😬 OOPS. I forgot this week's update completely and Lincoln reminded me tonight that I forgot, so here I am updating it at 11:30 Monday night!
We had a slower week last week which was so welcome because this week is a super busy (but exciting one). This week Brian had two OT appointments to continue to work on his shoulder mobility, shoulder strength, and agility. The appointments were great, as always. Brian always looks forward to them.
Brian also met with his psychologist again just to check in and was happy to hear that everything is continuing to go well for Brian.
We also met with the company helping us get Brian set up with social security since that will be who will be paying Brian's "salary" for long term disability if Brian can't return to work by 1 year post accident. As it stands right now and how I expect it to play out is Brian will not be able to return to work full time for a while. Something that he will be able to utilize are what the hospital called return to work tickets. So it is an opportunity to work while still receiving social security and those can be used in order to determine if Brian is able to do the work he is expected to do as well as evaluate how Brian can handle working for several hours. One thing that is usually very significant impact for patients with brain injuries is brain fatigue. Small tasks are often overly taxing for an injured brain so those trials will be helpful in understanding Brian's true work limits. They can test it at the hospital to an extent, but it's so different when you truly "return to work."
This is the part of this whole process I really hate. It is so complicated and frustrating. But we are lucky that the short term and long term disability company has this consultant to help us navigate the whole process. I remember hearing that nearly every single social security claim is denied the first time around and we should expect to appeal it, so that is what we get to look forward to.
We did have book club last week and Brian was very excited to start a new book (Ballad of Songbird and Snakes is going to be shelved for now). Emma Heming Willis wrote a book (The Unexpected Journey) about her experience with Bruce's dementia diagnosis and how it has been for her to navigate the world of brain disorders and living as a caretaker now. We saw an interview with her on CBSMornings and her book sounded so good and very fitting to our situation also. Although Bruce's dementia diagnosis and Brian's TBI are very different, it still has similar themes. Brian is going to read it first and then I am planning to read it after him. I am very excited to read it as well, but I think it will be very painful for me to read also.
Here are a few photos from this week. Fun Friday breakfast, Netta using my laptop as a pillow, Netta snoozing on the couch behind me while we were watching my sister this weekend, and Lincoln on picture day!
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