TBI Army Wife

Injuries caused by Improvise explosive devices (IED) are not only external but also internal. Other than the brain injury my husband developed it is like fibromyalgia and he is always hurting. His joints hurt, all of them. We went to the Rheumatologist who referred my husband to physical therapy specialized in musculoskeletal pain. We went today and there is no more satisfaction that encountering a provider that cares and listens. Well, after all the discussion of what has been done for my husband's condition he recommended water therapy. Water therapy will be in a pool that contains underwater tread mills so he has to walk for 45 minutes twice a week. The best part is that I will be able to be with him during the therapy, so we will be going for a "walk in the water". We will chat and exercise together at the same time, just like the old days. I will let you know in a later posting how it goes. For morebinfomation go to: http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/wate...

Dear Caregivers, Has your spouse being diagnosed with TBI? If so, does your spouse suffers from PTSD? How do you know what is what? This could hold the clue and key to treatment and will determine the healing process. Is TBI treatable? the answer is YES, Is PTSD treatable? the answer is YES, is the treatment the same? Most of the time NO. Why? Because some impairments are due to the brain capacity to perfomed optimally. My husband has brain injury as the result of an explosion and Iraq. Often providers attribute all the symptoms in soldiers to PTSD when in fact they can be the result of the TBI and yes TBI and PTSD ARE NOT THE SAME. PTSD and TBI share some characteristics but ARE NOT the same. Don't be shy and ask questions to providers, this is your right as a patient or a spouse or family caring for a TBI patient. So the big question is "Why are we treating TBI as PTSD?" The answer can be described with a very sophisticated financial calculation. My husband is getting n...

Dear Friends, It has been one and a half years since my husband sustained a traumatic brain injury. After so many fruitful efforts my husband will be undergoing a medical retirement from the Army. At first I was so worried because my husband did not want to retired but the reality is that most of his impairments will stay with him in some way or another so he will never be fit to return to duty. It will be a difficult transition not only because of what the process entails but for me it will feel like a separation, a divorce from the army. This may sound strange or maybe dumb but I am honest in what I feel. For me it feels like another loss, another grief, another reason that makes me sad and wonder... In the army I met wonderful friends, those to whom I shared so much. When the soldiers deployed, we the spouses were more united than ever, we had Friday nights dinner, Saturday care packages preparation and we always had something to do. It was a family, one that carries the same burden...

Happy New Year to all my friends. The beginning of a new year is most of the time the beginning of new goals that we expect to fulfill. It is common to set goals based on lived experiences so this year one of my goals is to never give up hope. Hope is the key ingredient to expect what your heart desires. My hope is that I can have happinnes, love, patience, wisdom and all those characteristics that will help me succeed in whatever should come to my life. When I think of the year 2010 it makes me wonder where did it go, it went so fast, it was so hectic, so accelerated that I barely had time to enjoy myself like I used to. This year I will try to do meaningful things that will deliver postive outcomes and that will make me happy. Things that will be new experiences during this year will be my husband’s medical retirement. I know many unexpected situations and new adjustments will come with this new change in our lives. This first quarter of the year I want to write about the medical ...

Christmastime is usually a very happy and joyful season to many. I remembered 2004 was my first Christmas by myself and I didn't have any other wishes than having my husband back home, by then he was in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The other night I was thinking about the spouses of deployed soldiers and how they are spending their Holidays and the spouses of wounded soldiers spending days and nights in a hospital next to the bed of their loved ones. "I'm blessed" is the phrase that comes to mind everyday, my situation can be much worst and it isn't. My husband has a brain injury and during this time of rush and celebration I tend to forget he cannot do things the way he used to. After a brain injury it is all about using strategies and modifying life pace and habits. This second Christmastime after his brain injury I knew that I had to plan ahead, buy most of the things online and take it slower than in the past. If we had an activity at night that means my husband nee...

Last week we celebrated "Thanksgiving Day". While many people were navigating the stores to find sales we were having a wonderful time in Atlanta. We went to Atlanta for the wedding of Erika Porter, my husband's best friend and his Platoon Leader while in Iraq. She was in the same mission when my husband was wounded. She is a wonderful friend and we enjoyed every minute of the Thanksgiving and wedding day. We met her wonderful family to include all the generations, from grandchildren to great-granparents. They are all from Atlanta and they all welcomed us as part of their family. My husband and I also met two wonderful professionals and human beings, committed to help others, especially those with traumatic brain injury. I cannot compete with my husband's eloquent description of Dr. Rachel Lacy and Tracy Quantum so please go to www.tbiwarriors.blogspot.com and read it for yourself. My husband became in contact with them but not in a ordinary way, it was special and ev...

I received a message from a dear friend that made me cried, not only because I could relate to her but because I felt there is nothing I could do to be there for her. This strong, beautiful woman is one of a kind. We were together serving in the Family Readiness Group and she was always ready to help and was instrumental in fulfilling the mission with families in deployment times. She had a sense of carism and she was vibrant, funny and overall fun to be around. Unfortunately her husband was medically discharge from the Army and the family they new has become distant. Yes, in the military we are a family and when we don't have that we feel we lost something precious. I will never forget one specific statement my friend wrote and that I keep hearing from spouses of wounded soldiers, "I feel like we are stuck spinning in the same circles". They feel they were left behind and I can share that same sentiment but then she said "I just wish I could waive a white flag and ...