Pattie,

You are certainly not alone. I went though years of the same type of pain:
knowing that I should remember stuff and not being able to. I know you're not
faking this: I wasn't. It was quite real.

First, I need to say that every brain injury is quite unique. But there are
commonalities, like trouble with attention (our problem is not that we forget
stuff, it's that we have trouble transferring a memory from the "Very Short
Term" memory to the "Short Term" memory. The bad news is that a serious brain
injury lasts forever; the good news is that the recovery from brain injury also
lasts forever. You WILL continue to improve for the rest of your life (it's been
35+ years for me, and I'm still getting better (slowly but surely). I should add
that it was 15 years before I felt that "I" was back.

Here's a few suggestions for improving the rate of your cognitive recovery.
First, organize yourself as much as you can: set up systems for yourself to do
things. Second, Keep It Simple: Keep your stuff in the same place so you don't
have to remember where you put it (I keep all my daily stuff in a basket by my
bed: it's always there so I don't lose it). Third, consider PEAT, the Planning
and Execution Assistant and Trainer: it's a "cognitive orthotic" and you can
read about it at www.brainaid.com.

And I'm glad you already are doing the most important thing to help yourself:
asking for help and not retreating. Good for you.

Please feel free to write back here or to me directly at
tenhatco@....

-John