dealing with life after brain injury

Having a brain injury is quite a major incident that could ever happen to any individual. The damage caused by the injury not only afflicts the person physically and mentally but it also affects their social life. With a blink of an eye, the damage caused by the injury kills off the personality of that person. What arises after the tragic event will be something else. It won't be the same person or the same thoughts that will occupy the mind of that particular survivor. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that brain injury survivors get the appropriate treatment that they need to get back on their feet and this doesn't just mean getting good medical treatment, this would also mean that they have to get the right kind of social support and interaction. Many people are aware of the needs of brain injury patients and yet most of the time they are not able to do it the right way and they end up offending the patient, which may give them depression.

Patient recovery is also an effort from the patient itself. As a wise man once said the best kind of help is self-help, so patients have to contribute most of their healing journey. If you are a current in-patient inside the hospital after a traumatic brain injury then this entry is for you. Before you read through, I would first like to tell you that I understand your problems. I was once a patient myself after having been admitted to hospital because of an AVM rupture and was placed into a coma for thirteen days and became a vegetable for early a month. I know what it's like to wake up somewhere else and not knowing what happened to you or when the doctors tell you that your left side is paralyzed particularly your arm. Life can be cruel and unforgiving with all these circumstances as they go against our plans and expectations. However, we as patients and survivors of stroke or any other form of brain injuries are told often to suck it up and accept it, though this may be the right advice to give it is often the most offensive as this message is always presented as an unchangeable destiny for patients and that they have no hope of going back to their former self and being whole again.

If you are a brain injury survivor of any kind, the best advice or words of encouragement I can give you is that you are not bounded by your condition, your recovery as a survivor is progressive, it may not happen immediately but in the long run, improvements will always continue. if your doctors tell you otherwise then he is mostly lying or just being inconsiderate and should be fired for indecent treatment of patients. Just remember that the human brain continues to produce new neurons as we age, we just have to speed up the process and learn to use our brains differently after the accident. If you are worried about your social life especially your friends moving on and leaving you behind or that they have excelled in their career, while you are stuck in the same corporate position due to you being absent because of your accident then don't fret. Your suffering and disability is a strong indicator that you are on the right track to something great. The Universe has a way of rewarding those who endure suffering while punishing those who had it easy.

The next time you go about walking in public and you meet any of your friends or work colleagues who have become successful and are living your dream. Just walk away from them to prevent any feelings of envy or feeling being inferior to them. not getting in touch with them is often the best choice for self-healing and personal development. Therefore if you feel uneasy with someone just delete or block them on social media to prevent any contact that may cause you discomfort. It should be remembered that humans are social creatures and we need each other to survive, especially our friends to give us support during tough times but if they are not there for you when you need them or that they boast about they are achievements to rub it in your face then you know he or she is not a friend but an arrogant cunt.

If you are currently feeling down in the dumps because you are not able to do the things you used to do because of your disability after the injury then it should be reminded that your disability is only a temporary barrier and that you have to continue to work on it to be better. At times our disability acquires us to do things differently than we normally used to do it. it may take some time but as long as you accomplished what you wanted then there's no wrong with going slow. if you really feel that you are not progressing with what you are doing then perhaps you may want to consider changing to something else as an alternative. if you enjoy running but are currently confined to a wheelchair because of a paralysis then you should switch to an indoor activity like reading or writing to stimulate both the mind and brain to repair itself. This way yr brain gets engaged and reduces more neurons to reconnect the damaged connections and your other disability will follow suit and start to repair itself just like your brain.

Do not spend your time pondering on the glories of the past because it's already over. As a wise Viking by the name of Ragnar Lothbrok once said, "Don't waste your time looking back, you're not going that way again" in your free time try to divert all of your energy on things that are productive to your recovery, try diving in into books and read more information that will be helpful to you in the future, the more we learn the more we earn just as the great investor Warren Buffet once said. Avoid all unnecessary activities as possible such as watching TV or streaming pointless youtube videos. Though both TV and youtube can be educational, a lot of us tend to go off ou intended track and we end up watching something pointless such as twerking or pornography which could ultimately dumb us down by lowering our IQ and encourage us an unhealthy lifestyle of hedonism.

Our social life also affects our healing as well. If we hang around people who don't understand our condition then we end up being misunderstood most of the time and we don't get the support we need to be in a healthy friendship and we could even be exploited. It's best to say that brain injury patients should start hanging out with those who are older than them since older individuals tend to have more empathy than those of the same age. They may even have similar experiences which could help us or inspire us to improve.     

