November 24, 2015

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about my present.

Before I get started, let's just say Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. You know, Thanksgiving, we want to give thanks and I am so thankful for my family, my friends, my doctors and my nurses. They've all helped me put more time on the meter of life. How deep is that?

Let's see, what was I gonna say? Oh yeah, my little one is here visiting me. It was kind of depressing because my little one has started to run and I can't. It's sad, but I keep up with her in my power chair. It was a bit stressful because we were going around a lake and I have a tendency to lean to the left. We were going counter clockwise around the lake, so one wrong move and - bye bye Daddy. The kid is quick though. I was trying to keep up in my power chair at full speed, but I couldn't. It must have been a funny scene to view from afar.

There really isn't much to talk about cause I want to spend as much time as possible with my little one. I hope you guys have a good Thanksgiving. Check out my blog about the past where I always tell my Thanksgiving Day Story. If you've heard it before, don't bother going to my blog, unless, of course, you want to see a picture of some kangaroos I did. I call it "My Friend."

So Happy Thanksgiving my friend. Here's the link.

Love, B. Nice

November 21, 2015

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the present. It's kind of a benchmark for me to see where I am. You know, I often look back on this blog and see where I am, where I'm going. You know to keep track of things helps a lot.

Right now I've been using the up n go in conjunction with water therapy. That, and I got a weighted vest. I talked about it before, but man, you gotta really do these things every day. It's a lot of hard work. I mean, it's tough, but it'll get you to where you want to be, you know, walking again. I mean, it would be easy to just sit around and watch TV, but you gotta work hard.

One thing I want to mention that you should really know about is something called a wood spider. I kind of got in a little trouble cause I brought some wood in to have a fire and I looked over and there was a giant wood spider on the wall. He must have come in with the wood. I think I even heard him call my name. I never knew they existed here but it can get quite large, a wood spider. Sorry, I went on a little tangent there. My dog saw it and tilted his head a little bit. He was quite curious, but then he ran away. I knew something was up. I think the spider was bigger than my dog.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. What was I saying? Oh yeah, you know, you just gotta work hard. Like I said before, this is your job. I work at it sunrise to sunset. That's about it for this week. Oh yeah, my daughter's coming. That's cool. I get to hang out with her for a week. Man, that kid has some energy. She's 9 going on 25. Anyway, I'll talk to you guys next week, if I survive.

Love, B. Nice

Oh yeah, here's my blog where I talk about my sordid past.

November 17, 2015

Photo by Bryan Coppede

Paris ~ my heart goes out to you.

November 10, 2015

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the present.

I presently met with my new case worker. She said to me, "Brian, you seemed a little depressed. Perhaps you're depressed." I felt like saying, "Depressed?! Who the hell wouldn't be? Come on, give me a break! I think you'd be abnormal if you weren't depressed." I don't have major depression, but yeah, I'm bummed out because of the way I am. It could be because my dog stinks so bad. What's with that anyway? Does anyone out there know why dogs roll in crap?

You know, it's been getting kind of tiring. I've been using my up n go every day. This is the third time I've used it to learn how to walk. When I said third time, I meant third chunk of time. Every time I learn, I get put back in hospital and have to start from square one. Like a game of shoots and ladders. It's helpful though. It's exhausting, but it helps you walk. It's amazing. You know, but every step is well thought out and executed. You can't rush it. That's for sure. I'll tell you, just taking 20 steps is like running a marathon. It takes two people to help you, and you want a well deserved martini at the end of it, but that martini will have to wait. In the meantime, it's just hard work.

Not much else to report. I'm just doing more and more water therapy. Water therapy in conjunction with the New Step has made huge improvements in my walking. I also wear my weight vest as well as my leg braces. I feel like I'm a Chinese warrior in a wicker fighting suit getting ready for battle. I mean, come on. It's crazy! Can they put one more piece of apparatus on me? Actually, let's not talk about it cause my therapist might find one more thing to put on me. Like I said before, you can't get hung up on the equipment. It's a drag putting all this stuff on, but it's just for the moment. Anyway, it's very Jean Paul Gaultier of the '80's. All I need is a nice dinner jacket.

