It Doesn`t Always Turn Out as You`ve Imagined

By Ann-Christine Broberg Piller

How fragile is life? It sometimes doesn't really get as you have imagined. I was seconds away from losing my daughter at the end of pregnancy. From that moment on, life was turned upside down. It took many years before the health care system understood what had actually happened to me. The journey of the past 14 years with an acquired brain injury and also defeated cancer is tough for a happy 3 child's mother. A genuine and open story about a journey with crisis, despair, sorrow, near death experiences, about life's challenges and how to slowly adapt to a new life as a human and a mother.

• Language: English
• Publisher: nordicsuccesspublishing
• Release date: Jun 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9789198510461

Book preview

It Doesn’T Always Turn Out As You’Ve Imagined

Written by Ann-Christine Broberg Piller

Its published by Nordic Success Publishing

This audio book, I've made according to my qualifications. My very own qualifications. In my series about living with an injury, I'll return with different stories about my own experiences. It's so much that's intertwined and that's important to return to. I`ve made this audio book according to my qualifications and my very own experiences. Words and expressions may not always be as they should, but they reflect how it is in my everyday life. However, I've done what I can to make what you're listening to as understandable as possible and mean something. So please enjoy and welcome into my world filled with experiences. I'll give advice and support to both you a relative and to you who have suffered a brain injury. It doesn't matter if it's small or if it's large. What I want to convey is that you should get an understanding and be able to give respect and support, but the most important thing is that you should be able to convey hope to the one who is subjected. In my series about life with an injury, I'll return to various events in my life. It is so much that's interwoven that's important to return to.

In 2003 we were expecting our daughter Emma. I was a happy mother who had two boys, William and Michael. I was often outside playing with them. They loved football and do so even today. They really enjoyed running around, and they were happy and carefree. I was a happy future mother who was expecting our daughter Emma.

I'm still happily married to my husband Joseph. I was a lively person and extremely curious about different things.

I always thought it was fun to go to work and put in an extra gear of energy, concentration and joy when there was a lot to do at work.

I had lots of ideas and saw many opportunities that could lead to good solutions. I was also appreciated for my being good at problem solving and conflicts. I was very loyal, and I dared to go against what wasn't good. I spent a lot of time with loved ones.

It was a beautiful autumn day, more specifically September 16, 2003, and I felt really good. I had booked the laundry room. Like many expectant mothers, I wanted to nest a bit, as it's called. It was a beautiful day with sun, heat and fresh winds. Winds that smelled of autumn. I felt rested and happy. A happiness spread in my body, and I felt ready. Really ready.

I booked a time for the laundry room, because I wanted to wash a couple of blankets and tablecloths. I wanted to prepare myself in peace and quiet. I was really ready in a strange way. I washed and dried a blanket in the dryer. It was for our baby and carefully selected, with pink, beige and green colors. I was longing to put it around her.

When I was done, I took out the blanket and were about to remove the lint. When I started, I got a strong feeling of not doing it.

I listened to the feeling and excused myself by thinking out loud: "Oh, there's not much lint, so it doesn't matter if the next person washing will see some lint. Classic, huh? Imagine that this lint is creating that much emotion.

I was thinking about the Swedish author David Batra's book The one who doesn't remove the lint will die. I smiled a little. How ironic.

When I took the blanket and was about to leave laundry room, I stopped and added extra time to the drying cabinet where the four small tablecloths were hanging. The keys were hanging on the hook inside the door of the laundry room. I had no pockets on my dress, so I thought at the moment that it was a good place to hang the keys.

I went towards the door. All of a sudden, I'm turning around and returning to the dryer. I'm standing for a few seconds looking at it. Then, I'm bending forward, grabbing the hatch and pulling it. It's unusually obstinate today.

I'm taking a deep breath, grab it with full force, bending forward even more and pull with a hard jerk.

Then, I feel something break into a thousand pieces in my back. It feels like someone is throwing a hundred stones and nails at my lower back.

That was how it felt. An incredible pain. I immediately felt that something was wrong.

I immediately began feeling dizzy, having blurred vision and becoming unsteady.