Have you ever wanted to write a song about something? I know we have several song writers here and I admire anyone who can write songs and play musical instruments. This week I’ve been debating on a song but the music keeps changing in my brain. Currently I’m finding words to Janis Joplin’s Mercedes Benz if you’re old enough to remember it. Nice little ditty, my words are something like this “Oh Lord why did you create those dang skunks? Ohana seems to love them way too much. Thank you Paul Krebaum for The Skunk Remedy. We have it down pat as you can see, a quart of peroxide fresh as can be. !/4 cup of baking soda and a drop of soft soap or Ivory. Mix it well in clean bucket and apply where it smells. Oh Lord why did you create those dang skunks?” Yes, she and a skunk met up again! I imagine it lives in our woods and comes out for a walkabout. She ran into the garage when she first got hit and my oh my we had to buy some more bottles of vinegar.LOL.
Speaking of Joplin, I came across a quote of hers that I thought was good for us. “Never compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got. You are what you settle for. You know you’ve got it, if it makes you feel good.” While we do have family, friends and each other, we are what we settle for I do believe. Just keep striving for what feels good. On to our welcomes!
@RachelWard Is across the pond in the UK and experienced a SAH three weeks ago. She was on holiday in Italy when it happened, treated endovascularly within 24 hours and went back to the UK by air 2 weeks later. Rachel also loves kite surfing, winging (aka wing foiling, I looked it up) and playing hockey. Hopefully her two teen daughters are a big help to her!
@Lizi01 is up in Illinois also experienced a SAH. Lizi has had four months of rehab and is slowly recovering now. She’s also a mom of two teens!
@JillsRecovering is down in North Florida. Jill had a stent placed for an unruptured aneurysm in June. Prior to her procedure, Jill shares she was super positive. Although thankful for the surgery, she shares she seems to be more depressed. Jill has two young kids and shares everything feel hard and she’s easily overwhelmed. She loves gardening and being outside. Jill has also started a new topic found here: Struggling Mom - #3 by FinWhaleFan . I moved it to the General tab Jill just in case you were wondering why the edit…
@Kayla is also in Florida. She’s a friend and is our new intern here with Ben’s Friends! Kayla is here to learn more how brain aneurysms affect us, so she’’ll be doing a good bit of reading. She’s currently pursuing a career in psychology with the goal of becoming a child psychiatrist. Kayla enjoys volunteering in mental health support roles, painting and going to the gym. Maybe we can encourage her to focus on brain trauma for her career…how about it Kayla, maybe NeuroPsychiatry? I promise you can use it with children, I’ve never met a Neuro Psychiatrist, lots of child psychiatrists/psychologists but not a Neuro Psychiatrist it might be a good niche for your career. 
That’s the new members for this week! Thank you all for joining. Some quick reminders, we give and receive support so remember to help each other. You may just be the person with the right words to help another and won’t know it until you reply. Just make sure you’re replying to a newer topic please. You can tell by the date the topic was created and the last reply. If you see just a month and year it may be old. If you reply on an old one, I will thank you because I’m supposed to close them. Also if you need any help navigating the site reach out to me @Moltroub or the wonderful folks @ModSupport which now includes @Kayla one of us will help you out. Remember we are all around the world in different time zones so be patient for replies.
Have a great week everyone! Stay hydrated whether you’re in Winter or Summer, it’s important to our brains. Find the positive every day!