Newbie

[Tgirl79]

Hi, really glad to of found this group, husband had a tumble end of Feb, had subdural heammorridge to the right side of his brain, spend 4 weeks in ICU, was in an induced come for 4 days, also heavily sedated and paralysed, had brain drain in for Just over a week, been a very traumatic time for us all he came home the weekend after spending 8 weeks in hospital, awaiting a place in rehabilitation unit, got 4 children so home life's hard atm, especially with the mood swings one minute husband's fine then next he's snappy, hopefully over time things will get better

[cat3]

Welcome Tgirl. Most of us here have taken a long ride on the emotional rollercoaster either as a brain injury survivor or a carer. Mine was a Subarachnoid haemorrhage and, though I wasn't aware of it at the time, my family describes it as going to hell and back.

It was around the 6 month point that I realised I needed to reign my emotions in after various meltdowns in difficult encounters. I'm by nature quite reserved and polite but I remember raving and shouting at a pharmacist in Tesco for losing my prescription. I walked home in tears and shaking uncontrollably.

I think for me it was partly loss of word recall which meant I couldn't express my displeasure verbally so the frustration/aggression would take over. And finding many of my abilities so impaired was upsetting, so attempting familiar projects and failing through loss of dexterity was soul destroying.

I could go on......... But the message is that putting a couple of years between the brain injury and the survivor is what brings acceptance of changes in the person, and an understanding of how to tackle new barriers, deficiencies and moods which we just can't take on board initially. So once we let go of the past and accept the changes we can plan accordingly for who we're capable of being.

I hope your man will gradually get the hang of his new self and that the rehab will help him in getting there. It's difficult for loved ones but, with adjustment, it does get easier.

All best wishes, Cat x

[Tgirl79 in reply to cat3]

Thanks very much, think at times like this good to know i can use this site as a bit of support x

[lyneh]

Reading your journey so far sounds very similar to my 19yr old after car accident. Paralysis, brain drain, tried waking him Day 2 but didn’t happen til day 5. 3 week CCU, 3 brain rehab then Home. He kept stumbling left all time, didn’t help that was in neck brace for broken neck so couldn’t look round! His occipital lobe has brain damage & right optic nerve damaged. Left with left peripheral small blind spot

I would say after 10-12 week was doing very well. His large group of friends were his tonic! Every day for those 6+ weeks at least 2 at a time visited all day in shifts. I felt like his PA not mum haha.

He’s back to work as trainee management accountant, booked a holiday

He has low days now and then & a bit snappy but that was him before a teenager.

The driver due to vision field affected gets him down each day but we try & look forward keep seeing ways to appeal & we are in with that over next few months

Take care

Lyne

[Tgirl79]

Thankyou, your sons very lucky to have such a good support network, I know it's gonna take time so hopefully the prognosis won't leave any lasting effects but I'll cross that hurdle if and when I have to x

[Daylight123]

This forum has been so helpful to me as a person living with a BI partner. Were all here to support each other with the highs and lows. Thankfully none of us here are alone.