Hope For Christy

Wow!  It has been QUITE some time since I have updated my blog.  It is a peculiar thing about brain injuries that what you can learn how to do or remember how to do one day, you may not be able to do the next day, or the next week, or for months again.  Such is the case with writing on my blog.  Although I’ve done other writing, I forgot how to work here and have not been able to think the “words,” so I just have to relax and not push it until my brain remembers – even if it takes months.  I want to share though that I’ve been doing VERY WELL and have been enjoying “Brain Projects” or  “NEW BUSIES!”  Brain projects are therapy to me and help to recall or retrigger parts of my brain and body into functioning.

This is the first service dog vest I made for Windsor. It has a bag on each side with pockets in order to carry necessary items when in public. It took months to think it through, some time to make a pattern and cut it out, and six days to sew it.

One big new brain project is sewing!  I have been growing in learning this skill!  Sewing is proving to be another activity that is encouraging alot of brain-work.  This therapy is making me use math skills to measure and figure, work small hand coordination to cut/pin/sew, exercise my eye muscle movements, solve problems I encounter, and more.  There are times I concentrate for an extended period of time sewing and other times, my concentration is short lived. 

The feeling of accomplishment is incredibly nurturing for my inner soul.  These projects help me to remember what I CAN DO during the moments I’m struggling with what I cannot do.  Next month, I hope to show you A DIFFERENT BRAIN PROJECT and a costume I’m making Windsor for the festivities in October.  As always, thank you for reading and supporting me in my endeavors to keep striving through the effects of having a traumatic brain injury. 

I did not make the cream, fluffy pillow on the left. That is God's handiwork! I made the pillow that is front and center. It was quite the challenge for me to measure and configure so the main attraction flower would be centered.

I made two more. The stuffing in the pillows is bamboo and/or cotton. Due to my special needs, I do not use polyester filling. All material and thread is cotton.

I made a royal blue harness bag.

In the left pocket is medicine. In the right pocket is my emergency medical information and service dog information. In the main pocket, we carry baby wipes, a tug Windsor uses in public (Ex: to pull out grocery carts), and bags to pick up "Windsor's business" in public.

This is another vest I made. It's smaller and lighter in material for when we exercise together. Around the "DO NOT PET" patches (letters were embroidered by someone else), I used a serger machine, something I am learning to use. The patch in the center is my BRAIN INJURY patch and says, "PLEASE STOP ~ QUESTIONS STRESS PERSON."