Half a Mind to ..

Life after brain injury – one small victory at a time.

Tag: insight

  • Small problems too big (Insight 040)

    Small problems too big (Insight 040)

    Some small problems are now too big to fit in working memory (Insight 040)

    Before my brain injury, I rarely thought about thinking.

    Like most people, I simply got on with it.

    If someone asked me to multiply 17 by 13, I would mentally break the problem into smaller pieces. Ten times seventeen is 170. Three times seventeen is 51. Add them together and the answer is 221.

    The arithmetic is straightforward. What matters is that the intermediate results have to be held somewhere while the calculation is being completed.

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  • The “Palliative” Label (Insight 034)

    The “Palliative” Label (Insight 034)

    One of my hospital consultants once explained my condition to me in a way that, although difficult to hear, turned out to be unexpectedly helpful. That was in 2008.

    He told me that from that point onwards, all my care would technically be palliative. At first hearing, that sounds extraordinarily stark. The word carries enormous emotional weight. Many people hear it and understandably think it means that death is imminent, or that medicine has somehow “given up”.

    What he carefully explained, however, was something rather different.

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  • When the Room Gets Too Loud (Insight 036)

    When the Room Gets Too Loud (Insight 036)

    There’s a particular kind of moment that I’ve come to recognise over the years. It doesn’t arrive with a bang. It creeps in.

    It tends to happen in the most ordinary of settings — a meal out, a gathering with half a dozen conversations flowing at once. Nothing unusual. Nothing dramatic.

    And yet, something begins to change.

    At first, I’m absolutely fine. I can follow the conversation, contribute, smile at the right moments, keep track of who is saying what. It all feels perfectly normal.

    Then, gradually, almost imperceptibly, the effort increases.

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