Send Gabriella a Text Message.

A deeply honest caregiver-focused episode, My Mom and I unpack the reality oflife after a traumatic brain injury—for both the patient and the people who love them. Together, we reflect on the long road from returning home to outpatient rehab and more surgeries, my move back to LA to try to be an adult and live solo, and the many more medical, mental, and subsequent emotional issues.

Recovery isn’t linear: it’s one step forward, two steps back, filled with setbacks, fear, and constant adaptation. My mom shares what it was like to advocate for her daughter in medical settings, navigate PTSD-level anxiety, and learn the difference between supporting and enabling, while I open up about the emotional whiplash, identity loss, and loneliness that came with rebuilding my life.

Answering questions from my Mom’s former LoveYourBrain caregiver support group - that she still independently meets with three years later - we break down the complexity of caregiver-patient communication—why emotional regulation is harder after brain trauma, why “fixing” isn’t always helpful, and how boundaries can exist alongside unconditional love. While a traumatic brain injury has at moments made both my Mom and I more upset and angry than we ever could have expected, it has brought us closer than most mom & daughter duo’s.

Ultimately, this episode is a love letter to caregivers: a reminder to seek community, take care of yourself, and give grace to the person healing in front of you, even when progress looks messy. It’s raw, funny, heartbreaking, and validating—proof that two things can be true at once: you can be lucky to be alive, and still be grieving everything that changed.

Win most, lose some

@‌GabriellaRebranded on Instagram: Gabriella Rebranded (@gabriellarebranded) • Instagram profile

@‌GabriellaRebranded on TikTok: gabriellarebranded on TikTok

@gabriellarebranded on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDNWOqOEBzoNvE_TfkQqzDw

Sign up for my newsletter!

Website: Gabriella Rebranded | spiritual podcast

Support the show