Living in Shitville: What an Invisible Brain Injury Feels Like

How do you explain a brain injury to someone

when you look like you're doing fine?

In May 2018, a compressed air accident at the dentist

sent me home with a brain injury.

My 31-year career as an occupational therapist was over.

Welcome to life in Shitville.

Living with brain injury and reading about it in textbooks

were not the same thing.

I hope to provide family members,

friends, coworkers, professionals, caregivers, anyone,

with insights into the daily struggles of living

with brain injury while looking normal.

I hope the easy-to-read layout

will help others with visual processing difficulties

to read about brain injury.

This is a story about the grueling stages of anger,

frustration, grief, and sadness to find the new "you".

It took a 9,461-mile solo road trip and time away from home

to find my new identity, meaning, and purpose in life.