Dr. Tonkin and Papa shuffling

March 16. 2023: Well today I first of all drove myself to my own doctors appointment. It’s the first time I’ve parked at HCMC alone, and it cost 8$ because I forgot to use the slip they gave me to make it cheaper, I’m not sure what it would have been but it’d have been at least 2$ cheaper I think. I had a really good session with Dr. Tonkin this morning and I told him a ton. Literally led to 26 pages of notes for the whole day. This morning the first thing I did was I woke up at 2:48am and I thought it was 2:48pm and I’d slept through everything. What I actually did was I woke up at 8:01 and I had the last two caramel delight cookies and a ton of low fat yogurt. I also talked to Charlotte at TEAM this morning and got all my paperwork submitted. So that was a big accomplishment. At HCMC I talked to Darren the receptionist check in person and said long time no see, which was true. I also had a whole list of questions for seeing Dr. Tonkin. First on my list was asking about impulsive behavior and he said that he sees some clear impacts of the brain injury in my behavior, like telling people at work too much personal information without really knowing them. He also called alcohol and THC neurotoxic substances that kill brain cells, so clearly recommended not using them much if at all. I also told him that I was pursuing counseling with TEAM and I hoped that that would have some positive impacts on my life. He also said that he thought I’d have been more strategic before the brain injury, and that’s coming from a brain injury doctor so I know it’s true. I also talked to him about whether any of my medications could be causing my throwing up issues. He said that maybe but it’s likely to be something else. I also told him a lot, including my monthly spending limit and now it’s changed now that I’m driving. Well I also told him about my photo of the day project and how useful it was to me, at which point I took the photo with him, in masks but oh well. After I saw Dr. Tonkin I sat down and organized my notes and took pictures of my notes, which is great to do even though I still have the notes in front of me now. Well after Tonkin, I actually also had personal training with Will, which went pretty well. During training my alarm went off at 12pm so I took my Ritalin at 12:01 because I had to go grab it. Will also agreed that some of what I do might be the brain injury. He mentioned that even talking about my experiences with work and some of the personal stuff I told Tonkin might be too personal to share in a gym. What I did after training was I literally texted both Jim and Eleanor “are you around,” and neither of them were. What I did then was lunch with Papa. We had quesadillas. After the quesadillas we played Canasta and I won 5380 to 4970. I also texted Hannah some personal stuff around then. After that Papa and Dr. Tonkin called for a bit and Papa asked if Tonkin had gotten the note he wrote. Well today Papa also gave me a new binder for my photos of the day, and then Hannah had the brilliant idea to start to design a yearbook for the years of my own life. I had my night meds at 5:15, and then a short time after I also had a piece of pizza and 9g fat of fatty yogurt. Papa also showed me the first photo of myself after the accident, where I’m wearing my good makeup and eyeliner. Made me really want to put eyeliner on tomorrow on my birthday. I haven’t really worn it much after the accident. Goes on my Any.Do now. Ah well then for dinner we had fish and corn and potato.