u/Spatrico123

I've been recovering what my doctors think is just PCS for about 7 or 8 years now. The usual garbage: headaches, anxiety, dizziness. That exciting headache where it feels like your brain is pressing against the front of your skull.

I've been fighting for the past 4 years to try and do my highschool equivalency, and I'm seeing some real progress. I'm still a sharp guy, just in controlled settings I suppose.

Things are on a good track, I'm hoping to get a part time job soon (I'm on disability rn), and my tolerances before I get overwhelmed with symptoms are getting higher. Just slowly. At the moment I really struggle with crowds, but exposure therapy is working.

I guess I just wonder, is this recovery only going to be temporary? Am I already so damaged I'll be miserable in my 40s and beyond? I know I need to keep at it no matter what, but I just really don't want to get CTE. It's terrifying to me.

I have had a lot of concussions over the years. I've lost count, but we're looking at 10+ at least in my teenage years from sailing and hockey. They progressively got worse. The first ones just meant I had to take a few weeks off some of my harder courses, but by the time I was 16/17 I had a few knocks that made me take a few months away from school outright, and then the big one when I was 17 that forced me to drop out and I'm still dealing with it.

Is the fact that I'm getting better an indicator I'm not "destined" to get CTE? Or is it still likely my progress will only be temporary, and I won't get to have many more happy decades?

I'm sorry if this is gloomy, I'm trying, it's just scary.

TW: Friend used the r word, doubled down and seemed to actually mean it with malice?

For context, I am got a massive concussion when I was 17 (~6 years ago) that forced me to drop out of highschool. I've gotten constant headaches, pain, anxiety and migraines since. I'm on disability now, which has made life a little easier (don't have to rely on my parents), and have been doing everything I can to get better and finish highschool over the past few years. Good news is, I'm chipping away at it! But this incident the other day pissed me off.

the other day, my friend, who was drunk at the time, called another of my friends the r word in jest, and the other friend didnt seem to mind. I dont like this word, obviously, but tried not to make a big deal out of it. A few minutes later he used it again in a 1 on 1 conversation with me, and i told him i dont like it. He was pretty drunk, its worth noting, but he said "Well then what other word can i use to call someone stupid in a way related to disabled people", i told him he shouldnt use disabilities as an insult either way. He responded by pointing to my own mental disability, and said "well youre disabled and it sucks right?" and i said "yeah, but the problem is the stigma. Under the right accomodations, I'm able to excel in school, its often times just a matter of getting the help i need", and he said "yeah, but under those wrong circumstances youre stupid, so thats what i want to refer to in the insult. Like, if someone is hitting their head against something and joked 'hey youre gonna get cte', thatd be equivalent." I ended the conversation there because i was bothered by it, but I did also mention that above all else, joking about cte is over the line (for hopefully obvious reasons)

I guess i just feel hurt. I initially tried to make the excuse internally of "oh he probably just meant 'stupid' or 'dumb'", but then he specified he did want a word related to disabled people? Which forgoes that excuse. I also dont think i could make the argument that im somehow immune to his stigmatization of disabled people, because he made it seem like the person hes comparing him to, is me.

Im pretty upset because weve been friends for 10 years, before i got my injury, and this just has me re-evaluating my trust in him. Idk, I think I'm just gonna go a few days without talking to him to get my head on straight, but it really hurt after all the stuff he knows I've seen

I'm looking to take comp sci 12 online, but none of the providers I've found offer it. Has anyone found a school that has it?

I'm thinking about moving in with my gf, but I'm on disability. I'm aware of the difficulties people on disability fave when they move in with their partners, and I've got a solid understanding of everything but this. So please don't derail into general advice.

The Ministry that controls disability support expects me to "Pursue and accept all other sources of income and support". I interpret this to mean that if we live together for 2 years, and then seperate, they'll want me to go after her for spousal support and half of her assets gained since living together. They've even hinted they'd assign me a lawyer in this case.

Long story short, I'm asking if it's possible for us to sign a bullet-proof cohabitation agreement? So that I can't go after her stuff, even if they sick their lawyers on her? I know that such an agreement will require both of us to obtain lawyers, review each other's finances in full detail, etc. But if we do everything right, is it foolproof?