The Circus

Alan Haburchak asked:


A recent study noted that nearly half of traumatic brain injury sufferers struggle with depression. As the family member of a person with traumatic brain injury, you take on a condition that can have daily and even life-long effects on quality of life and family routines. How can you best support your family member with TBI? What about family advocacy?

The Family Is A Brain Injury Victim’s Greatest Ally

Though it can be frustrating to see the often mind-boggling aftershocks of traumatic brain injury, it is important to be supportive of your brain-injured family member. Not only do they have to deal with the daily effects of TBI, which may include personality changes, memory loss, or difficulty concentrating or working, but they must navigate their own family relationships as well. Nonetheless, it is important to recognize that frustration and even a feeling of desperation are common amongst family members of TBI survivors. It is normal and expected to feel confused, hurt, angry, even depressed yourself as you struggle to help a loved one who is suffering from brain injury and its effects.

A brain injury may be frustrating, but it is vital that a TBI victim have a supportive family system. Once a brain injured patient is released from intensive medical care, the family becomes his or her primary support system and often takes on medical care roles. Studies have shown that an adaptable family structure is vital to good recovery from traumatic brain injury. This means that a family needs to accept the fact that change is inevitable and adjust to meet the realities of traumatic brain injury on a daily basis. This also means a challenging coming-to-terms with the personality changes, isolation or embarrassment that may be experienced by a brain-damaged family member. As the family member of a TBI survivor, you may sometimes feel powerless to help your loved one. The reality is that your support can be vital to your relative’s quality of life and continued recovery. Speak with your family member’s medical care providers, if possible, to find out how you can be involved in medical care.

Caring For A Relative With Brain Damage: Make Sure You Have Support

Though it is important to show up for your brain-injured family member, recognize your own need for support and care. It may help you to join a support group or seek counseling as you deal with the inevitable family changes that accompany brain injury. The internet can also be a good resource for the family struggling to find support for TBI: online message boards and chat groups can educate and comfort you as you learn more about your role and adjust to your new circumstances. Sometimes it may feel redundant or unnecessary to seek support for yourself; after all, you’re not the family member who is directly suffering from TBI. But in order to be an effective caretaker for your brain-damaged loved one, it is vital that you yourself feel equipped to deal with daily life and approach your family member with a positive, loving and tolerant attitude. Often, a safe place to vent and a network of informed friends can make the difference between daily struggles and a feeling of hope.

Families Are Effective Brain Injury Advocates

Feeling as if your efforts to help your brain-injured loved one aren’t working? Try acting as an advocate on their behalf. With the cognitive changes that come with TBI, it is easy for traumatic brain injury victims to fall victim to those who do not respect their rights or take their medical responsibilities seriously. Luckily, family members are extremely effective advocates for brain-injured patients. You can help your loved one document their medical care, weigh important medical decisions and navigate the often confusing terrain of insurance companies, doctors and social services. An educated and positive attitude is often helpful as you seek to achieve your advocacy goals for your brain-injured loved one.

Sometimes it is necessary to enlist the help of an experienced traumatic brain injury attorney as you seek to make sense of a traumatic brain injury. An effective brain injury lawyer can join forces with a family to ensure a positive outcome and can act on your family’s behalf as you seek dignified treatment or even monetary damages to cover medical expenses, vocational rehabilitation or future medical care. Together, your attorney and your family members can form an effective system of support for the survivor of a traumatic brain injury, ensuring that they will continue to participate in and contribute to a happy family for years to come.

description: When a person is a victim of a traumatic brain injury (TBI), it is not only them who suffers the consequences. Family members who are caring for the patient after they have been released from medical care are also susceptible to adverse affects. It is important that family members caring for the victim are supported as well so that they can uphold a positive support system to aid in a smooth recovery.



EMILE

Michelle Bery asked:


Sometimes, it seems like you don’t have a full 24 hours in a day. Between work, family, and sleep, there is no time for anything else. You never seem to have five minutes to relax, and on days when work requires overtime, you lose time with your family. In fact, it seems you never spend quality time with your children anymore. One way to get your life back under your control and manage time better is to start your own internet business. With an online business opportunity, you can decrease your work hours overall, as well as become more flexible and available for your family.

With a standard office job, you are required to drive to work and back. Whether you are a commuter or not, this is extra time that must be incorporated into your busy work day and more time taken away from family. Then, you may get stuck in the office, waiting for a conference call or a sales call that isn’t going to come in until an hour after you’ve normally left. To make matters worse, you find yourself sitting at your desk with nothing to do at several points during the day.

Take the same circumstances and apply them to an online business opportunity that you run from home. First of all, doing business online doesn’t require commuter time (or the stress of dealing with traffic). You don’t have to get into the office at a certain time and, though it is best to maintain a schedule, you can be flexible when you run your own online business. If your child needs a ride to school, there is no need to call the boss and make excuses for being late. Also, if there is an after-hours meeting that must be attended, you can still spend time with your family before the meeting, rather than wasting the overtime in the office.

Best of all, if you have slow periods throughout your business day, your online business allows you the freedom to achieve other goals. You will have more time to clean the house so that you can spend time with your children after school. If your children aren’t in school yet, you can take time out to play a game with them. After all, your computer can be within visible or audible distance no matter where you are in your house.

If you can’t seem to find time for that doctor’s appointment, or you have to cut into family time to buy groceries, an online business venture can solve your problems. You are your own boss, create your own hours, and can get errands run or things accomplished while you work. As long as you are diligent in making sure everything is running smoothly for your online business and that customers are satisfied, you will find a world of freedom in running an internet business that allows you to enjoy life, spend time with family and friends, and still provide the financial support system that your family requires.



ANGEL