TBI Voices

Brain Injury Caregiver: Mike Part One As a brain injury caregiver, there is nothing like the love of a good woman.  For Mike, that has certainly proven to be the case.  I first met Mike’s wife, a brain injury caregiver, at a support group meeting at Clearview Treatment Center in Wisconsin. ..
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TBI Caregiver Grief: Mike Part Two Telling the story of Mike’s wife and her TBI caregiver grief can best be compared to the following: There is a phrase called the “fog of war” to describe the inaccuracies of the early reporting about a breaking news event, such as a war..
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TBI Coma Vigil: Mike Part Three We think of the TBI coma vigil as beginning in the ICU waiting room. See http://waiting.com But as Mike’s wife makes clear, the waiting, the TBI coma vigil, begins even when someone isn’t sitting still: My sister came with me – I drove down..
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Before TBI: Part Four Mike was 50 on the date of his accident.  He is in a long term marriage with two kids, three grandkids and has a good job before TBI.  His wife explains about his life before the wreck and before TBI: He is a truck driver.  He..
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After TBI: Mike Part Five Mike’s Wife continues her coma vigil with more discouraging news after TBI. “He made it through the first night and the second night, and then actually in the morning when (the doctor) told me about the second hemorrhage is when I actually broke down.” Despite..
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Coma Emergence: Part Six Just as the realization that “this is not good” is gripping Mike’s wife, the seemingly endless hours of waiting for coma emergence begin.  See http://waiting.com She tells the story of the next week and the coma emergence:    Waiting for Coma Emergence Well, they did the surgery and..
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Negative Prognosis: Mike Part Seven Waiting is mostly a time to watch, to pray, to hold fast to belief, to drift between fatigue and surreality. For Mike’s wife, it was also a time to ignore the negative prognosis which was coming from the doctors. But for all the miracles, neurosurgeons are..
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Brain Injury Grief: Mike Part Eight At the end of Part Seven, Mike’s wife broke down with brain injury grief, unable to say the words: “Always tell him that I loved him.”   We took a break because of the tears that she and Mike shared.  “You okay”? I asked her. “Yeah.” Are you..
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Comatose Emergence: Mike Part Nine The conception of comatose emergence is that one moment you are out, the next you are talking, fully alert.  While occasionally comatose emergence is  like that, most of the time its ending is marked by the beginning of volitional movement, response. His wife describes Mike’s..
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TBI Physical Limitations: Mike Part Ten Mike woke up with TBI physical limitations.  When he woke up on the eighth day, this is what Mike’s wife saw, some of the issues due to TBI physical limitations: His whole body was swelled up.  His chest was totally black and blue for..
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