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What Does Home Mean to You?
A couple months ago, I trudged through the thick woods five miles from where I live, in search of homeless individuals. As part of a campaign to end homelessness in Vermont, I volunteered to find people willing to answer survey questions to identify those at high risk for dying on the streets. I had driven past the woods numerous times, numb to the homeless community surviving in the dark drizzle, lost in my small world – what should I make for dinner tonight? Salmon or Lasagna? Should I buy that new couch on sale? I really should go to the...
read moreFootball and Suicide
Twenty-two-year-old Ohio State football player Kosta Karageorge had a history of concussions. Though we don’t know the inciting event that resulted in his suicide, research suggests that athletes who sustain concussions are more likely to develop depression, disorientation, and suicide. How so? You might ask. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease of the brain, originally called “punch-drunk” syndrome in boxers, is seen in any athlete who sustains repeated head trauma, especially football players. It’s not unreasonable...
read morePut Ice On It
Once a nurse, always a nurse. For those of you who are retired from nursing, or have left nursing because your back, or psyche, can no longer bear the weight of patients, does this phrase sound familiar? Maybe you’ve changed careers – maybe you’re now a lawyer, or a writer. But you’re still a nurse. You’re a nurse when your mother calls and says, “My leg has a red spot on it and it’s been itching for three days, what do you think it is?” You wonder if she could possibly think that you have superhero vision and can see through the...
read moreHum It, Sing It: Learning a Fiddle Tune
When learning a new tune on the fiddle, how do you begin? I start by listening to the tune, or song, again and again. I hum it – sometimes I try to sing it (because I’m not a very good singer, I prefer humming). I do this until the melody keeps me awake at night, joins me for breakfast, for every meal, when I’m washing the dishes or while I’m driving or taking a shower. Then I pick up my fiddle and play the tune (Okay … I admit that sometimes I try playing it before my brain is well-oiled – I can’t help it). I’m no musical prodigy, so I won’t...
read moreNot for the Thin-Skinned
At this year’s Boston Book Festival, I plodded into a standing-room-only venue to attend the session, “Writer Idol.” I stuffed a page with the first two hundred fifty words of my memoir in progress into a box bulging with dozens of other submissions, then sat in an aisle seat, in case I decided the session was not for me after all. I stared ahead, waiting for three agents – Kimiko Nakamura, Sorche Fairbank, and Amaryah Orenstein – to enter the stage, where they would listen to two authors take turns reading anonymous submissions. I recalled...
read moreIt’s on the Tip of My Tongue: Traumatic Brain Injuries and Word Finding
Many people experience moments when they can’t come up with the exact word, or words, they want to express, and resort to the hackneyed phrase: “It’s on the tip of my tongue.” But for those suffering from a traumatic brain injury, this phrase extends beyond its timeworn use. Word finding, or word retrieval, is one of the most common cognitive difficulties in TBI survivors. The language center of the brain is located in the left hemisphere – the frontal and temporal lobes. Difficulty with word retrieval usually means the damage has occurred in...
read moreHow to Write Your Way Out of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
More than six years after an older driver ran into me, causing multiple injuries including post-traumatic stress disorder, I decided I wanted to write a memoir about the tragedy and its aftermath. I wrote (actually I typed) nearly everyday. Essentially, I dumped my brain onto the page, ignoring the logical left side as I typed fast and furious without thinking about the structure of my story. Six months later, I had 365 pages of facts muddled with emotion. Though I felt proud of myself for my accomplishment, a puddle of grief muddied the...
read moreA Silent Epidemic: Brain Injury Radio Network: November 16, 2014
November 16, 2014. 5 pm Pacific Time (8 pm Eastern Time): Tune into “Another Fork in the Road,” hosted by Donna O’Donnell Figurski, and listen to Melissa share the transformative impact of her traumatic brain injury. Feel free to call in with questions or comments at (424) 243-9540. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/braininjuryradio/2014/11/17/another-fork-in-the-road-melissa-cronin-author-chicken-soup-for-the-soul
read moreCannabis and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Twenty-three states have legalized the use of cannabis for those who suffer from medical conditions like arthritis, migraines, AIDS, cancer, and psychiatric illnesses. Yes, even post-traumatic stress disorder makes the list, which means, if you are among the 7.7 million people who suffer from symptoms, you’re in luck. It appears that scientists agree cannabis may be just what you need to alleviate your anxiety related to PTSD. Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have found a connection between the human brain’s cannabinoid receptors,...
read moreReview of Marianne Leone’s Memoir Jessie
Born ten weeks premature, Jesse Cooper suffered a brain hemorrhage, and survived – with cerebral palsy. In 2005, at age seventeen, he died. During the course of my twenty-year career as a pediatric and neonatal intensive care nurse, I cared for thousands of babies and children, many who had cerebral palsy. I provided the best care possible – heeded their cries, exercised their rigid limbs, and carefully fed them pureed foods so they wouldn’t choke. But it was impossible for me to know what it was like to be a mother of a child with cerebral...
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