Firstly, I have some news. On Tuesday, I had my first walk with a cane. Admittedly I was supported by my Physio Sue, but it was (literally) a step in the right direction. We had another family meeting with the Cavit staff. It was weird to sit there while everyone talked about you. As I said before though, things are headed in the right direction, so the meeting went well.
A day in my life at CAVIT centres around therapy. I get up around 7.30 and generally have a shower first. Mum normally makes me breakfast after that.
Then we move into therapy for the day. Given my circumstances, I spend more time in Physiotherapy than Speech or Occupational Therapy. Normally, I have two sessions of Physiotherapy and one of either Speech or Occupational Therapy. Usually, one of the Physiotherapy sessions is on Sue's machine and the other is practicing walking somewhere. The name of the game is to get my muscles to listen to commands from the brain. While there are only a few main muscles for walking there are a lot of muscles through our trunks involved in balance. These represent the central focus of my Physiotherapy.
Stuck in there somewhere are lunch and dinner. After dinner I have a bit more control over my time and can wear myself down reading or working on my next blog post.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
2nd Family Consultation
Cavit's experts reported to Mike and his family today on his progress in the last 8 weeks, and on what lies ahead. The bottom line is that they expect him to be able to live again in due course as an independent adult and to hold down paid employment. I think the literature on brain injuries describes such outcomes as a 'good recovery'. This is amazing in the light of the severity of his injury -- eg 54 days in a state of post-trauma amnesia when 6 hours is regarded as serious. The cognitive testing shows up a few things that need working on, but it would be a miracle if it were otherwise and none of them can be expected to be intractable. Perhaps the best news of all is that they report that he has a high level of awareness of things that need to be worked on. Apparently it is common for people with these injuries to fail to perceive areas where things are not yet what they were. Obviously it is much harder to put something right when you do not know that it is wrong.
The immediate target is to see him walking solo in the next 6 weeks. He gets into the swimming pool for the first time this Friday, now that the site of his P.E.G is sufficiently healed. That should increase his range of therapeutic activities. There is no doubt that Mike is keen to see what he is capable of in the water, given his difficulties with walking.
In the light of all this, fatigue management appears to be the biggest issue Mike faces for the foreseeable future. The physio reports that whereas a few weeks ago he could handle a few minutes physio max, now he can handle 20 minutes. Then he must rest.
One conclusion to come out of this is the desirability of scheduling visits to Mike so that he has rest periods between visits. To achieve this he almost needs an appointment book so that he knows the time at which you will be visiting so that he can rest up before you arrive. So please contact his social secretary (Lee) and book in a time for visiting, and try to arrive on that time if you can so that Mike can plan his energy levels accordingly. This is not the normal casual Kiwi way, we know, but this fatigue problem is not normal either.
Finally, Mike was naturally chuffed by all the responses to his blog.
The positive energy you are all giving him undoubtedly boosts his impressively positive spirit.
Yours appreciatively
Bryce
The immediate target is to see him walking solo in the next 6 weeks. He gets into the swimming pool for the first time this Friday, now that the site of his P.E.G is sufficiently healed. That should increase his range of therapeutic activities. There is no doubt that Mike is keen to see what he is capable of in the water, given his difficulties with walking.
In the light of all this, fatigue management appears to be the biggest issue Mike faces for the foreseeable future. The physio reports that whereas a few weeks ago he could handle a few minutes physio max, now he can handle 20 minutes. Then he must rest.
One conclusion to come out of this is the desirability of scheduling visits to Mike so that he has rest periods between visits. To achieve this he almost needs an appointment book so that he knows the time at which you will be visiting so that he can rest up before you arrive. So please contact his social secretary (Lee) and book in a time for visiting, and try to arrive on that time if you can so that Mike can plan his energy levels accordingly. This is not the normal casual Kiwi way, we know, but this fatigue problem is not normal either.
Finally, Mike was naturally chuffed by all the responses to his blog.
The positive energy you are all giving him undoubtedly boosts his impressively positive spirit.
Yours appreciatively
Bryce
Monday, May 23, 2005
23rd May: Back to me
Hi Everyone,
Lee here again. It was just great to see the buzz Mike got from your comments on his posting. (I hope I got the terminology right because I get told off if I use the wrong word for it all.) Many thanks.
We took MIke out for breakfast on Sunday morning - PEB Personal Eating Best? He got himself through a big breakfast with remarkable speed and it all felt so wonderfully normal.
The therapists have taken pity on Mike's one finger typing and did some work on getting back his touch typing today, so he may be able to up the speed soon. His walking is coming along well. If he can just get stable enoujgh to practise on his own I am sure he'll go ahead really rapidly. Mike's now got his sights aimed at getting in the swimming pool. We suspect he has a bit of a shock coming in terms of what he can manage, but it will be another step along the way.
I mentioned a day or two ago that our next family meeting is on Wednesday. It is a good feeling to think back to where Mike was at for the last one - only recently back from the medical ward, still in post traumatic amnesia and simply not well enough to take part in the meeting. This time he will be able to be his own voice, with us just there ar back up.
