My husband, Tom, suffered a ruptured Anterior Communicative Artery in June 2011. While we are immensely grateful that he survived, a ruptured aneurysm is an extraordinary and difficult experience that affects each family member. Gathering information about this condition can ease some of the fear, help you find ways to begin the healing process, both the patient and the family and hopefully bring some comfort and support in a very trying time.

This website is designed to share our story and to assist others in with similar struggles who may be grasping for answers.  Our story is filled with hope, love, frustration, depression, and all the emotions that go along with a catastrophic illness. We are also doing this to share what I have learned with useful information on how to be a full-time caregiver to another adult.  We will share information we have gathered on Medical care, post recovery physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy; the ups and downs of insurance; hospital bills, and learning more about TBI an Aneurysms than one would ever want to know. Hopefully, there is something here for everyone.  Whether you or a loved one is suffering from TBI or you are simply curious, my goal is to provide support, information and resources to all those in need of learning more about TBI, Aneurysm and caregiving. I will also share experiences of being assisted by friends and family that are instructive and to thank them for the selfless time and effort they have given to my family.

Shoulder Season came to be as I have worked my entire life in the hospitality business. The term shoulder season means it isn’t peak time, but not really the lowest time …just somewhere in the middle. That seems to mirror taking care of someone with a catastrophic illness.   You aren’t at your peak very often, you aren’t always at your lowest, you are usually somewhere in the middle. It also has a second and more important meaning…shoulders to lean on, shoulders to stand on and shoulders to carry you. You will need them all. And when you least expect it.