I want to apologize for everyone who I didn't answer on the last blog post and the fact that I haven't been around in awhile. Things, as you can imagine, have been hectic. My brother woke up Memorial Day weekend, Sunday the 25th. He was moved to rehab 6 days later and after being there for 5 days he was moved back to the special care unit because of three blood clots, less then a week later he was moved back to rehab.
I'm not sure what to do or think or how to act anymore. I don't know if what he is doing is good, great, wonderful or not so good, ok. He doesn't have any trouble speaking and he almost always finds the right words to say. Once in awhile he might struggle to find a word. He has all of his memories in tact from let's say 6 months before the accident. He sometimes is confused about his age, one day he has it right and the next he might think he's younger or older. He seems to remember what he liked, he knows his favorite foods, music, places, sports teams. He remembers all of the people in his life, once in a while he might need a refresher about who someone is. Physically he needs a lot of PT due to his left side lagging but he is starting to walk with the left leg and help from his PT, but only during therapy. He does good in speech & occupational therapy. He knows how to do the basic things like bath, go to the bathroom, swallow. He is eating pureed food and sometimes has an issue with storing food. He seems to get distracted easily or maybe if something seems to be too much he won't want to look at it like a book or tv guide. He has been enjoying playing black jack, war and poker with us. He remembered how to play all of those games and in fact even taught my mom how to play poker. Even though you can see some traits of his personality shining through (joking, being a smart alec, one liners) you can see the differences. He never says he is sad or upset, he will say hes disgusted or frustrated but never threatens to harm himself or others. He is very polite and will say thank you, your welcome, etc. His short term memory is what can be an issue, he may not remember that my mom was there all day before or that his friend stopped by the night before. We do know that he can write and read. He was writing before the trache come out and it was legible and everything was almost spelled correctly.
I just thought I'd out this out there to see if anyone could share their stories or tell me if they think these are good signs for the future? I know every TBI is different but I just don't know what to think anymore.
It has been a little over 2 months since the accident.