I was more concerned about my low back that night, but I knew from past experience I had suffered a pretty good knock on the head, so I told my wife to wake me every hour or so that night, and if she couldn’t wake me, call 911.

I’m told I woke up the next morning, and went about my life, though it became apparent in the following weeks I wasn’t quite right. I walked, talked and drove to my normal appts for mgt of my chronic pain from a multitude of physical injuries, but no one noticed I wasn’t there.

The fall happened in May of 2003, but it wasn’t until late Sept, early Oct 2003, that I began to come out of the ‘fog’ and realize I’d didn’t remember anything since the night I fell in my garage. The last thing I remember is telling my wife to wake me every hour.

Over the next weeks I months, I began to realize the extent of the damage. I have significant cognitive and memory deficits and struggle with verbal communication and time-frame issues, but a major difficulty has been a ‘re-boot’ of my personality – I’m just not the same person I used to be.

The worst part of this aspect has been a loss of emotional attachment to friends, relatives, my common-law wife of 12 yrs, and my two daughters from a first marriage. I just don’t have the emotional connection to them – the love, I guess you’d say.

My mother of 94 developed cancer in 2010 and died in 2011. I had/have no emotional feeling or loss. I’ve had no inclination to grieve or miss her, and we have always been close.

I’m in a situation where I don’t even know if I CAN develop emotional connections with someone, and being in a relationship, I can’t just find out by trial and error.

I was wondering if you could suggest some reading or resources for someone with the effects of TBI that I have.

I am now disabled from a combination of the TBI and the physical injuries I’ve dealt with for 30+ yrs, so I’m on SS, and basically destitute, so counseling is not really an option – it’s just not available.

thanks