SPEAK OUT! Itty-Bitty Giant Steps
presented by
Donna O’Donnell Figurski
SPEAK OUT! Itty-Bitty Giant Steps will provide a venue for brain-injury survivors and caregivers to shout out their accomplishments of the week.
If you have an Itty-Bitty Giant Step and you would like to share it, just send an email to me at neelyf@aol.com.
If you are on Facebook, you can simply send a Private Message to me. It need only be a sentence or two. I’ll gather the accomplishments and post them with your name on my blog approximately once a week. (If you do not want your last name to be posted, please tell me in your email or Private Message.)
I hope we have millions of Itty-Bitty Giant Steps.
David Smith – Brain Injury Survivor
David Smith (survivor) … Today’s Itty-Bitty Giant Step is going to be to just get out of bed and to stay up.
Bonni Villarreal – Caregiver for Husband
Bonni Villarreal (caregiver) … My husband had a stroke in 2012, so he has an acquired brain injury (ABI). It has been a long, hard road as is most of what you post about. But, I do have wonderful news to report. After almost five years of having a G-Tube (gastrostomy 
tube), Mike is now able to drink fluids! (He’s been eating for a long time, but we didn’t think he would ever get back the ability to swallow liquids.) So, DON’T EVER GIVE UP! It’s almost five years later, and Mike is proving doctors wrong every day. He is going for a swallow test, so the tube can come out for good … best present ever!
YOU did it!
Congratulations to contributors!
(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)
(Photos compliments of contributors.)
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Surviving Traumatic Brain Injury 
Comments on: "SPEAK OUT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . Itty-Bitty Giant Steps" (4)
Congrats to you Bonni and even more for Mike. That is a long time to go without eating solid food and drinking fluid. I could not imagine really! To train the muscles again, let them build the strength up to be able to eat normally is impressive.
I went almost two months in a coma, and had to learn how to eat and swallow after having a tracheotomy. I don’t remember any of that, I guess I am fortunate. Congrats again on your progress!
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Charlie, you went through so much and I am glad that you are offering advice/suggestions/encouragement to other survivors.
Donna O’Donnell Figurski
survivingtraumaticbraininjury.com
donnaodonnellfigurski.com
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David, you are a survivor! Be proud of what you have accomplished. I am 31 years post, and I struggle some days to get out of bed too. Just take it in small steps, you don’t have to get up for 8, 10, or 12 hrs at a time. Start small, and tomorrow try a little longer. I take a nap daily, at least one, so I do not get up and stay up even today, if I can get a chance to nap. You fought the hardest battle, you survived. Congrats on that alone.
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Hi Charlie,
That is good advice to David. Thanks a lot. They say, it’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon. One step at a time.
Donna O’Donnell Figurski
survivingtraumaticbraininjury.com
donnaodonnellfigurski.com
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