It’s not the completed drawings that I appreciate most. It’s that I went from blank page to drawing, over and over again. I would often enter the art class with some trepidation. Our soft-spoken Iranian-born instructor – I’ll call him Mr. Deleer* – would give us a quick lesson and demonstrate the challenge of the … Continue reading If every day is a blank page

I've been sitting on this final post of the My journey to the World Congress on Brain Injury series for months and months. Here it is, now, on the last day of the year. Although much is the same, the piss-off factor is decreasing. I believe they call that acceptance, and I'm really hoping to … Continue reading 12/ Epilogue: Getting my selfie back

Kylie James is talking nutrition and the brain. Twenty per cent of the calories we consume go to the brain. Sixty per cent of the brain is made up of fat. The largest amount of vitamin C is used by the brain. “Sugar is as addictive as cocaine,” says the nutrition expert. High doses are … Continue reading 11/ We are what we eat

During the break, I end up in a Sheraton Hotel foyer full of hundreds of academics. It’s the 65th convention of the American Renaissance Society. I glance at the presentation lineups: Women, Wickedness and Virtue on the English Stage. Another: Seasons, Smells and Sickness in the Early Modern City. Swoon! My heart races even now, … Continue reading 10/ Renaissance time warp

A “Survivor Workshop – Mara” card dangles from my neck. I’ve had 72 hours to recover, and I’m back at the Sheraton for the third time this week. (Ha ha. Maybe this year.) Over sticky Danishes, a couple tells me about their horrible car crash 12 years ago. The woman’s still so raw that she … Continue reading 9/ Welcome to my tribe

I wake up Saturday after a fabulous ten-hour sleep. There’s so much to understand! How did I process thoughts in the past? I scribble in my journal. Was my brain like a super computer? My hand used to be able to write faster than I could think. Now I have to spell really slowly and … Continue reading 8/ Of similar things and healing

On Friday, I make it to a slow yin yoga class. And nothing else. I skip choir (even though it’s good for the brain). I don’t go for a walk (although it’s a cornerstone of a good day). I don’t meditate. I never really realized that not only was I doing a lot, but my … Continue reading 7/ When in doubt, yin

On Thursday, I have just one session at the World Congress on Brain Injury. It’s gender, sex and brain injury at 10:30 a.m. I feel more like a health reporter today, but still my handwriting’s slow and deliberate like an architect’s. I’m tired. The first talk looks at how gender influences women’s experiences of TBI … Continue reading 6/ Sex and the brain

There’s no break before the final Pink Concussions summit panel, and I don’t take one. Big mistake. Six brain injury survivors are on stage telling their stories. Freya: Held under water, thrown off a porch, strangled until assumed dead. Intimate partner violence. (My notes: Had never thought how big this is. 4:39 tired and need … Continue reading 5/ Pink survivors

The first of three Pink Concussions sessions is over, and I stumble into the foyer. “What did you think?” asks founder and CEO Katherine Snedaker. Overwhelming, I say. Good. There’s so much! “Were you triggered?” she asks. Triggered. Ah, yes. That’s what’s happening. I do my Clark Kent thing, enter a washroom stall, close my … Continue reading 4/ Pink concussions, Clark Kent and social isolation