Lee here again. It was just great to see the buzz Mike got from your comments on his posting. (I hope I got the terminology right because I get told off if I use the wrong word for it all.) Many thanks.
We took MIke out for breakfast on Sunday morning - PEB Personal Eating Best? He got himself through a big breakfast with remarkable speed and it all felt so wonderfully normal.
The therapists have taken pity on Mike's one finger typing and did some work on getting back his touch typing today, so he may be able to up the speed soon. His walking is coming along well. If he can just get stable enoujgh to practise on his own I am sure he'll go ahead really rapidly. Mike's now got his sights aimed at getting in the swimming pool. We suspect he has a bit of a shock coming in terms of what he can manage, but it will be another step along the way.
I mentioned a day or two ago that our next family meeting is on Wednesday. It is a good feeling to think back to where Mike was at for the last one - only recently back from the medical ward, still in post traumatic amnesia and simply not well enough to take part in the meeting. This time he will be able to be his own voice, with us just there ar back up.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
22nd May: A posting direct from the man himself
Hi guys,
Well it's nice to be something like a happy ending to this story. My recovery is headed in the right direction yet I'm conscious of the fact that things could have easily been so much worse. If I've learnt one thing from this whole experience it's that no matter what happens things could always be worse and you should always keep on pushing (my apologies for the triathlon-speak in that last bit).
To let you know what it feels like (and to use my physio Sue's analogy) it as if an army has run through my head with a scorched earth policy burning all the crops and killing all the locals. There's quite a lot to get used to. The most major thing is the fatigue given I wasn't a guy who ever let lack of sleep get in the way of anything important to me. Most things that use muscles require relearning (for example for accuracy reasons I'm having to one finger type the keys for this document even though I knew how to touch type before the accident). The relearning includes walking and eating. For example, try swallowing your saliva three times. I'm told that the third time was what it was like for me eating originally. On top of this I have a number of problems I'm told are common to head injuries the most annoying of which is a cloudiness over the brain. My memory is ok but as events move closer to 20th Feb they get harder to remember without prompting. I have no memory from before the accident itself until early April (for better or worse). This all said, I've been told by friends who knew me well before the accident that I still have the same sense of humour and the same smile.
I've tried to say thank you to a number of people and been told either that the accident wasn't my fault or I would have done the same for them. While both of these may be true neither reduces my need to say thank you to a few people. Firstly, my thanks go out to my parents, Lee and Bryce, (who could ask for anything more?), my sister and brother-in-law, Tracy and Andrew, (thanks for cutting short your OE for me) and my brother, Phillip, (thanks for your attitude and for still coming to visit me despite getting told off by the Cavit staff at least twice). My thanks also go to my extended family, to all the medical staff involved in my recovery (including the unknown doctor who stopped and helped me immediately following the accident) and to my co-accidentee, Ben Schurr. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who has come to visit me, sent something to me or posted something on this blog site.
I don't have an internet connection yet but hope to get one very shortly. I will take over putting posts on this blog but I'm sorry to say the frequency will drop. I will put something on this site when I have some major news about my recovery.
Kind regards and best wishes,
Mike
Well it's nice to be something like a happy ending to this story. My recovery is headed in the right direction yet I'm conscious of the fact that things could have easily been so much worse. If I've learnt one thing from this whole experience it's that no matter what happens things could always be worse and you should always keep on pushing (my apologies for the triathlon-speak in that last bit).
To let you know what it feels like (and to use my physio Sue's analogy) it as if an army has run through my head with a scorched earth policy burning all the crops and killing all the locals. There's quite a lot to get used to. The most major thing is the fatigue given I wasn't a guy who ever let lack of sleep get in the way of anything important to me. Most things that use muscles require relearning (for example for accuracy reasons I'm having to one finger type the keys for this document even though I knew how to touch type before the accident). The relearning includes walking and eating. For example, try swallowing your saliva three times. I'm told that the third time was what it was like for me eating originally. On top of this I have a number of problems I'm told are common to head injuries the most annoying of which is a cloudiness over the brain. My memory is ok but as events move closer to 20th Feb they get harder to remember without prompting. I have no memory from before the accident itself until early April (for better or worse). This all said, I've been told by friends who knew me well before the accident that I still have the same sense of humour and the same smile.
I've tried to say thank you to a number of people and been told either that the accident wasn't my fault or I would have done the same for them. While both of these may be true neither reduces my need to say thank you to a few people. Firstly, my thanks go out to my parents, Lee and Bryce, (who could ask for anything more?), my sister and brother-in-law, Tracy and Andrew, (thanks for cutting short your OE for me) and my brother, Phillip, (thanks for your attitude and for still coming to visit me despite getting told off by the Cavit staff at least twice). My thanks also go to my extended family, to all the medical staff involved in my recovery (including the unknown doctor who stopped and helped me immediately following the accident) and to my co-accidentee, Ben Schurr. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who has come to visit me, sent something to me or posted something on this blog site.
I don't have an internet connection yet but hope to get one very shortly. I will take over putting posts on this blog but I'm sorry to say the frequency will drop. I will put something on this site when I have some major news about my recovery.
Kind regards and best wishes,
Mike
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