One last thing I'd like to talk about. You know, every day is different. This morning I woke up and I had a hard time with my speech. everyone keeps saying, "What did you say?" In my mind I think I sound clear, but I probably sound like the teacher in the Peanuts comic strip. Wah wahwah wah wahwah wah. I feel like someone hit me in the face with a laptop computer. Oh well, just another day in the world of Traumatic Brain Injury. I'm gonna leave it at that. Check out my other blog where I talk about my sordid past.

Have a good week. Love, B. Nice

November 3, 2015

Hi you guys. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the present.

Hey, check this out. I want you to read what a director of a film festival said. I did a film with Adam and Erin Hall. Check it out.

"I've personally screened more than 50 films as a member of the Alexandria Film Festival program committee but wanted to bring two in particular to your attention (the full schedule is here: http://alexfilmfest.com/2015-festival/schedule-of-events/ ):

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OFFSET: SEEING BEAUTY THROUGH A BRAIN INJURY 

(Saturday November 7​, ​12:00pm, Beatley Central ​Library, ​Special Guest: Adam Hall​, admission open to public​) 

Brian Nice, formerly a globetrotting fashion photographer, is now wheelchair bound having suffered through multiple brain surgeries to remove seizure inducing brain lesions. He cannot walk or feed himself but mentally he’s all there and decides to go on a cross-country road trip with the help of family and friends, taking photographs all the way using a low end film based camera. He talks about his condition as do his mom, dad, friends, and his surgeon.

 

It’s an inspiring story but not in a disease-of-the-week-special variety. He is stubborn and philosophical about what has happened to him. Especially painful is listening to and watching his mom and dad talk about what has happened. But it’s a pleasure to see a film like this without sugarcoating, especially if your family has experienced traumatic medical episodes."

Now I'll talk about what happened this week.

You know what's kind of weird? I notice that when it's low pressure outside, I dont feel so good. But when it's a high pressure weather system, I feel great. For example, today is sunny, warm, high pressure. It's a great day. Yesterday was the same.  I thought, Wow! I think I'll go into the other room! My life is sad when I get excited about going into the other room. The reason why I went into the other room is I wanted to hang a painting I bought from a friend in Paris. Let me tell you about this painting, a little side note. I'm going to go off on a little tangent here. My friend was in Italy, having a coffee outside. All of a sudden he was surrounded by a pack of wild dogs. They attacked him. It was total chaos. It inspired him to make the painting I bought from him. I thought I'd share that with you. This guy was a good friend. One day we were sitting in Paris complaining about something when he said to me, "Look over there. I'm never going to complain again." I looked over and I saw a girl sitting at a cafe table. She had no arms. She picked up a cigarette with her foot and lit the cigarette with the other foot, and then she started drinking her coffee with her other foot. Pretty wild. Like I said, sometimes you gotta watch out for what you're complaining about.

The only other thing really, that happened this week, is I got much better at my balance. I'm able to use my up n go more often. I attribute my success to the weight vest I've been wearing. I've been better at everything, walking in the water, the up n go, the new step, everything. It's pretty wild. My parents have yet to let me do the dishes though, or borrow the car.

The only other thing I can think about is, when you have traumatic brain injury, you'll have different emotions you go through as you get better. Right now I'm really frustrated. I'm over people feeding me. I mean, I feel like a freaking parrot. I'm over people dressing me, and being stuck in this wheelchair. I can go on and on, but you keep moving forward. Have a goal you want to reach. My goal is a barstool and good marguerita. Just kidding, kind of. No, my goal is to walk onto a ship and walk to my friend's hotel in Paris.

That's all for this week. I'm gonna go make a fire (in the fireplace…). Have a good week. I love and miss you guys. B. Nice

Oh yeah, here's my link to my blog where I talk about the past.