                                     

                                         

            

Second day at Fiona Stanley

The next morning after the day of my arrival, I woke up a little bit early than usual as when I was at Charlie Gairdner. This time I woke up at around 6:45 with thein shades still closed. I could tell that I had woken up too early and everything was still quiet outside, especially in the hallways as there were only a couple of nurses patrolling the corridors and at the nurse's station. Ellie the nurse came into my room with an observation machine to monitor my heartbeat, blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen saturation. She approached and asked how my sleep last night was and I responded by saying that it was okay, I fell asleep almost immediately. Upon hearing my response she said," that's good to hear, most patients usually have a difficult time sleeping on their first day. Settling into their new be is usually tough for many patients but it's good to know that your sleep was okay." Ellie then placed the blood pressure cuffs on my arm and began taking notes of my blood pressure. The results cam ou normal, there was no high blood pressure and the temperature was normal too.

 After the observation, I asked her what my schedule for the day was. She said it was occupational therapy first and I had to find my occupational therapist, Jescinta Brown. Ellie told me that she will come shortly in a few minutes. Sure enough, she did. Jescinta came into my room. She was wearing her navy blue colored uniform and wore glasses. Her overall physique was somewhat chubby but still bearable to look at. She approached me and sit next to my left. She began introducing herself and asked if I was willing to participate in her mental testing to examine my cognitive ability after my brain injury. I said," ye to her question and she began asking me some basic question such as my knowledge of my current whereabouts, the time day and date. I could only answer where I was but couldn't answer the date except I knew it was 2016. he then told me to start looking at a calendar and to be more aware of the date so I won't lose my time orientation. The second question she asked was a form of probing, she asked me to name objects that start with the letter P. I answered the question with ease and passed it with little effort and told me that my left hemisphere is still functioning normally. After the probing question had ended. Jescinta concluded the therapy for that day and left my room. I was again left alone to my self and my roommate, Roy inside our room.

As I was lying in my bed watching TV. Roy started talking and asked me a couple of questions such as my condition, where I was from and what my occupation was. I answered all his questions and he was surprised to know that I had an AVM and he told me that  I wasn't the first person he met with it there was a patient before me with one in his occipital lobe and he was partially blind on his peripheral vision. Hearing that I was thankful that my deficits weren't that severe. However, I began pondering whether or not i"ll be able to go back to my normal self ever again. I brought the computer screen closer and opened up google chrome to start searching for some answers. Just as I began searching some lady popped into the room and asked, "Are you Samuel?, I answered," Yep that's me" She then introduced herself as Alicia, my speech therapist. I was in luck because Alicia was stunningly gorgeous. I became a little bit motivated to do my therapy with her, sadly I was solely focused on her looks that would sometimes forget to answer some of her questions and end up sounding like a fool. My session with Alicia lasted for a  total of 45 minutes. After which, the session ended and she left the room.

I was alone again with Roy in the room. Both of us were in our beds watching the same channel on our televisions, the food network. We both have a bit of an interest in cooking so we both tuned in on the same things on the channel. Just as we were discussing food while watching, the catering lady came into our room and dropped off our lunch at both of our bedside tables. I brought my tray closer to me and lifted the lid. To my surprise, the lunch looks somewhat dissatisfying. It was some sort of beef casserole called beef rump. I tasted it and could compare its texture to jelly as they have made it soft until it was mushy. Its appearance was comparable to feces or any other form excrement. I forced myself to eat it until nothing was left on the plate.

At around 1:35 another lady came inside the room with a wheelchair. I had no idea who this lady was but she was definitely a member of the hospital staff since she was wearing the Fiona Stanley Uniform. She headed towards me with the wheelchair and introduced herself as Catherine, my physiotherapist. She explained to me that it was time to go to the physio gym and get some exercises done. After the clarification, I voluntarily move myself to the right where I gently drop off my bed and placed myself on the wheelchair. he then rolled me to the physio gym at the end of the hallway. The moment I reached the gym, I was asked to get on the plinth to start some stretching and basic movements. The first part of my physio program was stretching. Catherine placed me flat on y back on the plinth, she grabbed my left arm and began rotating my wrist both clockwise and counterclockwise while she pulls my arm away from my body. This particular movement is to loosen up the pectoralis muscles that have tightened up. The way she twists my arm was painful and it made me suffocate as the pulling would pull out the muscles close to my lungs. Thankfully this torture of an exercise only lasted for 35 minutes. We then proceeded with the soft motor movements such as learn how to use pelvis equally o both sides, this exercise is known as a pelvic tilt. I sat at the edge of my plinth while Catherine sat behind me, I was then told to slouch and sit upright slowly. this was basically my exercise, slouching and sitting straight, which was frankly quite boring.

After two hours of tedious and mundane physio movements, it was time to conclude the session for the day and head back to my room and await dinner. Catherine helped me transfer myself on the wheelchair and rolled me out into the hallways and back inside my room. As I entered back into my room, I could smell something in the air, it smelled like food. Roy looked at me and said, "start eating, dinner came early today." I went over to my bed and my dinner was already waiting for me on the bedside table. I lifted the lid and to my surprise, it's chicken thighs covered with some sort of lemon sauce and sage.