Rehabilitation for Severe Brain Injury: Jeremiah Part Five
Those with severe brain injuries often leave the initial Trauma Hospital stay for an intermim inpatient stay and then get discharged home with usually outpatient rehabilitation for severe brain injury. Jeremiah stayed at UW Hospital a bit longer than some often do at the initial stay, but then was sent home, with outpatient therapy thereafter for years of rehabilitation for severe brain injury. He explains:
After I was at the hospital UW, we went to, we went to the Meriter Hospital for rehab. I went every single day for many months. Actually, I went for a year and half, two years.
Outpatient yes but, but three months or so, four days and, and our insurance I don’t believe covered that. Unless, well see I didn’t have insurance anyway because I just started that job and, and they denied me insurance and denied me health care. They denied me disability because you have to work there four weeks and I was just starting my fourth week. And, so one of the many, many tales of many brain injured people the way I read have difficulties from financial and such.
Four days for, thinking to April or March or April and then probably March and then speech therapy was lengthened once a week, I believe, or twice a week for oh, probably a year and a half total, two years total.
He received speech, occupational and physical therapy as part of his rehabilitation for severe brain injury. I asked him to tell about the earliest things he remembered in speech therapy in his rehabilitation for severe brain injury.
Well like what I can remember probably is, are things like I was taught to watch programs about – that word programs, like Jeopardy. So I got to see Jeopardy when that guy won the most in a row ever and so that exercised your brain. And, Wheel of Fortune too exercised your brain. She would give some word lists and I don’t remember if I had to try to remember those and then she would quiz me on, on them or how that worked, but I had some type of word lists and while learning to speak again, of course, just sentences and such.
When you say learning to speak again, could you speak at all?
I could talk somewhat to people, but I would – what would I – what I’d be thinking would not come out of my mouth. Other words would come out of my mouth. I don’t really know how to explain. Just that you would see a banana and you’d think it’s a orange – or not you wouldn’t – you’d know it’s a banana but you would call it an orange. Or you might call it a person. Or you might call it a table.
Next in Part Six – Learning to Walk Again
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