#9 Companion A Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide To Pacing And Preemptive Rest

Welcome And Why This Matters

0:00 Hi everybody, welcome to this midweek unpack for holding it together kinda. I'm Michael Maknaak. I love this episode because I got to talk to a guy that I really respect, um Matt Galati, who basically is uh living proof of the power that we all have within us to overcome and to pick ourselves up. Matt was involved in a car accident while he was in med school, suffered a severe uh brain injury, and has overcome.

Matt Galati’s Brain Injury Story

0:35 In this episode, Why Your Brain Watson Jelly Beans, Matt gets into um a description of cognitive fatigue, um, the importance of preemptive rest, his six pillars of brain health, and how to protect and really honor realistic hope. So if you've been with us for a while, you know that this conversation really hit home.

Cognitive Fatigue And Brain Health

1:03 It was very touching, moving, but it was also exciting because I really like Matt. He's a good guy and he and he's you know he's an inspiration. I just really enjoyed the the idea that a short clinical appointment rarely kind of reflects what's actually uh going on to a person and what would actually cost a person to complete ordinary tasks at home. So Matt described how difficult things are for somebody who has a brain injury to process even the simplest events. And as I say, we didn't have these companions ready at the time that the episode aired.

1:46 So I invite you to go back and check out the episode again with this companion. Uh, it's not supposed to be homework, it's not supposed to be just another thing for you to do, it's supposed to uh be a supplement to help you to process some of the points that we make, you know.

Mapping Early Warning Signals

2:04 So, right out of the gate, we talk about a cognitive fatigue map to track early warning signals before exhaustion turns into full-blown crisis, you know, and and this can go for not only folks with brain injury, but also the caregivers who are feeling that burnout. It also focuses a bit on pacing before the crash.

Pacing With Preemptive Rest

2:27 How do we preemptively make sure that we have rest periods instead of panicking and waiting to get into sort of an emergency recovery mode? We talk about appointments and clinical, you know, visits and things along those lines. But we also talk about that pace. The uh the idea of being proactive really is what it comes down to. Because when we're proactive, it's it's it's so much more efficient and effective than trying to be reactive to every crisis that comes across our desk.

Clinic Time Versus Home Reality

3:07 So we built these companions to help you, to give you um ways to take out, okay, your next steps, make this plan, take this idea of rest and take this idea of brain health. And it doesn't just apply to folks with brain injury, it applies to all of us, right? What are the three daily life facts and one recovery goal you can do or you can bring to the care team?

Companion Tools And Next Steps

3:33 Things like that. So, while your brain watched jelly beans was was a great episode. I enjoyed it, I enjoyed doing it. I want you to take the um the podcast companion with you and check it out. And until next time, as always, keep on holding it together, even if it's just kinda.