Marilyn Colter's ground-breaking book, Missing Pieces: Mending the Brain Injury Book, is now available in Kindle format! Same book as the print format, but downloadable at a lower price. We hope this will be a good solution for our friends in other parts of the world who are facing big shipping costs.

Missing Pieces has helped thousands of people in the U.S. and all over the world find comfort and down-to-earth advice for coping with the many demands of caring for a loved one struggling with brain injury. Sometimes you'd just like to have someone to lean on or a shoulder to cry on. Marilyn's been there and her honest sharing of experiences can help you see  a path through the hardest times.

You can find Missing Pieces here on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Missing-Pieces-Mending-Injury-ebook/dp/B0061YCCYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327170080&sr=8-1

If you'd like to see some reviews or excerpts of Missing Pieces click on the BIFR store button on the left  side of this page.

When the alarm goes off in the morning you instantly feel the burn of tears behind your eyelids. “Please God,” your silent plea goes out again. “Help me get through this day.”

Before opening your eyes, you listen for the sound of your husband’s breathing next to you. When he first came home from the hospital, it was irregular with long, terrifying moments of silence between each breath but now they are regular and even. You are grateful for that small gift.

You open your eyes and sit up, wincing. Last night was not a good night and you got very little sleep. He wanted sex but it didn’t go well and he called you names you’ve read in books but never heard spoken to you. You know it was his disappointment and brain injury speaking, but you still feel the hurt. You tell God you’re trying hard to be a good wife and love your husband. There’s a bruise on your inner thigh that you’re not even going to think about.

“Please God, help me be a better mother today.”

The children are up and you forego a shower to make sure they’re getting ready for school. (“Turn off the TV! Yes I forgot the laundry. I know you’ve already worn this outfit but we can wash the little spot on your pants and dry it with my hairdryer so no one will notice.”) You fix their favorite breakfast foods because this may be the only meal they get today where no one is yelling and where they can enjoy “family time.” This is the time you get to hear about school assignments, and a successful test and you are reminded about lunch money due. But it only lasts an hour. You put them on the school bus and then drive the opposite direction toward your job.

Q: I think I'm losing my mind. I knew I'd have extra stress when Dad moved in with me after his stroke, but this is not anything I expected. I can't remember anything anymore—not even my regular chores that I've been doing for years. I start doing something and if somebody says something, I get distracted and lose everything that was in my mind. It's happening at work too and that scares me. Is this something that's caused by stress or am I getting something like Alzheimers? I'm starting to worry about it.

Hal P. N. Dakota

A: I think I know just how you feel, Hal. Life is pretty complicated for most of us at "normal" times so adding the stress of caring for a loved one amplifies that. Exhaustion and overwork have a great deal of impact on our mental processes—causing forgetfulness, lack of focus and even emotional sensitivity to events that you would have barely noticed if you weren't already struggling with exhaustion.

Written by Garry Prowe
Reviewed by Marilyn Colter

This book is the first in a planned series for helping families navigate the confusing world of brain injury. Chock full of helpful information for people going "From the Emergency Room to Selecting a Rehabilitation Facility," this volume should be in every hospital and offered to brain injury families in their first 24 hours after the accident as they sit in fear and confusion in the hospital waiting room.