do tend to concentrate on the negative because no one would choose a brain injury.

i cannot read books, as i just cannot follow them (its hard enough reading longer posts here) although i can write long posts because i write as if i am talking in my head

i dont deal with negativity well, so am happy most of the time.

i find miserable people hard to deal with, and disable miserable people more so, because a disability should teach you that life is just to short to be sitting there moaning.

I agree. The best way to deal with stuff is with a sense of humour. Have recently found out that I have to have another op as my tumour is growing again and that this time they are planning to go in through my nose, so without even thinking about it I said "can you give me a nose job while you are at it" I can't seem to stop myself from saying things like that. Hence the idea to write a book about it

humour is our best defence mechanism, it can hide pain, it can hide those situations where people say how are you and you wanna scream how the fuck do you think i am lol

and most of all it can make you laugh, which we all know is the best medicine.

(disclaimer laughter is not better than medication prescribed by your doctor, please don't stop taking your meds and start tickling yourself as a recent survey nine out of 10 cats said this did not work)

Thanks all for making me laugh when I was having a particularly blue/everything is too hard/why do I bother few days.

I can totally relate to this, I have a wonderful partner who keeps me right when I ask 'have I seen this?' Also a very good friend who I regularly ask 'did you see that program last night, it was really good, it was about.....' then I dry up & can't remember any details! It is like playing charades & we always end up laughing.

I don't do much on the computer as my concentration & visual processing are not good (SAH 9 years ago) a couple of hours in the morning are when I am at my best but usually by the time I have read things I have run out of steam to write. I found this site a few months ago & it has helped me greatly. I live very rurally in Scotland & never had much support but it has been good to read of others & relate to their ups & downs. Thank you

Can totally relate to the charade comment......the version where the clue giver is also the one trying to find the answer !

I am really heartened when I read comments like this, keep it all up I know it is so hard but worth the effort, I went into Manchester with my son today because he needs me to try to do these things it would have been so much easier to stay at home and its wiped me out for the rest of the day , but we had a good time, I'm getting better on the computer too with practice don't use spell check much at all now. Thank you for keeping going and as up beat as possible.( I swear the family hide things from me to watch me get frustrated, not really but it feels like it sometimes!) Best wishes Janetx

Hi, read this this morning and thought about it all day, we all have so much to be grateful for, personally it pulled me up short and I have rediscovered gardening and knitting and crocheting all in the name of rehabilitation, I can't do too long at any one time and my attention span isn't good for films, but once I mastered my kindle again (yes I had to be taught which way to switch it on etc, same problem with the tv remote and my phone|) I read for 20 mins at a time with a rest in between. So I'm now retired although can't get my pension for 2 more years, just hope my appeal is upheld about going back to work, can't see anyone employing me though with my problems and am 60 anyway, just enjoying what I can on the good days

I have a very bad short term memory after two operations on my head,and two bouts of menegitis,and like you i watch films i really enjoy,but within half hour i have forgotten about the film,but i know i really enjoyed it,which makes me very annoyed with myself.However i am managing to hold a job as a cleaner at a local school,and spend hours going for bike rides on my own,which isnt very good because im all on my own again,which isnt healthy or helpful.

kudos for holding down the job

the trouble is brain injury is lonely, even when you are surrounded by people

i dont get annoyed about it, i see it as a positive, as i get to watch the film with the same excitement each time (eventually i remember parts if i watch it enough)

Just found this post again after writing my latest one, and it made me smile all over again, I never thought I had memory problems but I was kidding myself, cos I see I replied when it was first written and I didn't remember, lol. When I was in hospital I had Pulp Fiction on DVD that I watched all the time, it would help me drop off to sleep, used to drive the nurses mad, ha ha! That and Howls Moving Castle, love those studio ghibli films