ALum Creek
 
 
 
Hubby is doing much better than in my last post. Unfortunately, he was sick. And I guess I just can’t fathom what an effect that this has on him. His brain just totally short circuits. His brain injury was a diffuse injury. He had some small bleeds and bruises from the impact, but most of the damage was done on the microscopic level as neurons were torn and injured. Because it is a diffuse injury and not a focal injury, recovery is much more gradual and prolonged. Recovery involves the healing of tissues, the recovery of brain chemistry, and neuro-plasticity. Hubby was never in a deep coma. He responded to commands, only he was inconsistent for awhile. And then after he started talking and was responding consistently, he caught a serious of infections with fevers that slowed down his progress (this is what the doctor told me, anyway). Although his post-injury memory returned some time ago, it has been spotty (doc says this is normal). Now we are seeing steady improvement in this area. HOORAY!!! Here is a run-down on (from what I understand) of the recovery course from diffuse brain injury. Coma: No response (He was put into an induced coma on the helicopter) Vegetative State: Eyes open but unresponsive (As far as I know he was never in this state) Mute/Low-Level Response: Responds to some commands. Has sleep cycles. This is really where he began when they let up on the drugs in the ICU. He was in this state for about 5-6 weeks. Confusional State: Talking begins, responds to commands consistently, agitated, serious amnesia. He entered this state at the beginning of December, 2008. He stayed in the confusional state longer than expected due to several infections that halted his progress during the months of January and February. As he was emerging from this state at the end of February, he was released from the hospital, but quickly regressed again when he had another bad infection. Evolving Independence: Gradual cognitive improvement, independence in self-care, improving social interaction, developing independence at home. When he is not sick or tired this is where he is right now. He can take a shower, brush teeth, shave, etc.. He is ‘progressing in therapies’ or in other words, making cognitive improvement. His memory is improving. He is just now ready to work on social skills and will hopefully advance to being independent at home in the coming months. Intellectual Social Competence: Recovers cognitive abilities, can make goals and plan steps to achieve them, social skills improve, personality returns (although there may be changes), gains more independence, returns to work, can start driving. Scott has not reached this point yet. So, that gives you an idea of where hubby is and where he is headed. Supposedly each step is 2-3 times longer than the one before. And even though he is no longer in the confusional state, doesn’t mean he can’t get confused. When he is tired, he falls back into it. And also, people can have trouble with something called “confabulation” even when not in the confusional state. This is a problem where people have a hard time telling the difference between imagination and reality. He has this problem, but it is subsiding. And he has realized he does it. So to describe him right now, he is sometimes confused, has cognition problems that are improving gradually, can take care of his self-care (eat, shower, get dressed, etc), lacks social skills, and needs supervision at home. His personality has not returned and is not ready to go back to work or drive. But it is a stage! And he is on-track and moving through the stages. And this is the thing that is easy to loose sight of. If I start thinking that “this is it” then I freak out!! But it is not it. He has not stalled. But recovery will take time and a lot of hard work.
The Healing Brain
Sunday, April 19, 2009