Randy Faust

The way I would describe my brain injury is, “difficult,” because you go back to being like a child in a lot of ways. For example, my thoughts and beliefs. It’s not bad to think like a child, but it is when you are an adult. It can be very embarrassing. Life was going really good for many many years, but then I had an injury, and it’s like going back to being like a child, or a teenager anyway. I had years of earning people’s respect, and now I am always on shaky ground. A positive reaction for me has been how nice people are. For example, at church I’m greeted and talked to a lot by a lot of people. People go out of their way to help and look after me.

Having a brain injury hard on me and everyone around me. The other day I was telling my daddy something, and I got help from him, but my daddy’s been gone for ten years, and I can’t hardly believe that. I still feel like he’s with me and we do things together. I’ve been told that I confabulate. I’m always trying to tell the truth, but they tell me I’m telling stories or lies. That makes me feel like a little child. Sometimes I feel like people can be overly friendly with me because they feel sorry for me. It’s hard on my family because I’m not always telling the truth. I feel like I live in two worlds, and one is real, and one is not and that’s hard. When I’m telling what I think is the truth it can be upsetting to someone.

My advice for someone with a brain injury would be that we can all get better. We need to follow the doctor’s and nurse’s advice. I know there are people that were pretty good before but then they are different after a brain injury. I’m trying to come back better than I was before. I’m trying to re-build better. My advice for family members is to be open and not be a know-it-all and be acceptable to some of this. It’s tough. I know I’ve hurt people and I don’t mean too.

My last bit of advice is to be patient, be caring, and look at the positives and negatives.