Return Home after TBI: The Memories of a TBI Survivor

Return Home after TBI: Chris Part Five

Chris’s face brightens when she talks of her return home after TBI, even if some of her memories are flawed and it was also a hard time for her.

I know it was in the summertime because my mom had all my friends from school, some of my friends from school that came and my grandma and my family they were all in my front yard and welcomed me home.

Did you remember your friends?

Yeah, just not their names. I remembered their faces, but there was some I did not remember really well.

Return Home After TBI: Not Without Problems

The return home after TBI wasn’t quite that simple, as her Mom explains.

I know you had talked to her earlier and she said it was summertime when she came home and it was actually spring when she came home for the first time, because she had progressed enough where she got to come home for weekend visits. The first couple of visits were, were great. She could come home, you know, be at home.

But then it was kind of difficult because it was a fight to get her to go back. She didn’t want to go back. And there was a while we had to stop letting her come home for weekend visits because it was hard for me because she was very physically strong, because she would fight to get in the car. You couldn’t get her in the car. You had to fight to get her out of the car. So until she learned that unless she could come home and behave, that she couldn’t come home. So that was a hard place to be at.

This went on from “March or April and then January.”

Chris was at Clearview for seven to eight months. That she wasn’t just dumped into a nursing home made the difference in: “Her walking, talking, understanding, her reasoning, her physical appearance – everything.”

And that whole time, the entire family was part of the process of Chris’s return home after TBI:

It was not a matter of like, “Are we going to be going to Milwaukee this weekend?” It’s, it was more of “What time are we leaving?” Never once did they ever put up a fight about “I don’t want to go.” It was just, you know, be ready, let’s go. We had our suitcases packed every week. They never, ever said, “I don’t want to go.” They were always there to help.

This was also true with Mom’s job, managing a beauty supply firm, where she had an understanding and compassionate boss.

Part Six – School Assisted with Progress