Voc Rehab Schedules Me for TBI Evaluation

Yesterday I received my schedule to link up with Missouri Rehab during the week of April 13 to do what we had scheduled earlier in the year. (The earlier schedule was postponed due to the now-infamous ice storm which hit our region a few weeks ago.)

I am excited to learn what help Eileen's group can provide me. I'll blog about the whole experience here to inform others who may be scheduled in the future.

What I know right now is that AO will provide my funds for travel expenses. This was authorized by Voc Rehab. As I have mentioned many times previously, Gwen Jackson is nothing short of a "miracle worker."

This impression of Ms. Jackson was confirmed when, last summer, I went to St. Louis and hooked up with Voc Rehab there. Upon arrival to my new Voc Rehab counselor, she exclaimed amazement at the file which Gwen had forwarded to her. According to this counselor, she usually receives an empty folder with a note: "OK. Now he's yours!"

But, in my case, this St. Louis Voc Rehab counselor was holding a file that was about 2 to 3 inches thick! This was a testament to the quality of work which Gwen performs. But it was not news to me. I had hesitated to move ANYWHERE else in the state; I knew that Gwen was an "above-and-beyond" type of counselor the moment that I had met her way back when (in 2005, if memory serves me well).

That thick file had a history of my TBI incident and the subsequent history which ensued. I remember when Gwen was first working on my case that I had been impressed with the level of detail of the questions which she posed me. When a counselor works this well, a client can only sit up and take notice. Gwen did; so, I did.

I'll attempt to post daily (while in Mt. Vernon) in order to provide a detailed record of how a TBI client is "inducted" into the new lifestyle that is ours after the injury.

After losing my job at 21CSI last year, I finally concluded that others had been correct: I am not the same person that I had been prior to March 2001 (the date of the taxicab accident which caused the TBI in my case). Although I had failed at MacHershell Enterprises, Inc. (in 2007), I had still been unable to acknowledge that I wasn't who I used to be.

Hopefully, with the sessions in Mt. Vernon (combined with the IQ testing at BHC), I will see a clearer picture of who that man is that stares back at me from the mirrors I pass.