Perspective

I often forget how far I have come and sometimes need to remind myself what I have achieved in this period of 'Credit' that I am currently living. I refer to it as life 2.0. My wonderful husband has quite the challenge when I am down to remind me that I can actually do far more than I give myself credit for. As such this post is largely so I  can see what I have managed to do since I started life 2.0.

For context -  

I was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2003. My surgery was not until 2011 in another state as no one here would touch it. I was a large tumour with blood supply heavily wrapped around it.

I had enough ICP (Intracranial pressure) that the midline in my brain had shifted and was pushing one half of my brain around, making me horrifically ill. I was pretty close to dying from that. My surgery went longer than expected, I lost my memory and some other functions due to an intracranial brain hemorrhage, Since then, I have mostly physically recovered. I am still tired if I overdo it or don't get enough sleep. It takes a while before the brain rewires itself properly, or as much as it can.

Now for the positive! 

Academically I have achieved the following since surgery in 2011

• Dual cert III in Business and Business Admin 
• Cert IV in Adult Tertiary Prep 
• Cancer in the 21st Century: The Genomic Revolution 
• Good Brain Bad Brain: Basics 
• Medicines Adherence: Supporting Patients with their Treatment 
• Basic Science: Understanding the Numbers 
• The Science of Medicines 
• Inside Cancer 
• Psychology and Mental Health 
• Basic Science: Understanding Experiments 
• Exploring Play 
• Academic Integrity 
• Good Brain, Bad Brain: Parkinson's disease 
• Measuring and Valuing Health 
• Good Brain, Bad Brain: Drug Origins 
• What is a Mind? 
• Medicine and the Arts: Humanising Healthcare 
• Dysphagia: Swallowing Difficulties and Medicines 
• Clinical Supervision with Confidence 
• The Informed Health Consumer: Making Sense of Evidence 
• The Brain and Space 
• Psychological First Aid 
• Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance 
• Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects 
• Positive Psychology
• Improving Healthcare Through Clinical Research 
• Standard Mental Health First Aider 
• Provide Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation 
• Provide First Aid 
• Hygiene For Food Handlers 
• Provide Responsible Service of Alcohol 
• Conflict Resolution in the Workplace
• SPSS for Academic Research 
• Communicating with Empathy 
• Values Based Leadership
• Advance Care Planning Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Decision Assist)
• End of Life Essentials Modules 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
• Palliative Approach to Aged Care in the Community (COMPAC) AHHA

Started a Degree in Clinical Science and discovered I could not yet make links to remember abstract concepts like chemistry.

Switched to a Bachelor of Psychological Science. I am due to complete the Bachelor of Psychological Science next year. Following that, the plan is Masters in Global Public Health and then PhD.

I received a Griffith futures scholarship in 2017.

I regained the ability to do maths in my head in 2017. I can now knit and crochet again as well. 

I was a panellist the COGNO this year! 

I have been able to participate in the Griffith University Mentoring programs as a Mentor on 4 of the 5 campuses and mentored a fairly large number of people across those campuses.

I'm currently literally a poster girl for the Griffith University 'I am More Than My Disability' campaign. 

I have been lucky enough to help with some incredible research and have been able to assist Associate Professor Stefano Occhipinti to get the Griffith School of Applied Psychology Undergraduate Research Internship Program up and running.

So I guess, looking at this from this perspective, I have managed to do a lot with life 2.0 so far. 

Time to get back to the study and keep pushing through to those goals!