In 2011, Cavin sustained a severe traumatic brain injury that left him comatose with less than a 10% chance of regaining consciousness beyond a vegetative state. Since waking, he has devoted years to researching and connecting with doctors, professors, researchers, nutritionists, practitioners, and neuroscientists. With the culmination of the tools that he has learned through this journey, FeedaBrain.com aims to optimize brain function and repair by sharing experiences, information, training, services, community, and products to feed your brain nutritionally, spiritually, therapeutically, and emotionally.
Blogs
Gabby Giffords Skydives to Celebrate Life
Take a Look: I’m in a Book!
How Reading A Novel Changes The Brain
BDNF: Fertilizer For The Brain
Off to See The Wizard!
Fish: The Ultimate Brain Food?
Allies & Supporters
While making elderberry syrup alchemy...
I am reminded of how nature mirrors neurology beautifully.
Because neurology is nature.
And nature heals nature.
Elderberry is one of the most deeply pigmented berries and is packed with antioxidants and immune support... especially immune support for cold climates.
Elderberries are not only strong enough to withstand deep freezes, but after a freeze, they are even more potent with the exact medicine to improve immune function in those climates.
#immunesupport #elderberry #winteralchemy
Organic Vegan Taco Night!
Taco "meat" made with:
caramelized onion, garlic, zucchini, mushrooms, chopped pecans, organic taco seasoning...
all caramelized in avocado oil with a spoon of fresh salsa and smoked sea salt...
Served with fresh guacamole, organic corn tortillas (or use mustard green leaves!), fresh salsa, chopped onions (from the garden) and assorted vegies/salad....
Try it!
#vegan #paleo #tacos #veganmeat #avocado #feedabrain
🧅🧄🥑🌮🌶🍅❤🧠🙏
Wild Alaskan Sockeye seared in Morraccan spices with braised onion, beet, kale and zucchini from the garden, fresh picked cucumbers marinated in apple cider vinegar w sweet onions, spicy sea salt and lemon pepper. And as always, a healthy pile of freshed cubed avocado. Enjoy! #eats
Send a brunch! Lettuce, cucumber, onion, basil, and tomato all from the garden. With ripe avocado, and smoked salmon. Dressed with California manzanilla olive oil, moms home grown herbs de Provence. #FeedABrain #Keto #Paleo #Pescatarian #Deliciouso #It’sTimeToEat #Bye
Three masked faces hovered above me, one also wearing what looked like a face shield for welding "I want you to count back from a hundred." a voice said.
I nodded. "99," I mouthed "98... 97," and then complete darkness engulfed me.
After what seemed like a short moment, my eyes opened to a dark room and the doctors were gone. Gathering information about my surroundings, I could make out other shadowy figures in the large room who were moaning and groaning. "When are they going to do the surgery?" I thought, but there was no one to ask. Did it already happen?
My first instinct was to touch my neck, but I refrained. If they fixed the plumbing in my trachea, I'd be able to breathe through my nose again, which I hadn't been able to do in a long time.
I made my first attempt. And... It worked!
Air cooled my sinuses for the first time in months! The scent of disinfectant and sickness n ever smelled so good. These were the smells of regaining my senses! And I drifted back into darkness with a smile on my face!
Hours earlier, I had gone to Mount Sinai for a tracheal resection surgery. They were to start by cutting into the front of my neck/throat, then to saw through my windpipe in two places, remove the damaged section between them, sew the two good ends together, and finally to sew my neck/throat back together.
Before the surgery, I had signed a waiver that said that I understood the dangers should complications arise. Dr. Brett Miles, the otolaryngologist who was to perform the surgery, warned me that he could potentially damage my vocal cords and if he really messed up, I would die.
And... if the surgery were successful, I would be able to talk again!
I was all in.
When my eyes opened again, I was in a brighter room and my mother and father were by my side.
Dr. Brett Miles entered the room, joining the three of us. "How are you doing, Cavin?" He asked
“I’m ok” I mouthed back like I had been doing since having a tracheostomy placed.
“Go ahead, you can talk.”
It had been so long since trying.
“I’m OK” I actually spoke!
I didn't realize that these words would be a milestone for my recovery, but they still ring very true. I am more than OK!
#tbi
"Walking around the block again?" The doorman asked. I had been insistent on walking outside with someone at least once every day. My mother and I had started by walking a half block and back... then a whole... then a little more until I was walking around the whole block.
"That's right," my mom said. "Maybe two blocks! We'll be back in an hour or so." She smiled.
I was a high risk of falling and my hand was still flexed inward. I could now almost wrap it around the neck of a guitar... almost. My wrist would lift, but my fingers wouldn’t extend, so I ordered a device for exercising the extension of my fingers. I'll link the device in the comments.
One morning while using this device, I had to go to the bathroom. I practiced sitting up like I had been working on, and I held my walker. Step by step with the walker I slowly inched to the bathroom as I had been doing. Setting the walker aside, I held onto the frame that we had fitted over the toilet, turned around, and sat down. This is the process that I would undergo to pee since my catheter had been removed and I was now using a walker.
After walking back to the couch and sitting, I picked up the finger extensor and wrestled with my hand’s lack of ability. Suddenly I heard a gasp. "Where’s your walker!?!?” my mother exclaimed with a familiar tone of fear and alarm.
I had walked from the bathroom to the living room without a walker!
With a smile on my face, I stood up effortfully and slowly and intently moved towards the bathroom, being very careful about my balance. With my hands on the door frame I entered the bathroom, braced myself with my walker and moved back to the couch.
My mom's open jaw had turned into a smile and she pulled out her phone to film me.
Today, I guide my clients to visit their future yourself's and to receive guidance from the most qualified teacher there is.
You see, my future self showed himself often. "Leave no room for regrets," he would tell me.
If I were never able to walk or speak again... if I were to be permanently shaky and uncoordinated... I would not leave room to look back at myself and to wish I would have tried harder.
#tbi #recovery #futuredesign @adventuresintbi